This manual was produced to help artisanal fishers to understand how to best handle and process fresh sea cucumbers into quality dried beche-de-mer. Well-processed sea cucumbers fetch high prices but a lack of care in processing will result in low prices for fishers and exported products. The manual provides instructions on best-practice methods of how to handle, cut, cook, smoke, dry, store and sell tropical sea cucumbers. The manual includes a section on responsible fishing as it does not encourage an increase in fishing efforts, but seeks to make the best outcome out of the animals already harvest in harmony with FAO principles espoused in the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries. The original manual was published by the Pacific Community (SPC) and now available in several language including English, French and now Arabic.
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