Integrated Fisheries Management Plan summary
Sea Urchin by dive - Pacific Region 2025 to 2026
On this page
- Foreword
- General overview/introduction - IFMP Section 1
- Governance process
- Stock assessment and science - IFMP section 2
- Indigenous knowledge - IFMP section 3
- Economic profile of the fishery - IFMP section 4
- Management issues, objectives and measures - IFMP sections 5, 6 and 8
- Access and allocation - IFMP section 7
- Compliance plan - IFMP section 10
- Performance review - IFMP section 11
- Fisheries and Oceans Canada contact
Foreword
The Red Sea Urchin IFMP and the Green Sea Urchin IFMP have been combined starting in the 2025/26 season.
For the purposes of this document ‘Urchin’ refers to both Red Sea Urchins (Mesocentrotus franciscanus) and Green Sea Urchins (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis).
The purpose of this Integrated Fisheries Management Plan (IFMP) summary is to provide a brief overview of the information found in the full IFMP. This document also serves to communicate the basic information on the fishery and its management to DFO staff, legislated co-management boards and other stakeholders. This IFMP provides a common understanding of the basic “rules” for the sustainable management of the fisheries resource. The full IFMP is available on request.
This IFMP summary is not a legally binding instrument which can form the basis of a legal challenge. The IFMP can be modified at any time and does not fetter the Minister's discretionary powers set out in the Fisheries Act. The Minister can, for reasons of conservation or for any other valid reasons, modify any provision of the IFMP in accordance with the powers granted pursuant to the Fisheries Act.
Where DFO is responsible for implementing obligations under land claims agreements, the IFMP will be implemented in a manner consistent with these obligations. In the event that an IFMP is inconsistent with obligations under land claims agreements, the provisions of the land claims agreements will prevail to the extent of the inconsistency.
General overview/introduction — IFMP section 1
The Red Sea Urchin (Mesocentrotus franciscanus, formerly Strongylocentrotus franciscanus) and Green Sea Urchin (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis) are the two sea urchin species commercially harvested in British Columbia. The commercial Red Sea Urchin fishery, started in 1971 and is a limited entry fishery with 110 licence eligibilities, 31 of which are communal commercial. The Green Sea Urchin dive fishery began in 1987 and licences were limited in 1991and currently there are 49 licence eligibilities, one (1) being communal commercial.
The commercial licence year is from August 1 to July 31 and the fishery may open and close based on market demand and completion of area quotas. Both commercial Urchin fisheries occur in units called Quota Areas. With the exception of permanent closures for various purposes the Green Urchin fishery occurs only in the South Coast Inside waters whereas the Red Sea Urchin Fishery occurs Coastwide. The fishery operates under a Total Allowable Catch (TAC) with Individual Quotas (IQ). All commercial landings are tracked using a coastwide Dockside Monitoring Program (DMP). Other management measures include limited entry licensing, a minimum size limit, area quotas and area licensing.
First Nations’ fishing for food, social and ceremonial purposes is open coastwide throughout the year. Food, social and ceremonial harvest has not been limited by catch quantity, except in those Nations where the Council or fisheries Program has established their own catch limits for band members, or where allocated under treaty.
The recreational fishery is open coastwide year-round and is an open entry fishery with a daily bag limit, two-day possession limit and gear limits.
Governance process
The Urchin fishery is governed by the Fisheries Act and regulations made thereunder.
The primary consultative body for this fishery is the Red and Green Sea Urchin Sectoral Committee. The committee includes members from the Department, First Nations, commercial industry, and other sectors. The Sectoral Committee meets annually in the spring to provide advice to the Department on the IFMP. The draft IFMP goes out for a 30-day public consultation and the final version of the IFMP goes for approval by the Regional Director General for the Pacific Region. Licensing for the commercial fishery starts in July and the fishery may open August 1.
Stock assessment and science - IFMP section 2
Fisheries and Oceans Canada stock assessment activities continue coastwide through the Multispecies Benthic Marine Invertebrate Dive Survey, MSBIDS. The DFO co-ordinates vessel and diver participation in surveys with First Nations communities. The main survey goals are to estimate density and size frequencies of benthic marine invertebrate populations, including Red and Green Sea Urchins, along the coast. Scientific research and stock assessment surveys are of vital importance to these fisheries as it continues to be managed by the precautionary approach to Canadian fisheries and towards a biologically based fishery.
