Supply Chain and Cost-Benefit Analyses of the Community- Based Sea Cucumber Hatchery in Davao del Sur, Philippines

Sea cucumbers provide an important contribution to the livelihoods of some coastal communities in the Philippines. Due to high and increasing demand in the export market, which led to the depletion of wild stocks, increased hatchery efforts are done to restore production. In Brgy. Bato, Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur, a community-based sea cucumber hatchery was established. This study aims to determine the status of sea cucumber trade in the area though supply chain analysis. Moreover, to identify the sustainability of its operation and for a potential scale-up, cost-benefit analysis was employed. Cost of production is based on the projected cost by the hatchery operation and not the actual financial support provided by the funding agencies to eliminate the issue of over-compensation. Results of the study revealed that sea cucumbers are marketed in two forms: wet (unprocessed) and dried (processed). The study also identified and described the actors involved in the supply chain, namely, gleaners, divers, fishers, middlemen, traders, exporters, and consumers. The cost-benefit analysis showed that the profit per production cycle is PhP 62,355. From an initial investment cost amounting to PhP 171,405, the return on investement was at 36.38%. The break-even point in terms of revenue is at PhP 10,997, having a safety margin of 87%. The study shows that community-based sea cucumber hatchery is a viable option especially for smallholder fishers. However, it may only work with proper management and adequate support from relevant government agencies, private stakeholders, and non-government organizations

Sea Cucumber Fishery and Trade in Sta. Cruz, Davao Del Sur, Philippines: Supply Chains and Cost-Benefit Analyses

In the country, sea cucumbers are exploited almost exclusively for export. It is harvested in three ways; commercial fishing, artisanal fishing and gleaning. These methods provide disproportionate economic benefits to these players in the supply chain. In this study, sea ranching, a new culture system for sea cucumber was analyzed in terms of its economic and commercial viability. Under the sea ranching system Holothuriascabra(sandfish) is the species being raised mainly due to its high economic value. Under the traditional method, labor comprises the largest share in the total cost, while the cost of juvenile and labor (monitoring cost) accounts to almost 87% in the sea ranching system. Based on the results of the study, selling dried sandfish would gain positive net profit, while selling wet sandfish will incur a net loss. A significant difference in income was also observed between fishers who rely on traditional method and those who will adopt the new system. Sea ranching system is a very promising method that is expected to be beneficial both to the community and the environment. However, high capital requirement, uninformed community and the lack of support from the government and concerned agencies remains to be a big challenge

Flower Development

Flowers are the most complex structures of plants. Studies of Arabidopsis thaliana, which has typical eudicot flowers, have been fundamental in advancing the structural and molecular understanding of flower development. The main processes and stages of Arabidopsis flower development are summarized to provide a framework in which to interpret the detailed molecular genetic studies of genes assigned functions during flower development and is extended to recent genomics studies uncovering the key regulatory modules involved. Computational models have been used to study the concerted action and dynamics of the gene regulatory module that underlies patterning of the Arabidopsis inflorescence meristem and specification of the primordial cell types during early stages of flower development. This includes the gene combinations that specify sepal, petal, stamen and carpel identity, and genes that interact with them. As a dynamic gene regulatory network this module has been shown to converge to stable multigenic profiles that depend upon the overall network topology and are thus robust, which can explain the canalization of flower organ determination and the overall conservation of the basic flower plan among eudicots. Comparative and evolutionary approaches derived from Arabidopsis studies pave the way to studying the molecular basis of diverse floral morphologies