Sea cucumber farming experiences in south-western Madagascar

In south-western Madagascar, anthropogenic and environmental factors are adversely affecting marine resources, and alternatives to fishing for the local Vezo community are limited. In an effort to overcome this problem, a non-government organisation (NGO), Blue Ventures, has been pioneering farming of sandfish (Holothuria scabra) in pens as a livelihood strategy for communities. Successful preliminary trials resulted in Blue Ventures and the NGO Trans’Mad-Développement obtaining funding to expand the project to include 40 families in seven villages. The pens, measuring between 625 and 900 m2, were constructed in nearshore seagrass beds and stocked with batches of 300–450 hatchery-reared juveniles (15 g) at 3–4-month intervals. Sea cucumbers reaching a minimum size of 300 g between 4 and 12 months later were harvested and sold to the commercial partner, Madagascar Holothurie S.A., for processing and export. During the period of the study, a total of 51,500 juveniles were released at seven sites during 21 release events spread over 45 months. Although preliminary trials yielded high survival rates (80%), on scaling up the project a number of factors led to increased mortality rates; these included suboptimal transportation and stocking conditions, and predation. To meet these problems, methodologies were improved and a number of strategies were adopted to improve survival of juveniles following release. Socioeconomic issues remained a challenge throughout the project, as theft of market-size sea cucumbers was prevalent.