Stock assessments of Green Sea Urchins are generally performed every three years and involve analyzing data collected from both fishery-dependent and fishery-independent (surveys) sources. The main objectives of the surveys are to assess variability in Green Sea Urchin populations, calculate density estimates and monitor impacts of commercial harvesting. Fishery-independent surveys also provide information about the sublegal portion of the population and thus insight regarding recruitment into the fishery.
When provided to the Department, Indigenous Knowledge is considered in science decisions and the management of the fishery.
Knowledge in the form of observations and comments collected from commercial divers over many years contributes to decisions on scientific survey locations and is considered in management decisions.
Indigenous knowledge - IFMP section 3
In 2019, the Fisheries Act was amended to include provisions for where the Minister may, or shall consider Indigenous knowledge in making decisions pertaining to fisheries, fish and fish habitat, as well as provisions for the additional protection of that knowledge when shared in confidence. Work is underway at a National level to develop processes for how DFO receives Indigenous knowledge and applies it to inform decision making.
Economic profile of the fishery - IFMP section 4
Red Sea Urchins
The Pacific Region is home to the only commercial Red Sea Urchin fishery in Canada. Red Sea Urchins are harvested by SCUBA divers and delivered to processing plants where the roe is extracted, treated and packaged for sale in Japan, Europe and North America as ‘Uni’. The domestic market for Red Sea Urchins is small.
The 110 commercial licence eligibilities are stackable and are usually distributed over 30 or more vessels (changes from year to year). Most of the vessels involved in the Red Sea Urchin fishery are licensed for one or more other dive fisheries.. The majority of the commercial quota is harvested from August to May with the highest market demand being in December and March. The best roe comes from sea urchins harvested between October and May, after which the quality decreases as the sea urchins begin to spawn.
Since 2007 the coastwide commercial TAC has remained relatively constant at approximately ten million pounds. The market demand for BC Red Sea Urchin decreased dramatically starting in 2006 due to competition from the Russian Illegal, Unregulated, Unreported fishery. As a result, landings in BC dropped to below one half of the TAC between 2006 and 2011. Market conditions started to improve in 2012, and between 60 and 80% of the TAC was landed over a few seasons. Recently landings have again dropped below 50% of the TAC due to weather issues in the north coast of BC, gonad quality and market conditions. Sea Otter expansion in BC has been impacting Red Sea Urchin stocks in some areas which has resulted in a drop in quota in some of those areas.
Green Sea Urchins
Green Sea Urchins are harvested from both the West and East Coast of Canada. Green Sea Urchins on the West Coast of Canada are harvested by divers and sold whole and live, mainly to Japan. The product quality and perishability has restricted the fishery primarily to accessible South Coast Areas. The Japanese are the largest consumers of Green Sea Urchin but more recently sales have increased to the public and to local restaurants.
Canadian West Coast landings of Green Sea Urchin peaked in the 1992 season at approximately 954 Tonnes. Since then annual landings dropped consistently until the 2006/07 season. These drops were initially due to setting of Total Allowable Catch (TAC) but continued to drop due to poor market conditions. Since 2006/07, landings have shown a slow but steadily increasing trend. The highest landings on record since the 1994 season occurred in the past season 2024/25. Over the past decade, the coastwide TAC of Green Sea Urchin has slowly increased. Price was relatively constant from 2007/08 to 2011/12, with a small dip in price in the 2013/14 season. Over the past decade, price has been steadily to remaining stable in the last three seasons.
Urchins are important to coastal First Nations, who harvest them for food, social and ceremonial purposes. First Nations are also interested in economic opportunities through participation in BC’s commercial fisheries.
Recreational interest in harvesting shellfish species is directed mainly at crab, prawn and shrimp. The recreational harvest of Urchins is believed to be minimal.
