Trepanging is the collection or harvesting of sea cucumbers, also called "trepang". One who does this activity is called a trepanger.
Trepanging is comparable to clamming, crabbing, lobstering, musseling, shrimping and other forms of "fishing" whose goal is the acquisition of edible invertebrates rather than finfish.
Contents |
History
- See also: History of fishing
To supply the markets of Southern China, Muslim trepangers from Makassar, Indonesia traded with the Indigenous Australians of Arnhem Land from the early 1700s or before. This Macassan contact with Australia is the first recorded example of interaction between the inhabitants of the Australian continent and their Asian neighbours.[1]
This contact had a major impact on the Indigenous Australians. The Macassans exchanged goods such as cloth, tobacco, knives, rice and alcohol for the right to trepang coastal waters and employ local labour. Macassan pidgin became a lingua franca along the north coast among different Indigenous Australian groups who were brought into greater contact with each other by the seafaring Macassan culture.[1]
Remains of Macassan trepang processing plants from the 18th and 19th centuries can still be found at Australian locations such as Port Essington and Groote Eylandt, along with stands of tamarind trees (which are native to Madagascar and East Africa) introduced by the seafaring Muslims.[1]
Methods
Slow-moving creatures related to sea stars and sea urchins, sea cucumbers are found on the sea floor. As such, trepanging is accomplished by spearing, diving, dredging or simply picking the animals up by hand when they are exposed at low tide.
Traditionally, sea cucumbers were placed in boiling water before being dried and smoked to preserve the trepang for journey to market.
Commerce
While largely unknown in the English-speaking world, trepanging is an economically important activity in some areas of the globe, particularly Southeast Asia. Sea cucumber is considered a delicacy in Far East countries such as Malaysia, China, Japan, and Indonesia.
Besides being valued for flavour-enhancing properties, sea cucumber is widely regarded as a stimulant and aphrodisiac. There is evidence that its reputed medicinal properties may be true.[2]
Based upon the belief in the healing properties of trepang, pharmaceutical and cosmetics companies have developed pills, oils, and creams based on their extracts. The effectiveness of sea cucumber extract in tissue repair has been the subject of recent scientific study.[3]
See also
References
- ^ a b c MacKnight, CC (1976). The Voyage to Marege: Macassan Trepangers in Northern Australia. Melbourne University Press. ISBN 0522840884.
- ^ B. D. Fredalina, B. H. Ridzwan, A. A. Zainal Abidin, M. A. Kaswandi, H. Zaiton, I. Zali, P. Kittakoop and A. M. Mat Jais (October 1999). "Fatty acid compositions in local sea cucumber, Stichopus chloronotus, for wound healing". General Pharmacology 33 (4): 337–340. doi:. PMID 10523072.
- ^ B.H. Ridzwan , T.C. Leong and S.Z. Idid (2003). "The Antinociceptive Effects of Water Extracts from Sea Cucumbers Holothuria leucospilota Brandt, Bohadschia marmorata vitiensis Jaeger and Coelomic Fluid from Stichopus hermanii". Pakistan Journal of Biological Sciences 6 (24): 2068–2072. doi:.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
