Trepanger

A Macassan wooden sailboat or prau of the type trepangers have used for centuries.

Trepanging is the collection or harvesting of sea cucumbers, also called "trepang". One who does this activity is called a trepanger.

Trepanging is categorically comparable to clamming, crabbing, lobstering, musseling, shrimping and other forms of "fishing" whose goal is the acquistion of edible invertebrates rather than fish.

Whil largely unknown in the English-speaking world, trepanging is an economically important activity in some areas of the globe, particularlly Southeast Asia. Sea cucumber is considered a delicacy in Far East countries such as Malaysia, China, Japan, and Indonesia. It is also also believed to have medicinal properties.

Dried sea cucumber in a Chinese pharmacy

To supply the markets of Southern China, Macassan trepangers traded with the Indigenous Australians of Arnhem Land. This Macassan contact with Australia is the first recorded example of trade between the inhabitants of the Australian continent and their Asian neighbours.

Based upon the belief in the healing properties of trepang, pharmaceutical companies 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.