Grant: Engage Grants Program

The aquaculture industry in Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) has grown steadily since 2003 and is eager toexplore opportunities to diversify the range of seafood products it produces and distributes on regional,national, and international markets. The green sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis) thrives inshallow rocky habitats along the coast of NL. A green sea urchin fishery entirely dependent on wild harvest(manual collection) developed during the 1990s. However, success was, and still is, quite limited because ofhighly variable ""roe"" (the urchin's organ marketed for human consumption) contents of undernourished urchinscollected from low quality habitats and sent directly to markets. Novel approaches to consistent roe productionfrom green sea urchins harvested in natural habitats are required to unleash the high potential for a wealthyurchin aquaculture industry. Green Seafoods Ltd. (GSL), a leader in the aquaculture industry in NL, isinterested in knowing more on the suitability of a revolutionary feed for quick production of high volumes ofhigh-quality roe in green sea urchins from NL. In this project, we will examine in controlled laboratoryconditions how water temperature affects urchin health and survival, roe quantity and quality, and feedassimilation efficiency as a first step to determining if the feed can support a steady commercial roe production.Urchins at two different stages of their life cycle (before and after natural spawning) will be examined to helpidentify best practices. Information generated from this new industry collaboration will be used by the companyto examine the possibility of adding urchin roe to its production line to offer a competitive product oninternational markets when needed.