ABSTRACT: This study aimed to identify the major steps involved in sea cucumber processing and their limitations. Sea cucumber processing mainly involves cleaning, evisceration, first boiling, salting, second boiling and drying. This process takes between 5 to 10 days. Some variations in processing steps were observed among species. All sea cucumbers are cleaned before evisceration to remove slime and sand particles on their body. In most species, evisceration is done making a small cut at the posterior end of the body, however, in the teatfish, this cut is made along the midline of the dorsal body. In Stichopus spp., the internal organs are removed squeezing the animal or placing a slit in the ventral side. Boiling duration is found to vary with species. The highest boiling time was reported for Holothuria scabra (24± 13 minutes) followed by T. anax (16± 6 minutes). Average boiling time for Bohadschia spp. ranged from 9± 5 minutes and it was ~13 minutes for Stichopus spp. Most processors (87%) used saline water as the boiling medium while others used fresh water. Most species are boiled together except Bohadschia spp. and H. atra. All sea cucumbers are salted after boiling for 1-2 days. Both iodinated (86.67%) and non-iodinated (13.33%) salts are used and 5kg of salts are used for 100 pieces. Salted products are boiled once again for around 5±3 minutes. Sun drying is the widely practiced drying method. Drying time ranged from 3 to 5 days. Around 73.3% of surveyed processors completed full processing, while others only completed partial processing. It was evident that post harvest losses were 5 - 8% at the end of the processing cycle. Malpractices during processing such as improper evisceration, intentional adding of sand, over-salting, mixing low-value species with high-value species and poor hygiene practices were identified as some limitations of existing methods.

1. Processing of Sea cucumbers to
bêche-de-mer : A case study from Sri Lanka
G Nishanthan, PADA Kumara, MDST De Cross, DVP Prasada and DCT Dissanayake

2. CONTENTS
Introduction
Objectives
Methodology
Results and Discussion
Conclusion
Acknowledgment
References

3. SEA CUCUMBER FISHERY IN SRI LANKA
o Practiced for several centuries
o Confine to the north, east, northeast and northwest coasts
o Provides significant income to the coastal communities
o No tradition of consuming sea cucumbers in Sri Lanka
o Entire harvest is processed as bêche-de-mer and exported to
Singapore ~ 250 Mt US$ 11 million in 2014
Taiwan
China

4. oDemand for bêche-de-mer depend on
 Species
 Product quality
oProduct quality depends
 Shape
 Appearance
 Colour
 Odor
 Moisture content


5. o Postharvest processing techniques  major influence on
product quality
o Poor postharvest processing
 Adversely affect the value of bêche-de-mer
 Losing a considerable amount of foreign exchange
Poor processing Good processing

6. OBJECTIVES
o To identify different methods used to process sea cucumbers
in Sri Lanka
o To evaluate advantages and limitations of each processing
method and step
o To aware general pubic and people involved in sea cucumber
fishery on importance of improving bêche-de-mer product
quality

7. METHODOLOGY
o The data were collected from
 Puttalam
 Mannar
 Kilinochchi
 Jaffna districts of Sri Lanka
o Period
 From September 2015 to March 2016
o Data collection
 Direct observations
 Questionnaires
 Semi-structured interviews
• 75% of industrial level and 68%
of domestic level processors

8. •Processing steps found to be similar in all areas
•Major processing steps involve
 Grading & Cleaning
 Evisceration
 1st Boiling
 Salting
 2nd Boiling
 Sun drying
•Some modifications from species to species
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

9. GRADING AND CLEANING
o Sea cucumbers are graded as soon as they are landed
o Clean by dipping into water to remove slime and sand
Methods of Grading and cleaning

10. o Advantages
Facilitate the proper
removal of slime and
sand
 Improve the final
product quality
 Ensure cleanliness of the
product
o Limitations
Mostly ignored step
 Improper cleaning 
Damages during
processing
 Delays in cleaning cause
self-dehydration of some
species
 Thelenota anax
 Stichopus chloronotus
 Stichopus herrmanni
 Stichopus naso
Thelenota anax Stichopus herrmanni

11. EVISCERATION
o To remove internal organs
Evisceration
practices

12. o Common Methods used
 Making a small cut (1.5 to 2 inches)
at the posterior part
 Eg : H. atra, H. scabra, T. anax and Bohadchia spp.
Making a longitudinal slit along the mid
line of dorsal body surface
 Eg : Teatfish species ( H. fuscogilva and H. nobilis)
 Squeezing or placing a small cut (~1 inch)
in ventral surface
 Eg : S. naso and H. spinifera
S. chloronotus
H. fuscogilva
H. scabra

13. o Advantages
Facilitate the proper
removal of internal
organs
 Slow down the
deterioration rate of
product before boiling
o Limitations
Improper cuts  Cause
damages during boiling
affect for demand
Improper evisceration 
Sand inside the body
cavity
Damaged due to improper evisceration

