Study shows Sea Urchins moving south

DPI Fisheries have just released a new paper showing the historical, current and projected densities of the Long-spined Sea Urchin along the eastern Australian coast.

This prominent New South Wales (NSW) sea urchin has been moving south to Victorian and Tasmanian waters in response to climate change.

The Long-spined Sea Urchin is native to NSW and is an important commercial species harvested by the NSW Sea Urchin and Turban Shell (SUTS) Fishery.

DPI Fisheries Scientist Tom Davis said the study shows how climate change may impact our coastal ecology.

“Under the business-as-usual climate change scenario, urchin densities will likely decrease in northern NSW and increase in Tasmania, Victoria, and on the far south NSW coast,” he said.

“Sea Urchins have been commercially fished for over 50 years. The barrens that the urchins form are part of the habitat mosaics of our rocky reef ecosystems.”

Dr Davis said DPI Fisheries has been researching this species and its habitat since the 1980s.

“There’s been a recent surge of attention on the urchin, largely due to its extension into Tasmania and Victoria and its ability to transform kelp forests to barrens,” he said.

A research summary on the New South Wales Barrens has been compiled summarising all the available scientific publications related to sea urchins in NSW.

This research summary contains decades of research and addresses key questions, such as:

• What are barrens?
• Are they increasing in NSW?
• How are barrens and fisheries related?
• How can we manage barrens in NSW? What do we still need to know?

This DPI Fisheries research is part of NSW Marine Estate Management Strategy Initiative 3 and is one of the many projects addressing the impact of climate change along the NSW coastline.

It can be found on the DPI website here.