Vladivostok scientists ready to generate good supply of sea cucumbers for on-growth

Four-year-old Zapovednoe scientific and production mariculture centre based in the Kievka Bay of Primorsky Krai Territory (capital Vladivostok) has grown 1.5 million young sea cucumbers to be later released to the grounds of the centre's marine plantations and to the experimental production grounds of the TINRO-Centre research institute, according to Deita.Ru.

This time the harvest will be used for reproduction purposes and in some three years the scientists plan to start selling commercial product for on-growth.

Though Zapovednoe has grown sea cucumber fry for the third time during its four years of existence, this time the harvest is large both in term of volume and juvenile size. (The design production of the centre which is furnished with the Japanese equipment is estimated at 5 millions of young sea cucumbers per year.)

Zapovednoe has been found by TINRO-Centre and one of the province's leading fishing combines OAO Preobrazhenskaya Baza Tralovogo Flota (plc), PBTF for short.

TINRO-Centre has put into the project its own technology of getting desired amounts of young cucumbers from a small number of producers. It has become quite a challenge for the scientists to introduce the technology, practice it in a real production facility and meet the production target. Nevertheless, during the recent four years the scientists have been polishing the technology of sea cucumber breeding in artificial conditions. In particular, they have been scrutinizing peculiarities of feeding the fry at different development stages.

Besides, the scientists have made calculations of the economic aspect of the sea cucumber culture which is considered a very profitable business in China. There juvenile cucumbers enjoy a strong demand from the companies engaged in on-growing of juveniles in marine gardens.