Sea Cucumber Consultancy has assembled a strong team of personnel, each with unique skill sets, to ensure the delivery of a high value solution for client projects. Our staff make available, over 30 years of experience and research in commercial sea cucumber aquaculture technology. This ensures that you receive advice that is the most practical, and cost effective for your business.

Dr. Giraspy studied as an undergraduate at Madurai Kamaraj University, obtaining his Degree in Biology in 1985 He went on to obtain his masters degree in 1987. In 1988 he was awarded his Master of Philosophy from the Manonmaniam Sundaranar University.

After working in aquaculture field for some years he went on to pursue PhD studies in Aquatic Biology and Fisheries at Kerala University, and was awarded his doctorate in 1996. Later he continued his postdoctoral studies in Fishery Biology and molecular biology in Taiwan at the Academia Sinica one of the leading research institute in Taiwan.

He has over 15 years experience in sea cucumber aquaculture commercial technology development and operations management in Australia, Republic of Maldives and India. He developed the first commercial tropical sea cucumber hatchery in the Maldives during 1998.

In 2002 he used his experience to develop the first sea cucumber hatchery in Australia, which is supported by Federal Govt. of Australia under Innovation Programme to commercialise the sea cucumber aquaculture technology. As hatchery manager he has produced millions of tropical sea cucumber juveniles for sea-ranching.

He is responsible for the development of Sea Cucumber Consultancy’s unique commercial production technologies for the most valuable tropical sea cucumbers Holothuria scabra (sandfish) and Holothuria versicolor (Golden sandfish).

As the Principal Consultant he oversees all aspects of a project.

Dr. Walsalam completed her Bachelor of Science (Biology) degree at Madurai Kamaraj University in 1991. She studied for her Masters degree at Manonmaniam Sundaranar University which was awarded in 1993.

Her outstanding achievement in her studies was rewarded when she won the Senior Research Fellowship of the Indian Council of Agriculture Research. The award was sponsored by the Marine Product Export Development Authority of India. The research project was in the area of Seed production and sea ranching of commercially important sea cucumbers.

Dr. Walsalam provides more than 15 years of sea cucumber aquaculture expertise, and technical assistance on commercial projects. During her training at the Central Marine Fisheries Institute she gained wide experience in sea cucumber aquaculture, laboratory scientific methods and also participated in several aquaculture projects.

She did her research in sea cucumber aquaculture technology development for her Ph.D. studies that mainly focused on improving sea cucumber larval survival and settlement. Her areas of expertise include live feed production, larval growth management, juvenile rearing, project coordination and research and development.

Her international experience has been in the Maldives and Australia where she has managed sea cucumber larval production and grow out stages. She has also provided sandfish aquaculture training for associated technicians and managed environmental sampling and monitoring as well as live feed production, larval rearing and nursery management.

Dr. Raj Kumar graduated from M. S. University with a Master of Science in Zoology during the year 1989. After his graduation he continued his research on marine invertebrates of the coastal regions of Tamil Nadu and Kerala states of India. Later during 1995 he started his Doctoral research in Echinoderms at the University College of Kerala University and completed during 2003.

Dr. Raj brings more than 8 years of laboratory and field research experience on echinoderms especially sea cucumbers. His specialisation as a Research Scholar in the University of Kerala was conducting population studies of shallow water echinoderms in relation to environmental and biological characteristics of the coastal region and also analysing their Pharmacological properties. In addition to this he has conducted extensive studies on seasonal water quality parameters of coastal areas along south west coast of India.

His specialisation in aquaculture includes, but is not limited to, site selection, water quality management, environmental monitoring, hatchery production issues, animal health and physiology, microbiology and biochemistry . He implements protocols that enhance productivity in the hatchery and nursery conditions. Based on the results of his research, he determines the best approach for achieving improvement in water quality parameters in the culture systems and grow-out requirements in the aquatic environment.

Dr. Kumar helps construct farming management strategies for sea cucumber grow-out areas (ponds and lagoons) by analysing physico-chemical, biological and substratum characteristics. He also identifies suitable areas for sea ranching and performs grow-out monitoring surveys, throughout the grow-out period.

Dr. Mary is a vibrant specialist in marine invertebrates. She did her Bachelors in Zoology, Masters in Marine Biotechnology, Post-graduate diploma & Master of Philosophy in Coastal Aquaculture and Doctorate in Marine Biotechnology from Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, India (1992-2005). Her PhD topic was on marine invertebrates and she continued her invertebrate research into the environmental monitoring of all invertebrates including sea cucumbers.

Dr. Mary does all her research using SCUBA and has diving experience in almost the entire east and west coasts of India including the Lakshadweep islands, Hong Kong, Maldives, Thailand and the Middle East. This helps her to monitor and compare the morphological, behavioral and growth characteristics of farmed sea cucumber juveniles in the pond and natural sea conditions.

Her talents were proved by Department of Biotechnology, New Delhi in providing her the Junior Research Fellowship in 1998-2000 to study the lobster larval rearing technology. Her focus and expertise is on invertebrates especially marine sponges, octocorals, sea cucumbers and the eco-assessment studies on the biophysical monitoring of coral reefs and sea cucumbers along with the studies on the developmental aspects of sea cucumber rearing technology.

Miss. Sholin is a young, dynamic Microbiologist. She studied for her Bachelors degree in Microbiology at the Manonmanian University, and was awarded her qualification in 2006. She then went on to complete her Masters Degree in 2008 at the Bharathidasan University.

Her special area of expertise involves the isolation of microbes and the identification of chemotherapeutic agents for the control of pathogenic microbes. She maintains her interest in disease management and systems and practices involved in bio-security to strengthen biological risk management.