A sea cucumber venture in Zanzibar seeks to balance business and conservation

On Tanzania's Pemba Island, the community of Shamiani has partnered with aquaculture company Asili since 2022 to ranch sea cucumbers inside locally protected marine areas, aiming to restore depleted coastal ecosystems while generating export income. About 300 of the village's roughly 900 adults have joined the cooperative, building patrol and monitoring infrastructure largely themselves.

Sea cucumbers fetch $70-$80 per kilogram fresh at the beach for Asian luxury food and nutraceutical markets, but a conservation expert cautions against communities becoming overly dependent on one commodity subject to price swings. Tanzania alone exported nearly 500,000 kilograms of dried sea cucumber to Hong Kong between 2012 and 2019, part of a regional trade already straining wild populations.

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