Under the auspices of the Ocimer project, led by CIM-UVigo and funded by the Biodiversity Foundation
With an average catch of around 600 tonnes per year and more than five million euros in sales during 2020, Galicia is currently the largest region in Europe in sea urchin production. France, Germany and Belgium are the main countries to which sea urchins harvested in Galicia are exported, where since the end of 2019 the staff of the Marine Research Centre of the University of Vigo (CIM-UVigo) has been leading the Ocimer project, Optimization of the integral culture and the repopulation methodology of the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus, funded by the Pleamar programme of the Biodiversity Foundation with around 150,000 euros.
The project was launched at the end of 2019 with the general objective of implementing new optimized cultivation techniques and sea urchin repopulation methodologies, as well as the recovery of populations in overexploited areas of the Vigo estuary and associated fishing activity. After carrying out larval cultures for almost two years and testing different breeding conditions, settlement inducers and diets, the team of researchers, led by the director of Ecimat José Manuel García Estévez, and in which the expert in cryopreservation and biobanking Estefanía Paredes Rosendo also participates, obtained 29,000 specimens of the species P. lividus, which in recent months have been used to repopulate an area of the coast of Cangas do Morrazo, in the exploitation area of the San Xosé fishermen’s guild, and in which there was an abundant sea urchin population, but which has greatly decreased in recent years. “The repopulation was carried out in two rounds, the first release of 9,000 specimens was carried out in April and the second of 20,000 was carried out this July,” confirms Noelia Tourón, technician responsible for the Ocimer project, which is moving forward with carrying out a new repopulation at the end of the year.
Technological innovation and new techniques for identifying released hedgehogs
The repopulation methodologies developed under Ocimer with the aim of recovering natural sea urchin banks require, assure those responsible for the project, technological innovation, as well as the implementation of new techniques for individual identification of urchins released into the natural environment, which allow aspects such as the growth of the released specimens, their behavior, movements, population dynamics, etc. to be monitored and thus carry out monitoring that makes it possible to verify the success of the repopulation carried out in a given habitat.
“The individual marking/identification mechanism of the released specimens must be easily distinguishable, have a high retention rate and minimal impact on both the survival and growth of the released urchins and their behavior”, points out Noelia Tourón, who confirms that under the auspices of the project, different marking experiments of P. lividus have been carried out, both in captivity and in the natural environment, obtaining good results with one of the specific marks. After the restockings carried out in the months of April and July, the technician responsible for the project confirms that dives will be carried out periodically with the aim of monitoring the evolution of the coastal population where the juvenile specimens were introduced and thus evaluating their development and integration into the ecosystem.
Ocimer rematará en novembro de 2021, logo de dous anos de actividade, aínda que os responsables do proxecto solicitaron unha ampliación de oito meses á Fundación Biodiversidade co fin de prolongar o período de seguimento das repoboacións realizadas e poñer en marcha outras actividades complementarias. Durante o tempo de rodaxe do proxecto Tourón agradece “ao persoal do CIM-Ecimat o seu apoio, á confraría de pescadores San Xosé de Cangas a súa participación nos labores de marcaxe e repoboación dos ourizos e ao Parque Nacional das Illas Atlánticas de Galicia a súa colaboración co proxecto”, detalla.
The research activity of the CIM is supported by the Xunta de Galicia and the European Union through their co-financing under the Galicia ERDF Operational Programme 2014–2020.
Source: DUVI
