{"id":224542,"date":"2025-10-28T15:25:37","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T01:25:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=224542"},"modified":"2025-10-28T15:25:37","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T01:25:37","slug":"native-hawaiian-sea-cucumber","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/10\/28\/native-hawaiian-sea-cucumber\/","title":{"rendered":"$1.1M to boost Native Hawaiian sea cucumber spawning"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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CTAHR<\/abbr>, SOEST<\/abbr>, the Waikalua Loko Iʻa<\/span> fishpond and Kauaʻi<\/span> Sea Farms are working together to cultivate more sea cucumbers in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>. (Photo credit: Andre Seale)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at Mānoa has secured a nearly $1.1 million grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to unlock reliable spawning techniques for a Native Hawaiian sea cucumber species, the warty sea cucumber (stichopus horrens<\/i>).<\/p>\n

The project aims to address a major barrier in developing sustainable aquaculture in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> and supporting traditional Hawaiian fishpond (loko iʻa<\/span>) restoration efforts. It is a partnership between UH<\/abbr>’s College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience<\/a> (CTAHR<\/abbr>) and UH<\/abbr> Sea Grant College Program<\/a> (Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Sea Grant).<\/p>\n

A growing global aquaculture market<\/h2>\n
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The Tuahine Aquatic Research and Education Center is home to leading-edge research into Hawaiian sea cucumbers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sea cucumbers, which are related to starfish, have a global market of nearly $1 billion, primarily as food and medicinal products. Overfishing has severely depleted them in the ocean. In Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>, the lack of dependable methods for breeding local species has been the primary hurdle to commercial aquaculture of this marine animal.<\/p>\n

“We plan to address key barriers to the controlled spawning of sea cucumbers in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> by focusing on protocols to induce egg development and spawning in captivity,” said lead principal investigator Andre P. Seale, a researcher and professor in CTAHR<\/abbr>’s Department of Human Nutrition Food and Animal Sciences<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The project integrates UH<\/abbr>’s research and extension resources—which use university knowledge to create solutions in communities—with cultural and industry partners, including the Pacific American Foundation’s Waikalua Loko Iʻa<\/span> fishpond and Kauaʻi<\/span> Sea Farms. This combined effort is designed to rapidly advance research findings into reliable food production methods and conservation restocking.<\/p>\n

This award builds on recent foundational research by the team that was published in General and Comparative Endocrinology<\/i><\/a>. That work identified a protein that causes eggs to mature in the warty sea cucumber, providing the scientific framework for the current project.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UH<\/abbr> has secured a nearly $1.1 million grant to unlock reliable spawning techniques for a Native Hawaiian sea cucumber species, the warty sea cucumber.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":224408,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[1246,212,1363,92,635,9,438],"class_list":["post-224542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-aquaculture","tag-college-of-tropical-agriculture-and-human-resilience","tag-manoa-research","tag-school-of-ocean-and-earth-science-and-technology","tag-sea-grant-college-program","tag-uh-manoa","tag-uh-sea-grant","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t