Research Document 2025/007
An Assessment of the Orange-Footed Sea Cucumber (Cucumaria frondosa) Resource on the St. Pierre Bank (NAFO subdivision 3Ps) in 2022
By Charmley, K., Baker, K.D., and Coughlan, E.
Abstract
The orange-footed sea cucumber (Cucumaria frondosa) is a species of holothurian widely distributed in the northern hemisphere, in both the North Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean. This species is mainly found at depths of 30 to 60 m, on hard rock, gravel, or shell substrates. There are two main sea cucumber concentrations on the Canadian portion of the St. Pierre Bank (Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization [NAFO] Subdivision 3Ps) - one northwest and one southeast of the French Economic Zone.
In 2003, a new sea cucumber fishery began, with eight harvesters given allocations (454 t) to explore potential commercial concentrations. As part of the emerging fisheries policy, the same eight fishers entered into a five-year Joint Project Agreement (JPA) with Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) to conduct a resource assessment survey from 2004 to 2008. This fishery formally transitioned to a commercial fishery in 2013. Allocation in the northwest area increased to 2,242 t in 2013, where it remains. The southeast area opened to fishing in 2017 with temporary licenses amounting to 3,773 t. This allocation increased to 4,717 t in 2019, where it remains.
The status of NAFO subdivision 3Ps sea cucumber was last updated in 2018. The update concluded that there was no scientific basis for assessing the risk of any increase in harvest level and that sustainable exploitation rates are unknown. In 2022, this resource status was assessed based on commercial catch data, emerging fishery survey (2004–08) and DFO sea cucumber surveys (2016, 2017, and 2022).
In 2022, landings were 2,065 t in the northwest area and 4,020 t in the southeast area. The unstandardized catch per unit effort (CPUE) has increased in both beds since the beginning of the fishery. There is some evidence that sea cucumbers may be decreasing in size in both areas throughout the time series. A spatiotemporal model was used to estimate biomass and abundance indices. In 2022, the biomass index for the northwest area was near the average observed during the emerging fishery (2004–08). In 2022, the biomass index for the southeast area remains below the average biomass index observed from 2004 to 2008. The abundance index in the northwest area has a general increasing trend since the beginning of the survey. The abundance index in the southeast area varied without trend throughout the time series. Exploitation rate indices are anticipated to remain relatively stable in 2023, assuming status-quo total allowable catch. However, sustainable exploitation rates of sea cucumber on the St. Pierre Bank are unknown. Given the uncertainty with the assessment of stock status of this species, there is no scientific basis for assessing the risk of the current or any change in the harvest level.
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