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Harvest method does not affect survival and condition during gonad enhancement of an overabundant sea urchin

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journal contribution
posted on 2019-01-01, 00:00 authored by F Warren-Myers, S E Swearer, David FrancisDavid Francis, Giovanni Turchini, T Dempster
Interest in sea urchin roe enhancement aquaculture is growing due to an increased global demand for high-quality roe that is suitable for export to international markets. Yet, fine-tuning of efficient collection methods and improved growing techniques are still key bottlenecks to industry success. Urchins suitable for roe enhancement are generally collected from rocky barrens where they occur in high densities. Few studies have investigated the efficiency of methods used to collect urchins from barrens or the associated short- and long-term handling effects due to collection methods. Here, we tested 2 methods to collect the purple sea urchin Heliocidaris erythrogramma, a species that is highly abundant in barrens in temperate waters and which is a viable candidate for roe enhancement aquaculture. We assessed short- and long-term survival, external urchin condition and final gonad indices after 12 wk of roe enhancement. Divers using a 3-pronged hook and catch bag collected urchins 1.9 times faster (392 urchins h-1) than careful hand collection (207 urchins h-1). Collection method did not significantly influence mortality rate, external health or gonad indices after 12 wk of roe enhancement. Our results show that H. erythrogramma in barrens is robust to rapid mechanical collection by divers, which increases its suitability as a candidate capture-based aquaculture species.

History

Journal

Aquaculture environment interactions

Volume

11

Pagination

143 - 148

Publisher

Inter Research

Location

Oldendorf, Germany

ISSN

1869-215X

eISSN

1869-7534

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2019, The authors