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International Journal of Aquaculture, 2013, Vol.3, No.26, 152
-
157
http://ija.sophiapublisher.com
152
Research Article Open Access
Bio-economic Evaluation of Sea Cucumber (
Apostichopus japonicas
) Cultured in
Earthen Ponds
Ankai Zhang
1,2
Gang Yu
1
, Pimao Chen
1,3
Chuanxin Qin
1,3
1. South China Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, P.R. China
2. Fishery Environment and Aquatic Products Quality Supervision & Testing Center (Guangzhou), Ministry of Agriculture, P.R. China
3. Scientific Observing and Experimental Station of South China Sea Fishery Resources & Environment, Ministry of Agriculture, P.R. China
Corresponding author email:
qincx@scsfri.ac.cn
;
Authors
International Journal of Aquaculture, 2013, Vol.3, No.26 doi: 10.5376/ija.2013.03.0026
Received: 28 Aug., 2013
Accepted: 28 Sep., 2013
Published: 07 Oct., 2013
Copyright © 2013
Zhang et al., This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article
:
Zhang et al., 2013, Bio-economic evaluation of sea cucumber (
Apostichopus japonicas
) cultured in earthen ponds, International Journal of Aquaculture, Vol.3,
No.26 152-157 (doi: 10.5376/ija.2013.03.0026)
Abstract
Sea cucumber (
Apostichopus japonicas
) industry was developed rapidly in north China in recently years. In this article,
the main research is the economic income of sea cucumber culture. Net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR) and
discounted payback period were selected to evaluate the economic income of sea cucumber culture. The result shows that the income
increased with the increasing pond size but the survival rate and income per unit decreased.
Keywords
Sea cucumber (
Apostichopus japonicas
); Net present value (NPV); Internal rate of return (IRR); Earthen pond
Introduction
Sea cucumber,
Apostichopus japonicas,
has become
an important species cultured in the northern part of
China including Liaoning, Shandong and Hebei
provinces, and has gradually expanded towards the
southern part including Fujian, Guangdong and
Hainan provinces (Chen, 2004). Recently, under the
stimulation of large profits, capital investment has
been continuously flowing into the sector and farming
areas have sharply expanded. Sea cucumbers are
deposit-feeders that ingest sediment with organic
matter (Yingst, 1976; Yingst, 1982; Hudson et al.,
2005; Uthicke and Karezc, 1999; Michio et al., 2003).
The coastal zone bears most of the ecological
consequences of aquaculture development(Primavera,
2006).There has been much emphasis on developing
sustainable approaches for aquaculture, such as
integrated culture and zero discharge aquaculture
system. In comparison with the other species, sea
cucumber is no extra-feed and better to environment.
Kang et al
(Kang et al., 2003) considered that abalone
cocultured with sea cucumber could reduce the level
of inorganic nitrogen in the water and consequently
promoted the growth. Bivalves (Zhou et al., 2006),
shrimp (Purcell et al., 2006), and green-lipped mussel
(Slater and Carton, 2007) cocultured with sea
cucumber were proved to be beneficial, too.
The commercialization of sea cucumber farming,
which was stimulated by the outbreak of shrimp
disease, has begun since 1990s. However, the methods
and model of sea cucumber culture lacked diversity,
relying mainly on extensive culture. Lower production
but higher price limited the development of sea
cucumber industry.
Many studies were conducted on sea cucumber in the
respects of its economic value, culture methods and
physiological mechanism. Nevertheless, there were
few researches about the economic benefit and
investment risk of sea cucumber culture. The aim of
the study is to carry out a bio-economic evaluation of
sea cucumber in the earthen ponds so as to provide
reliable data for investors.
1 Methods
1.1 Bio-economic model
The bio-economic model of sea cucumber culture is
shown in Figure 1. The economic income was
influenced by the culture technique and market price.
The whole culture period of sea cucumber was mainly
determined by the size of juvenile. Juveniles at the
size of 2-15g/ind., 15-30g/ind. and 30-60g/ind. need
be cultured 2.5 year, 1.5 year and 1 year, respectively.
However, the input and survival rate were different as
the size of juvenile varied.