The species, which has nutritive and
medical properties, is considered the most valuable commercial species
in many parts of Asia (Okorie et al., 2008; Sun et al., 2004), and market
demand has increased with the growing interest in natural healthy
foods (SEO and LEE, 2011). However, landings of wild sea cucumber
have been in decline since the 1990s owing to overexploitation and pollution
(Conand, 2004). Depletion of natural stocks, together with its