Sea cucumbers are a valued food source in Asia, and are harvested in their natural environment in Canada's coastal areas. Their soft, cylindrical bodies and leather-like skin made them difficult to process into saleable product, which in turn posed a significant challenge to the development of a sea cucumber industry in Atlantic Canada.

Determined to deal with the challenges of this shape shifting seafood, Fogo Island Co-operative Society Ltd, partnered with CCFI and Fisheries and Marine Institute researchers to develop several prototypes of equipment that could successfully process the sea cucumbers with maximum yield.

CCFI now holds the patent to a prototype that successfully processes sea cucumber, which is being manufactured by C&W Industrial Fabrication & Marine Equipment Ltd., a fabrication company in Bay Bulls, and is being put to use in multiple processing plants.