Sea cucumber harvest set to grace tables nationwide

DALIAN — At dawn, Lyu Dapeng skillfully put on a diving suit, strapped on an oxygen tank and jumped into the sea to harvest sea cucumbers from the seabed at an aquaculture farm on Wangjia Island in Liaoning province.

"The climate this year has produced a bumper harvest of sea cucumbers," the 36-year-old diver said as he picked up a plump example covered in large spikes.

In just half a day, Lyu was able to harvest more than 50 kilograms of sea cucumbers. He said that divers earn 16 yuan ($2.20) per kg, so he's able to make around 800 yuan a day.

The miniboom in farming the sea cucumber, which despite its name is in fact a marine animal, has enriched the residents of the island.

In the cold waters of the northern reaches of the Yellow Sea, where they live at depths of 20 meters, they can grow to considerable size and are harvested in the spring and autumn.

Sea cucumbers are nutritious and highly prized in Chinese cuisine, which explains their value. Once brought ashore, they are immediately taken to factories for processing to keep them fresh or to be dried.

Zhuanghe city, which administers Wangjia Island, aims to become a sea "grain barn" by developing its marine aquaculture. Located on the Liaodong peninsula, it is blessed with a healthy environment.

Zhuanghe had 55,867 hectares of fishery and aquaculture last year and harvested 573,400 metric tons of marine produce worth about 10.23 billion yuan.

This year's sea cucumber harvest is about to peak in Zhuanghe, and soon, boxes of its sea cucumbers will be sold and featured on dining tables nationwide.

Xinhua