Over 600 fishermen in Sri Lanka’s former northern war zone have switched to sea cucumber farming, a booming trade, in the coastal belt of Jaffna and Kilinochchi where a Chinese firm started a hatchery five years ago.
China’s joint venture Gui Lan hatchery in Jaffna’s coastal village of Ariyalai was started when many northern fishermen were finding it harder to catch large fish which is blamed on outlawed bottom trawling employed by Indian vessels.
The fishermen were given one-month-old small sea cucumbers from the hatchery, which were grown in their usual fishing spots in the sea.
N Dhivakaran, president of Jaffna District Sea Cucumber Association, told EconomyNext that over 600 fishermen have now started sea cucumber farming after they saw the potential for a steady income in the new venture.
“There are investors for sea cucumber farming. Now the fisheries ministry also promotes sea cucumber farming through incentives,” said Dhivakaran.
Dhivakaran maintains a 10-acre farm near the Gui Lan hatchery in Ariyalai. He now sells between 2,000 and 3,000 sea cucumbers a month, earning between 60,000 and 90,000 rupees in revenue.
“We sell a sea cucumber once it reaches 300 grams in weight,” he said. “I started the farm with 40,000 small sea cucumbers and now the hatchery’s production is not enough. So I try to get additional sea cucumbers from other sea areas.”
A 300 gram sea cucumber is sold for around 400 rupees to local agents who export them to countries like Singapore and Hong Kong.
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Sri Lanka’s northern fishermen switch to China-backed sea cucumber boom