Long-Term Variations and the Current Status of the Japanese Sea Cucumber, Apostichopus japonicus (Selenka, 1867), Population in Peter the Great Bay, Sea of Japan

Studies were carried out during the time when the Japanese sea cucumber (Apostichopus japonicus) population in Peter the Great, Sea of Japan, was in the recovery phase after the excessively high harvesting pressure (data of 1990), the severe sea cucumber poaching (in 2000), and the subsequent ease of poaching (in 2011 and 2023). The substantial changes in the habitat conditions for Japanese sea cucumbers caused pronounced fluctuations in the abundance and structure of their population. To date, the population has not fully recovered to the original level of its parameters and still needs careful protection.