Processing and its impacts on proximate composition and fatty acid profile of six sea cucumber species; and sp. 1 collected from the northwest coast of Sri Lanka were analyzed. Sea cucumbers are processed into -- by both domestic and industrial level processors following the similar steps of cleaning, evisceration, first boiling, salting, second boiling and drying. However, domestically processed -- always reported a higher percentage of moisture, crude ash, crude fat and lower percentage of crude protein than industrially processed products. Although processing resulted in a significant reduction of total SFA and MUFA in fresh individuals of most of these species, total PUFA increased significantly in processed individuals excluding species. Palmitic acid was found to be the most dominant fatty acid in all these species followed by eicosapentaenoic acid, which showed a significant increase in processed products, except sp. 1. Total MUFA were higher than total SFA in all sea cucumber species having exceptions in sp.1 and fresh These findings will make a significant contribution to fill the gaps in existing information as no any previous information is available for species like and.

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Although Hyporhamphus limbatus is found in several lowland reservoirs of Sri Lanka, due to gear restrictions imposed through fisheries regulations, this species remains unexploited or under-exploited in spite of having a good consumer preference. Population dynamics of H. limbatus in two Sri Lankan reservoirs, namely Minneriya and Udawalawe were investigated in the present study. Length frequency data of H. limbatus caught in shore seine nets of mesh sizes 1 mm, 5 mm and 7 mm were analysed using FiSAT software package and the von Bertalanffy growth parameters were estimated for non-seasonalised growth. Asymptotic total length was 155.4 mm for Minneriya and 156.4 mm for Udawalawe. Growth constants of H. limbatus for Minneriya and Udawalawe were 1.37 and 1.09 year-1 respectively. High total mortality rates (4.90 in Minneriya and 3.01 in Udawalawe), which are equivalent to production/biomass ratio indicate that both stocks can withstand heavy fishing. Relative yield-per-recruit (Y'/R) analyses indicate that at present these stocks are under-exploited and that by increasing size at first capture to about 70 mm, Y'/R can be optimized at the exploitation rate of 0.6. The shore seine nets of 5 mm mesh sizes can be used to exploit H. limbatus in both reservoirs. However, juveniles of exotic cichlids and other non-target species caught in the nets are needed to be released back to reservoirs.

The fish resources in reservoirs of Sri Lanka are not efficiently harvested due to various reasons such as gear and mesh restrictions and consumer preference. However, there is a potential for augmenting reservoir fisheries production by exploiting under-exploited and unexploited fish resources in reservoirs. In the present study, an attempt was made to investigate whether shore seining could be effectively used for differential exploitation of small indigenous fish species in three Sri Lankan reservoirs. It was found that shore seining was not effective for catching all species present in reservoirs. The index of relative importance determined for fish species indicated that apart from the differences between reservoirs, their relative importance in the shore seine catches was influenced by the water level of the reservoir. It is evident from the present study that in order to establish a fishery for this under-exploited species, shore seining is the appropriate fishing strategy. However, such a fishery is needed to be strictly managed for preventing indiscriminate exploitation of exotic cichlids in Sri Lankan reservoirs, which form productive fisheries.

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Bêche-de-mer (dried sea cucumbers) is considered as one of the most luxurious seafood in the world. The market demand for bêche-de-mer mainly depends on species and product quality. This study is aimed at assessing the effect of different processing methods on the product quality and nutritional composition of bêche-de-mer. Three sea cucumber species, Stichopus naso, Holothuria spinifera, and Bohadschia vitiensis, dominant in the commercial catches of Sri Lanka, were processed by following widely practiced local processing methods where 24, 48, and 24 different processing combinations were tested for each species, respectively. Bêche-de-mer satisfying the export quality were selected by considering their appearance and overall ranking made by exporters (9 individuals per each combination). The proximate composition of these products was assessed using standard methods. According to the exporters’ prioritization, very few processing methods used in this study resulted in the export-quality bêche-de-mer. Both product quality and proximate composition showed considerable variations with respect to the processing methods. It is proved that even a very small change in one processing step could lead to produce poor-quality products. Processing methods are species specific, and it is important to select the most appropriate method for each species to produce high-quality bêche-de-mer.