Malaysia: Sea cucumber research pays off

New Straits Times 19 Dec 11;

KUALA LUMPUR: To find an alternative source of income for thousands of fishermen in the east coast, a team of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) researchers has discovered a new way to breed sea cucumbers for commercial purposes.

The university's School of Health Sciences Associate Prof Dr Farid Che Ghazali said the research was carried out on sea cucumbers (Gamat Sawa) from the Stichopus vastus species through a hatchery method.

"We are currently increasing the number of sea cucumbers through closed-circuit hatcheries using treated seawater which is the first of its kind in Malaysia.

"The sustainable hatcheries will increase the species' stock population and reduce its dependency on wild habitats."

Farid said the technique was simple and involved equipment, such as cement, a small storage shed and salt water.

He added that the technique was used on the Stichopus vastus species as it contained extracts used in cancer vaccines, diabetes and anti-ageing properties.

On increasing the growth rate of sea cucumbers, the researchers also used sexual, asexual and cage-rearing breeding techniques.

Farid said the cage-rearing technique needed a temperature of between 27o and 30o Celcius and the species must be placed in a dark location.

Farid said sexual breeding was possible through broadcast spawning.

The asexual technique was carried out through agametic cloning.

The RM2 million three-year research, that started in 2008, is funded by a grant from the Science, Technology and Innovation Minstry's Agro-biotechnology Institute.