Sea cucumber aquaculture is a growing industry in Asia, driven by demand for a luxury food ingredient. Understanding the welfare status of sea cucumbers and the environmental implications of their farming is relevant to seafood choice.
Sea cucumber welfare represents a case where the sentience evidence is very weak and the conservation and ecological dimensions of their production are more clearly important than individual welfare. The welfare of wild sea cucumber populations is most clearly threatened through harvest pressure that removes ecologically important animals from reefs and sediments they depend on for their processing functions. Farmed sea cucumbers in appropriate conditions may have lower welfare concerns than wild-caught animals, but integrated multi-trophic systems that support wider ecosystem health are preferable from a broader welfare perspective.