The comparison of population density of Holothuria tubulosa (Gmelin, 1790) and Holothuria polii (Delle Chiaje, 1823) between exploited and non-exploited areas in the Aegean Sea coast of Türkiye

Increasing demand from the Asian market first led to collapse of economically valuable sea cucumber stocks in Indo-Pacific, and then shifted lower value Mediterranean species. The effect this change Türkiye started be seen after 2010s. To address it, we carried out a study compare population density most caught Holothuria tubulosa polii species between exploited non-exploited areas Aegean Sea coast Türkiye. was September 2018 March 2020 at 4 stations, two which are Çandarlı Bay, where fishing is free, İzmir it prohibited. Samplings 0-20 m depths were with underwater transect line technique, deeper than 20 m, beam trawling operations. A total 6 identified, including mammata, sanctori, Parastichopus regalis forskali species, apart target H. polii. Only one P. individual recorded samplings waters m. mean densities found higher Bay stations (p<0.05). results clearly reveal that sampling has decreased tens times compared last 5 years.