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B&che-de-mer, the processed sea cucumbers are one of the export oriented fishery products of Sri
Lanka for centuries. This study identified the major steps of sea cucumber processing and their
limitations. Data were collected from sea cucumber processors at Puttalam, Mannar, Kilinocchi
and Jaffna districts from September 2015 to March 2016 through direct observations and
questionnaires. Sea cucumber processing, which takes 5-10 days, mainly involves cleaning,
evisceration, first boiling, salting, second boiling and drying. Some variations in processing steps
were observed among species. Sea cucumbers are cleaned before evisceration to remove slime
and sand particles on their body. In most species, evisceration is done making a small cut at the
posterior end of the body, however, in the teat fish this cut is made along the midline of dorsal
body. In Stichopus spp., the internal organs are removed squeezing the animal or placing a slit in
the ventral side. Boiling duration varies with species. The highest boiling time was reported for
Holothuria scabra (24 ± 13 minutes) followed by T. anax( 16 ± 6 minutes). Average boiling time
for Bohadschia spp. ranged from 9 ± 5 minutes and it was ~ 13 minutes for Stichopus spp. Most
processors (87 %) used saline water as the boiling medium while others used fresh water. Most
species are boiled together except Bohadschia sp. and H. atra. All sea cucumbers are salted after
boiling for 1-2 days. Both iodinated (86.67 %) and non-iodinated (13.33 %) salts are used and 5
kg of salts are used for 100 pieces. Salted products are boiled once again for around 5 ± 3
minutes. Sun drying is the widely practiced drying method. Drying time ranged from 3 to 5 days.
Around 73.3 % of surveyed processors completed full processing, while others only completed
partial processing. It was evident that post-harvest losses were 5 - 8 % at the end of the
processing cycle. Malpractices during processing such as improper evisceration, intentional
adding of sand, over-salting, mixing low-value species with high-value species and poor hygiene
practices were identified as some limitations of existing methods.
