Red sea urchin fishery

2024 Economic profile of the red sea urchin fishery

Commercial fisheries overview

Over the past decade, the coastwide Total Allowable Catch (TAC) of red sea urchin has remained relatively steady at approximately 10 million pounds. In the 2023/2024 fishing season, 44% of the annual quota has been landed in the fishery. Separating 2023/2024 landed quota by area (North/South), 33% of available quota was landed in the North Coast licence area, compared to 80% in the South. Information by calendar year and fishing season will differ as the season crosses two calendar years.

All values are from 2023 compared to 2022 in 2024-dollars by calendar year, unless otherwise specified.

2023 and 2024 data and dollar values are considered preliminary and are subject to change.

Key metrics for the red sea urchin, all the values are from 2023 in 2024 dollars:

• Landed value ($6.3M), decreased by 11% since 2022.
• Wholesale value ($24.2M), increased by 62% since 2022.
• Active vessels (39), increased by 8% since 2022.
• Licence eligibilities (109, increased by 1% since 2022), 31 of these are communal commercial licences). Licence eligibilities represents the number of issued licences.
• Licence value ($290K), decreased by 11% since 2022.

Fishing season runs from August 1 to July 31 of the following year.

Red sea urchin quota (in pounds), landings (in pounds) and value (in 2024 dollars) by fishing season

Landings (lbs)

• 2012/2013 – 7.0M lbs
• 2013/2014 – 8.0M lbs
• 2014/2015 – 7.9M lbs
• 2015/2016 – 7.8M lbs
• 2016/2017 - 7.2M lbs
• 2017/2018 - 6.2M lbs
• 2018/2019 - 5.9M lbs
• 2019/2020 - 6.5M lbs
• 2020/2021 - 4.9M lbs
• 2021/2022 - 4.9M lbs
• 2022/2023 - 4.6M lbs
• 2023/2024 - 4.5M lbs

Quota (lbs)

• 2012/2013 - 10M lbs
• 2013/2014 - 10M lbs
• 2014/2015 - 10M lbs
• 2015/2016 - 10M lbs
• 2016/2017 - 9M lbs
• 2017/2018 – 10.5M lbs
• 2018/2019 – 10.4M lbs
• 2019/2020 - 10.4M lbs
• 2020/2021 - 10.5M lbs
• 2021/2022 - 10.5M lbs
• 2022/2023 - 10.5M lbs
• 2023/2024 - 10.3M lbs

Landed value (in millions of 2024$)

• 2012/2013 - $5.6M
• 2013/2014 - $6.4M
• 2014/2015 - $8.8M
• 2015/2016 - $8.7M
• 2016/2017 - $9.3M
• 2017/2018 - $7.8M
• 2018/2019 - $7.5M
• 2019/2020 - $6.7M
• 2020/2021 - $6.1M
• 2021/2022 - $6.1M
• 2022/2023 - $5.3M
• 2023/2024 - $5.1M

Commercial fishery BC red sea urchin - 2023 landed weight map (calendar year)

• North Area: 1.2M kilograms in total volume
• South Area: 746.6K kilograms in total volume

Income distribution of red sea urchin licence holders in active fisheries (2023)

In 2023, 33% of revenues for red sea urchin licences holders came from red sea urchin fishing, with the rest coming from sea cucumber (30%), geoduck (24%), green sea urchin (9%), prawns and shrimp (3%).

Exports:  Sea urchins (both red and green) are mainly shipped to overseas markets in Japan (41%) and China (25%), and, to a lesser extent, Hong Kong (9%), United States (8%), and Others (18%). Percentages are of total volume. Export volumes are from 2024.

$17.9M in value-added wholesaling and processing was generated by 17 companies located in B.C.

The red sea urchin fishery directly contributes $3.4M (GDP) to the provincial economy, with a direct employment and income contribution of 113 and $2.2M, respectively.

Red sea urchins are harvested for their reproductive organs (gonad) or “roe”.

PICFI is the Pacific Integrated Commercial Fisheries Initiative. Funding is provided to First Nations for capacity building, business development, and co-management.

PICFI supports First Nations participation in the red sea urchin fishery by providing funding and resources for developing and managing Commercial Fishing Enterprises (CFEs). Currently, 31 of the 109 licence eligibilities is held by First Nations.

The recreational fishery is a year-round open entry fishery. A DFO tidal waters sport fishing licence is required to enter. Red sea urchins must be handpicked. The daily limit for all urchin species combined is 20, with a possession limit of 24 and no size limit.