23 licenses for 2010 sea cucumber season [1]
Tuesday, September 14, 2010 - 08:28. Updated on Monday, September 9, 2013 - 18:40.
AS the harvesting season for sea cucumbers draws to a close on September 30, a total of 23 licenses have been issued to local operators who have exported to date up to 150 tonnes of dried beche de mers to Asian markets such as Hong Kong.
A quota of 200 tonnes for exports was set for this year's season.
However, the Head of the Licensing Section at the Fisheries Department, Siliveinusi Ha'unga, said this year there was a decrease in licenses from about 28 granted last year. Last year's total export was around 370 tonnes.
He said that the six months harvesting season starting from April 1 to September 30 was not extended this year in contrast to last year, when the season was extended to December.
This year the season will be held to its normal time frame to protect the species from over harvesting.
He said of the 23 licenses approved, six were for Tongatapu, six for Vava'u and 11 for Ha'apai,
The price per kilo of sea cucumber ranges from the high quality species which may be $40 pa'anga per kilo to as low as $2 pa'anga per kilo for the low quality ones. There are 20 types of sea cucumber species.
Siliveinusi confirmed that while the harvesting of sea cucumbers remained under the law, they allow operators an extra month to dry the sea cucumbers and export them as bech-de-mers.