Aquaculture sector is increasing in the last years, accounting for 46 % of the total production and 52 % of fish for human consumption. Nowadays, an estimated 20.5 million people are linked to the primary sector of aquaculture.
In 2018, aquaculture fish production was dominated by finfish, molluscs, and crustaceans. In spite of, some sea cucumber species as Apostichopus japonicus reached important aquaculture production, increasing its production from 126.6 thousand tonnes in 2010 to 176.8 thousand tonnes in 2018. Other species as Holothuria scabra are also showing important aquaculture production, to cover the increasing demand from Asian countries.
SEA CUCUMBER AQUACULTURE
New target sea cucumbers species for aquaculture are arising from the Mediterranean Sea and NE Atlantic, being highly valued in the oriental markets mainly in China and Japan.
AQUACULTURE SERVICES
Our company offers consultancy on sea cucumber aquaculture focused on these new target species covering different technical subjects:
BROODSTOCK
We provide advice about criteria for selection of the optimal broodstock, genetic improvement programs, design of breeders’ area into aquaculture facilities, specialized diets for broodstock (maintenance and reproductive season) and diseases treatments based on natural bioactives obtained from algae and terrestrial plants.
HATCHERY AND NURSERY
We design your hatchery and nursery facilities to guarantee high survival during the different larvae stages. We supply consultancy on culture conditions along larvae stages including diets and diseases treatment. The settlement area can be also planned by us (indoor or outdoor) to ensure the best survival of juveniles, and dried diets formulated.
GROW-OUT SYSTEMS
Sea cucumber fattening systems to reach commercial size such as land based facilities or sea ranching aquaculture, can be also designed by us. We have experience on adaptation of salterns and marsh areas (“esteros”) to develop extensive sea cucumber aquaculture, and provide consultancy on diets for fattening.
INTEGRATED MULTITROPHIC AQUACULTURE (IMTA)
IMTA is a practice in which the by-products (wastes) from one species are recycled to become inputs (fertilizers, food and energy) for another. The goals are to achieve environmental sustainability through biomitigation, economic stability through product diversification, production increasing and risk reduction, and social acceptability.
We offer consultancy services to develop IMTA including echinoderms (sea urchin and sea cucumbers) as suspension feeders/deposit feeders and inorganic extractive aquaculture species (e.g. seaweeds).
PROCESSING
Sea cucumbers are consumed as common food by Asians. The main product obtained from sea cucumber is the bêche de mer (body eviscerated, cooked in water and dried), which must be handled and processed carefully to achieve the right colour, shape and appearance for Asian consumers. Lack in processing quality could result in low prices for aquaculture company and exporters.
Our company provides advice to the right processing of each target sea cucumber species from Mediterranean Sea and NE Atlantic to guarantee the maximum economical profit.
MARKETING
We help you to promote the selling of your products including advertising, delivering products to consumers and specialized distributors and international markets networking.
ECONOMICAL CONSULTANCY AND POTENTIAL FUNDING
We have also a specialized service to assess the economical costs to create a sea cucumber aquaculture company, and/or to implement an integrated multitrophic aquaculture system. Our company has also a mentoring program focused on advising and application to potential European, National and Regional funding.
