Red Sea Cucumber Management and Research

Management

There is a commercial fishery for A. californicus managed by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game by the Southeast Alaska Sea Cucumber Commercial Fisheries Management Plan (5 AAC 38.140). This plan seeks to protect subsistence opportunities and provides for sustained commercial fishing harvests. To protect subsistence opportunities, the cucumber management plan established 16 areas closed to commercial fishing (5 AAC 38.140 (k)). There are also provisions to prevent the use of diving gear in the subsistence (5 AAC 02.020 (1)) and personal use (5 AAC 77.010 (l)(3)) fisheries in those areas. Annual commercial fishery guideline harvest levels are 6.4% of the lower bound confidence interval of the total sea cucumber biomass taken on a three-year rotational basis (i.e. 19.2% once every three years). Rotational fisheries have the advantage of lowering overall departmental assessment survey and management costs.

Additional information about sea cucumber management can be found on our Commercial Sea Cucumber Dive Fisheries webpage.

Research

See Southeast Commercial Dive Fisheries for red sea cucumber research.