The University of Sydney15 October 2013
Sea cucumber fishing in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park shows worrying signs of being unsustainable. Many species being targeted are endangered and vulnerable to extinction, as determined by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
This situation is outlined in a study recently published in the journal Fish and Fisheries by Maria Byrne, Professor of Marine Biology at the University of Sydney and Deputy Director of One Tree Island Research Station, and lead author Dr Hampus Eriksson, post-doctoral researcher at Stockholm University.
“Sea cucumbers play a vital role in reef health and our previous research indicates that they may help reduce the harmful impact of ocean acidification on coral growth. The viability of their numbers may well be crucial to the condition of coral reef ecosystems.”
“The crown-of-thorns starfish is often singled out as responsible for the decline in the barrier reef. This work suggests that overfishing of ecologically important species such as sea cucumbers, may have also contributed to this decline.”