Construction of sea urchin hatchery underway

Norway
Monday, April 16, 2001
http://fis.com/fis/aquaculture/

Norwegian scientists, with money from private investors and funds from EU grants, are building the first commercial sea urchin hatchery in the country. The scientists have studied sea urchin spawning habits for almost 10 years.

The hatchery is being built in Bodų in conjunction with a new marine research centre.

Sea urchin farming is expected to produce top quality roe. In the wild sea urchin are plagued with different parasites, which undermine the quality of the gonades (roe) - the commercial part of the sea urchin. In a farm environment the percentage of roe can be increased. The feed used would be parasite- and bacteria-free, which means fewer parasite problems for the sea urchin.

With prices of up to NOK 2,000 per kilo paid in countries like Japan, sea urchin farming is a very interesting prospect. Only 40 - 50 sea urchin specimens are needed to produce one kilo of roe.

There have been a number of other not so successful "fattening" trials on wild caught sea urchin in Norway. Some smaller operations have harvested sea urchin and used them without first feeding them. Some of these projects are said to be covering themselves, in terms of costs, while some are said to be profitable. The largest "fattening" project on sea urchin harvested in the wild failed some time ago when all the stock died as a result of food poisoning.

Hatching sea urchin is the first stage in making this a commercial aquaculture industry. There is still a lack of knowledge regarding the feed requirements of larvae and the feeding of adult sea urchin, but spawning and hatching in a controlled environment is a very important step in the right direction.

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