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BBC News
19 hours ago
- General
- BBC News
'We've raised thousands': The pickle-shaped 'janitors' cleaning Filipino reefs
Sea cucumbers, or 'janitors of the sea', scour and clean the seafloor, allowing other animals to thrive. In the Philippines, a group of women stand guard to help them multiply. Aweng Caasi, a 61-year-old widow, often sits for hours in a wooden hut towering over waist-deep waters in Bolinao, a small town some 300km (190 miles) north of the Philippines' capital of Manila. The hut serves as a guard post for fisherfolk protecting a sea ranch filled with sea cucumbers. These unique-looking bulbous brownish-green animals have taken them years to raise. Caasi's late husband, Ka Artem, was the leader of the fisherfolk group in the village of Barangay Victory in Bolinao that worked with scientists to build the ranch almost two decades ago. They hoped to replenish the supplies of these pickle-like creatures, which once swarmed these waters. Today, Caasi carries on this legacy. People in the Philippines have been plucking these chunky, leathery-skinned animals, locally known as balat or balatan, out of the sea for at least a century, and their harvesting in Asia goes back to ancient times. Sea cucumbers are from the same family as starfish and sea urchins, and are popular in East Asia for both culinary and medicinal reasons. In Chinese cuisine, they are even regarded as treasure. A kilogram of the most valuable species of dried sea cucumber, the Japanese Apostichopus japonicus, is valued at an average $1,782 (£1,400). For the Holothuria scabra or sandfish species that the Bolinao ranch produces, prices can vary from $220 to $1080 (£160-790), depending on their size. When Caasi was still in her teens, the Philippines was the top producer of wild sea cucumbers – between 1985 and 1993, it exported some 3,000 to 4,000 tonnes. But overexploitation and overfishing led to a sharp decline in stocks. In the 1980s, fisherfolk in Bolinao and its neighbouring island town Anda were collecting up to 100kg (220lb) of sea cucumbers per person a day. The daily per person catch plummeted to just 25kg (55lb) a decade later, and by 2002, to a measly 2.55kg (5.6lb). The waters around Caasi's home, once crowded with the cucumbers, had become barren. "We don't care much about harvests, since we care more about increasing their population," Caasi tells me as we sit next to each other in the hut, watching over the sea ranch. "When I was a child, I used to see loads of them, but now that I'm older, they've become so little. We want to restore them so they can multiply." Maria Louella Tinio Apart from their economic value, sea cucumbers provide benefits for the environment. Commonly referred to as the janitors of the sea, they clean sediments in the seafloor by eating bacteria and decaying organic matter, and recycle nutrients that benefit ecosystems. Their presence has even recently been found to suppress diseases among corals. Bolinao and its neighbouring towns are known for their rich marine life, which includes a 200 sq km (77 sq mile) coral reef area that provides benefits to residents through shoreline protection, fisheries, aquaculture and tourism. Annette Meñez, a marine invertebrate ecologist at the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute (UPMSI), reached out to the Bolinao fishing communities in the early 2000s to ask if they would like to try co-designing a system to restore the town's sea cucumbers. Meñez has been researching marine invertebrates with UPMSI since the 1980s, including how to help Bolinao's fishing communities replenish their stocks of sea urchins and giant clams. She also now co-chairs the sea cucumber specialist group of the International Union for Conservation for Nature's Species Survival Commission. The university ventured into sea cucumber conservation when it observed the cucumber population shrinking. Meñez says the fishers back then would harvest small sea cucumbers before they were mature enough to reproduce. "Even if you say we have five animals in one hectare [2.5 acres], they can be easily a few tens of metres apart from the nearest [other member of their] species," says Meñez. Reproduction fails, she says, both due to this small number and the lack of mature individuals. The ideal density of sea cucumbers is 50 individuals per hectare for a viable spawning population – with this number, researchers have observed mass spawning events and the increased presence of wild cucumbers. Caasi and her husband were among those who kicked off the restocking project with Meñez in 2007. Together, they refined the process of migrating the sea cucumbers to the best locations for each phase of their growth. Maria Louella Tinio They start by spawning in the university's hatchery tanks, where the sea cucumbers grow into 4mm (0.16in) larvae, about the size of a rice grain. UPMSI then delivers the larvae to the fisherfolk to nurture in the sea by sticking them to floating hapas or nets, where they can munch on periphyton – algae and other bacteria. When they grow to at least 3g (0.1oz), or the size of a thumb, which takes about 40-60 days, the juveniles graduate from the nets to a one hectare (2.5 acre) ocean nursery to live among fellow sea cucumbers for another three to six months. Afterwards, the farmers release them to the five hectare (12.4 acre) ranch, where they can meet and breed with other animals until they grow to the suitable selling weight of 