Falling sea urchin population raises concern (Canada)

[jpak]

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=147973&ac=PHnws

SAINT JOHN, New Brunswick — They look as appetizing as a cactus and taste like low tide, but not even that has been enough to keep New Brunswick's green sea urchins out of a prickly predicament.
Dredged from the bottom of the Bay of Fundy and shipped to sushi bars in Japan, the urchins command such high prices that their population might be slipping.

Just weeks away from the start of the annual season, there is debate between New Brunswick fishermen and scientists over the risk posed by catching too many of the invertebrates, once considered a nuisance by some of the same fishermen who now pursue them.

Ten years ago, New Brunswickers hauled in about 4.2 million pounds of sea urchins with a market value of a little more than $4 million. In 2006, those figures fell to 2 million pounds and $1.8 million.

The story is similar to what happened in Maine, where the harvest rose rapidly in the early 1990s before peaking at more than 41 million pounds in 1993. By last year, landings had fallen to less than 3.4 million pounds, the smallest harvest in 20 years.

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