Restocking and ranching of the purple sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus on the west coast of Ireland
This report describes a reseeding trial run on the west coast of Ireland as part of the URCHIN project. The report concludes that possibilities of reseeding over fished areas in Ireland and investigating long-term stock enhancement may be a possibility for cooperatives in regional and peripheral areas to
diversify form commercial fishing and harvesting of shellfish.
This trial was carried out in conjunction with two project associated partners (Mullaghmore
Seafarm & Treanbeg Shellfish) who are active in both aquaculture and fisheries, with these
two licensed sites there may be the possibilities to continue and increase numbers of sea urchins
seeded out.
The results are promising from this study however further research and in-depth investigation
is required into restocking sea urchins as a means of aquaculture production due to the cryptic
behavior of the different size classes of juvenile sea urchins and their interaction with the
exposed high energy rockpool environment.