320g (11oz), which can take over a year. The process is done twice a year, but the length of each cycle varies depending on how quickly the sea cucumbers develop. Throughout the cycle, the farmers participate in the rearing, data-collecting and monitoring of the sea cucumbers. Caasi recalls helping pin down the wooden planks that mark the boundary of the ranch nearly two decades ago. "I experienced guarding the pens at night, and when the tide was low, we would hammer the planks into place," she says. "I also set up the nets, together with other women. A lot of us women would do this work." Only fisherfolk affiliated with the project are allowed to collect sea cucumbers within the boundary. In July 2009, less than two years after the first juveniles were sent out in December 2007, the Bolinao farms recorded significant boosts in sea cucumber stocks. Over a 19-month period, the population had jumped from around 400 to more than 5,500 individual sea cucumbers. The number of reproductively mature adults also climbed from 37 per hectare seven months after the release, to 249 after 19 months, due to mass spawning. As of the latest record in 2024, the ranch has a density of 4,415 sea cucumbers or 883 individuals per hectare, according to UPMSI. Meñez says internal research by UPMSI in 2018-19 showed the process also likely led to additional wild stocks. The researchers did an experiment to see if the cucumbers were producing offspring: in 2018, they stained the tissues of the 74 sea cucumbers released in one of the hatcheries with a dye to distinguish them from any new individuals that appeared. Twenty-one months later, they counted 34 new sea cucumbers that did not bear the stain. Meñez says the larvae of marine invertebrates such as sea cucumbers use chemical cues to find a place to settle and grow into juveniles, and these cues can come from individuals of the same species. She thinks it's likely that the presence of the released adults led to recruitment of new sea cucumbers into the hatchery. As well as observing an increase in sea cucumbers, the farmers saw a rise in the presence of other animals. Gemma Candelario and Marivic Carolino, who raise mangroves in a neighbouring village, started monitoring and guarding cucumbers in their area in 2022. Within two years, they say, they noticed more species of sea cucumbers and fish arriving. "The sea cucumbers would eat waste [cleaning the ecosystem] so that's why more fish would appear," says Candelario. "Some fish would lay eggs in our mangroves and other animals would appear such as crabs and shrimp… So this is a big help for us fisherfolk." Maria Louella Tinio However, extreme weather events such as typhoons would scatter the cucumbers beyond the ranch, delaying harvests, says Candelario and other fisherfolk. There were also poachers from other neighbourhoods. "I once caught someone who was not from our group trying to take our sea cucumbers and I had to reprimand them," says Carolino. "There were some people who, even after telling them off, would leave for a short time but come back the next day." Candelario and Carolino enlisted in the farming project in 2022, but say they have yet to witness a substantial harvest. In fact, between 2008, a year into the programme, and 2018, just 467kg in wet weight (14kg when dried) was collected over 11 harvests. During the peak of sea cucumber farming in the 1980s one person would have been able to collect this in just four days. This entire harvest is worth just $558 (£438) and was split between the 30 or so farmers involved in the project. It's low compared to what farmers can earn from other marine invertebrates in Bolinao, such as the common shrimp, squid and octopus. "It [sea cucumber farming] cannot be their main livelihood because the money is slow," says Wilfredo Uy, director of the Sea Cucumber Research and Development Center at Mindanao State University at Naawan in the southern Philippines. "We promote it as a [supplementary] livelihood." Uy oversees a separate set of sea cucumber farms in Naawan, including a hatchery and ranch the centre has managed with local communities since 2011. Lean harvests are also common in these farms, he says. Maria Louella Tinio Along with storms and poachers, the location of sites can be a factor too, says Jon Altamirano, a sandfish and sea cucumber expert from the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center. Altamirano helps communities manage sea cucumber farms in the Philippines' Negros Island: when choosing the farms' locations, he says, communities with their own needs and preferences can sometimes disagree with the best choice based on environmental assessments. He recounts a time his team were pushing for a farm in one particular area of the coast. "We went ahead... with our gadgets and said this is a good site, but nobody in the community would agree to put pens in there," he says. It turned out it was a passing area for boats, where locals would also park the boats in stormy weather, he says. "So you need to have this consensus of traditional knowledge plus your scientific information." Despite the obstacles, though, Altamirano says the benefits of growing sea cucumbers cascade to the wider environment. "The good thing about a sea cucumber sea ranch is that you don't only protect sea cucumbers, [but] the whole ecosystem," he says. "They're protecting the farm, [the] seagrass and everything living in the seagrass." The researchers from all the sea cucumber farms emphasise that