Sea cucumbers are good bets for fish farmers wanting to find the new "gold" in aquaculture at the selling price of US$180 to 250 per kilogram (12,000 per kg) in the United States, a Department of Agriculture press release said. This has driven Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center Aquaculture Department, a research center based in Iloilo, to develop the hatchery, nursery and grow-out technologies of the sea cucumber Holothuria scabra. This was done to minimize the overexploitation of the wild fisheries on which the sea cucumber trade depends, the press release said.

'Gold' seen in sea cucumbers. (2010, May 14). The Visayan Daily Star, p. 15.