[8] Holothuria mexicana is a food source for people, and is actively caught for consumption off the shores of Nicaragua, Panama and Venezuela.

[4] During spawning, females forcefully expel all their eggs into the water in a single burst from their gonopore (the opening where gametes are released).

[6] In Panama, the species has a low economic value due to its tough and rigid texture but is fished because of decline of other commercial sea cucumbers.

[7] In 1997, 25 fishers took part in a 30-day fishing period where over 750,000 sea cucumbers of three species (H. mexicana, Isostichopus badionotus, Astichopus multifidus) were caught.

Holothuria mexicana have small population sizes and were in high risk of collapse in the area if the same level of fishing had continued.

Illegal fishing continued, however, as 500 kg of H. mexicana worth US$150,000 was confiscated in the Archipelago Los Roques National Park in 1996.