the social impact on the communities was their most valuable milestone. "For me resilience is not just resilience of ecosystems," says Meñez. "It has to be the resilience of the coastal communities and the ecosystems they depend on." More like this: • Is this the end for Easter Island's Moai statues? • The houses built to survive typhoons • How sponges help Zanzibar women In January 2025, the provincial government approved an ordinance which officially declared an exclusive sea cucumber reserve for the three fishing villages under the UPMSI restocking programme. The law restricts harvesting or trading sea cucumbers from the area weighing less than 320g (11oz), a ballpark weight for a mature sea cucumber. It also serves as a commitment from the local government to continue financially supporting sea cucumber farming in Bolinao. Women in particular play a big role in the sea cucumber farms. In Negros Island, it is mostly women and children who raise the sea cucumbers, monitor and record their data, scatter them in their ranch and guard them from poachers. In Bolinao, women lead the responsibilities of monitoring the size and weight of the cucumbers, and they guard the sea cucumbers when men, who usually do this, need to do other work. "We do this to make a living to support our children, so our husbands won't shoulder the burden alone," says Carolino. "It's not just the men who can work, because anything the men can do, us women can do as well." When asked why they continue their work despite not yet earning much, several of the farmers told me they feel fulfilled simply by seeing the sea cucumbers grow. "It makes me happy to see the ones I've cared for grow bigger, and to see more of them," says Candelario. "We've raised thousands and we see them clearly during the monitoring period. I can't help but be glad to see how many they've grown to become." Caasi still misses her husband every time she takes her post at the guard house alone, but says she is glad his work will live on. "As my husband used to say, 'No retreat, no surrender'." -- For essential climate news and hopeful developments to your inbox, sign up to the Future Earth newsletter, while The Essential List delivers a handpicked selection of features and insights twice a week. For more science, technology, environment and health stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram.
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Veterinarian issues stark warning after making heartbreaking discovery inside dolphin's stomach: 'It's a wake-up call'
A short-finned pilot whale died after consuming nearly a kilogram of plastic waste, including grocery bags and plastic containers, in the waters off Pangasinan, Philippines, reported the Cebu Daily News. The species of dolphin was discovered by local fisherfolk who found it weak and struggling to swim. The animal died despite rescue attempts, according to Hasmin Chogsayan, a veterinarian with the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR). A necropsy revealed the shocking amount of plastic waste in the animal's stomach. "The plastic was already blackened, suggesting these had been lodged in the stomach for a long time," Chogsayan told the Cebu Daily News. The dolphin likely starved to death, unable to absorb nutrients as the plastic blocked its digestive system. "This is not just an isolated incident; it's a wake-up call. Every piece of plastic we carelessly discard has the potential to kill," Chogsayan said. Since the beginning of this year, six dolphins have been stranded along the shores of the Ilocos region, with four of them dying. When you throw away plastic, it doesn't just disappear. It often ends up in our oceans, where marine animals mistake it for food. Dolphins don't chew their food but swallow it whole, making them particularly vulnerable to mistaking floating plastic bags for prey like squid or jellyfish. Once ingested, the plastic causes internal injuries and blocks the digestive system. It tricks the animal's brain into thinking it's full, so it stops eating. This leads to starvation even though their stomachs are full — just with indigestible plastic instead of nutritious food. And if it's not swallowed by wildlife, plastic pollution breaks down over time into microplastics. In its smaller form, it more easily enters the food chain — via smaller species, soil, water, and even air — and eventually reaches our dinner plates. Researchers have found microplastics in human brains, bloodstreams, and even semen, leading to significant public health concerns around the unknown effects the microplastics may cause in the long term. Do you think America has a plastic waste problem? Definitely Only in some areas Not really I'm not sure Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. You can make simple lifestyle changes that reduce the amount of plastic waste in our oceans. Start by bringing reusable shopping bags to the store instead of plastic grocery bags — the type that killed this dolphin. Consider purchasing a reusable water bottle to cut down on the number of single-use plastics you go through. When ordering takeout, request no plastic utensils if you're eating at home. Communities worldwide are taking action, too. Many coastal areas have implemented beach cleanup programs where you can volunteer. The BFAR has urged fish cage operators and coastal communities to properly dispose of plastic packaging and stop throwing trash into the sea. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