14. BOILING
oTo cook the eviscerated individuals
oBoiling medium
 Saline water  87%
 Fresh water  13%
oBoiling Containers
 Rounded iron saucepan (87%) were widely used
Rounded iron saucepan Cylindrical Iron Barrels

15. o Boiling time differ based on different species
oDetermination of the best level of boiling based on
 Traditional knowledge
 Hand on experiences
Species Boiling Time (min.)
Holothuria scabra 24± 13
Holothuria spinifera 24± 13
Thelenota anax 16± 6
Holothuria atra 15± 9
Stichopus spp ~ 13
Bohadschia spp. 9± 5

16. Before boiling After boiling
Boiling process

17. Boiled products

18. o Advantages
 Improve the appearance
& enhance the market
demand
 Improve the palatability
o Limitations
 Boiling time is not
consistent within species
 Inadequate boiling
 Boiling incompatible
species together
 eg : Bohadschia spp. And
H. atra
H. atra Bohadschia spp.

19. REMOVING CHALKY MATERIALS
o Chalky materials of teatfish (H. fuscogilva and H. nobilis) and
sandfish (H. scabra and H. spinifera) are removed after first
boiling
o Methods used
 Packing and dipping into fresh water
 Burying them in sand
 Using a wire brush
 Using papaya leaves
Packing and Dipping
Using papaya leaves

20. Removal of chalky materials

21. o Advantages
 Remove inedible parts
 Give good external
appearance
 Improve the market
demand
o Limitations
 Inadequate removal of
chalky materials
 Deterioration of edible
parts
Add chemicals to remove
(H2O2)

22. SALTING
o Duration : 1 to 2 days
o Type of Salts
 Iodinated  86.67
 Non-iodinated  13.33%
o Forms applied
 Aqueous
 Crystal
o An average of 5 kg of salt is used for
100 pieces

23. o Normally salts are not re-used
o Around 2% of processors re-used salts after evaporating
aqueous medium
o Salted products are boiled again  5±3 minutes
Salting process

24. o Advantages
 Increase the shelf life of
the product
 Improve the microbial
quality
 Improve the palatability
o Limitations
 Over salting  To
increase the weight
 Salt crystals in body
surface  Affect the
market value
Over salted H.Scabra Properly salted H.Scabra

25. DRYING
o Sun-drying is the widely practiced
o Duration  3 to 5 days.
o ~ 14% used special concrete establishment powered by
firewood
o Materials used to increase the efficiency of sun drying
 Metal sheets
 Concrete or cement floor
 Mats

26. Sun drying
Special Concrete
Establishments
Using Air Conditioned
Rooms

27. Final Processed products
Holothuria scabraBohadschia spp. Holothuria spinifera
Stichopus chloronotus Thelenota anaxHolothuria atra

28. o Advantages
 Remove excess moisture
 Improve shelf life and
keeping quality
 Improve external
appearances
 Sun drying  Free
source of energy
o Limitations
 Poor hygienic conditions
 Sun drying difficult
during rainy season

29. MORE MALPRACTICES
o Improper handling of catches
o Intentionally adding sand into body cavity
Improper Handling Sand inside the body cavity

30. o Mixing low-value species ( H. atra and Bohadscia spp. ) with
high-value species (H. scabra)
H. scabra H. atra

31. o Processing duration  5 to 10 days
o Processors keep processed products ~7 days before selling
o Postharvest losses  5 – 8 % (spoiling and damage)
o Both commercial and domestic level processing
o 20 processing plants at commercial scale in Sri Lanka
Province No. of processing plants
Northwest 6
North 5
Northeast 5
East 4

32. AWARENESS..
o Aware the general public and people involve in sea cucumber
industry
o Stressed the importance of improving bêche-de-mer product
quality

33. CONCLUSIONS
o There are no any systematic and standard methods to process
sea cucumbers in Sri Lanka.
o The findings of this study can be used as the foundation as
this provides information on
 Existing processing practices
 Their advantages and limitations
o It is a timely requirement to standardize the sea cucumber
processing methods to meet the international standards
o As a result we will have a huge potential to increase the
foreign earnings and job opportunities

34. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
oFinancial support from Natinal Research Council (NRC
15-050)
oProcessing people from Puttlam, Mannar, Kilinochi and
Jaffna Districts
oUniversity of Sri Jayewardenepura
oWayamba University of Sri Lanka
oUniversity of Peradeniya

35. REFERENCES
o Conand C. (2004). Present status of world sea cucumber resources and
utilization: an international overview. FAO Fisheries Technical Paper,
463:13-23.
o Dissanayake, D.C.T. and G. Stefansson (2012). Present status of
commercial sea cucumber fishery in the coastal waters of Sri Lanka.
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 92(4):
831-841.
o Dissanayake, D.C.T. and G. Stefansson (2010). Abundance and
distribution of commercial sea cucumbers in the coastal waters of Sri
Lanka. Aquatic Living Resources 23 (3): 303 -313.
o Hornell J. (1917). Indian bêche-de-mer industry: its history and recent
revival. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 11(4):119-150