Management issues, objectives and measures - IFMP sections 5, 6 and 8
| # | Management issue | Objectives | Management measure |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sea otters Sea Otter populations are expanding in BC and, because sea otters are major predators on Red Sea Urchins, are having a large impact on the fishery. Given that the Green Sea Urchin fishery currently only occurs in the inside waters of BC, sea otters have not had a significant impact on the fishery. Expansion of Sea Otter populations has been identified by commercial industry as one of their concerns about the sustainability of the Red Sea Urchin fishery. |
To meet conservation objectives and ensure healthy and productive fisheries and ecosystems. To conduct on-going surveys and research to improve information on Red Sea Urchin stocks, biological characteristics and the impacts of Sea Otters. To continue to gather information from harvesters on the impacts of Sea Otters on the Red Sea Urchin resource. |
Some quota areas on the west coast of Vancouver Island, northern Vancouver Island and the mainland central coast have had reductions in quota or have been closed because commercially harvestable densities of Red Sea Urchins no longer exist in areas occupied by Sea Otters. Other possible options to consider:
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| 2 | High densities of Urchins (Urchin Barrens) Urchin barrens are detrimental to the ecosystem since the grazing activity of the urchins inhibits the growth of kelp and sessile invertebrates, which in turn affects other species that may rely on kelp and/or sessile invertebrates for food and habitat. |
To meet conservation objectives and ensure healthy and productive fisheries and ecosystems. | Consideration could be made to allow a greater amount of Urchins to be harvested in areas known to be impacted by urchin barrens. In 2025 the minimum size limit was decreased for both species by 5 millimeters Test Diameter in order to allow a greater size range of Urchins to be harvested. |
| 3 | Urchin culling The practice of killing large numbers of urchins by squishing or cracking in situ (culling) in order to support increased kelp growth (kelp restoration) is a practice not supported by current policy. |
To meet conservation objectives and ensure healthy and productive fisheries and ecosystems. | Red and Green Sea Urchins are not invasive species in BC and high densities are a natural part of a dynamic, changing ecosystem, especially in the absence of key predators like the sea otter and the sunflower star. Increased commercial harvest in areas of concern could be used as a tool to decrease the number of urchins over time in support of healthy ecosystems. |
| 4 | Marine conservation targets To protect biodiversity and meet its marine conservation targets, Canada is establishing marine protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures. Closures to Urchin harvest will likely be implemented to meet Canada’s conservation targets. Closures will reduce the biomass available to the commercial Urchin fisheries and thus reduce harvest opportunity and may impact this fishery’s sustainability. |
To meet conservation objectives and ensure healthy and productive fisheries and ecosystems. | There is concern that areas closed to the commercial Urchin fisheries could result in high densities of Urchins that will decrease biodiversity. |
| 5 | Disease In the spring of 2016 sick or dying urchins were observed along the North and Central coasts of BC. Samples were collected from afflicted individuals and were sent in for testing. Preliminary examination of the samples done by a disease expert at DFO suggests that the urchins were suffering from ‘bald urchin disease’. This disease has been reported in species of urchins all over the world. It has been hypothesized that increasing sea temperature will lead to an increase in the frequency of disease outbreaks due to decreased host immunity, increased virulence of pathogens or pathogen range expansion. |
To meet conservation objectives and ensure healthy and productive fisheries and ecosystems. | Samples taken from sick/dying sea urchins have been sent in for testing and observations are being collected on the location and number of sick sea urchins seen. This has not been a wide-scale disease outbreak comparable to the ‘Sea Star Wasting Disease’ reported from Alaska to California starting in 2014. No noticeable decline has been seen in Urchin stocks in BC at this time. |
| 6 | Impacts of climate change Climate change will likely result in a wide variety of impacts, including rising sea level, loss of marine habitat, shifting distribution ranges for marine organisms and an imbalance between growth and recruitment within ecosystems. |
To meet conservation objectives and ensure healthy and productive fisheries and ecosystems. | Warmer water temperatures cause the amount of dissolved nitrogen in seawater to decrease leading to reduced growth rates of kelp and associated with the decline of apex predators like the sunflower star. Higher water temperatures may also place physiological stress on Urchins and could lead to increased instances of disease. |
Access and allocation - IFMP section 7
The Minister can, for reasons of conservation or for any other valid reasons, modify access, allocations and sharing arrangements outlined in this IFMP in accordance with the powers granted pursuant to the Fisheries Act.
The commercial fishery is managed through a TAC, limited entry licensing, IQ, area licensing, area quotas and a size limit.
To date there have been no limits placed on First Nations’ harvest for food, social and ceremonial purposes or domestic use under Treaty.
The daily limit for recreational harvest limit is 12 Red and Green Sea Urchins (combined) with a possession limit of 24 and gear is limited to hand picking only.
The needs of aquaculturists will be given equitable consideration to those users in the commercial and recreational sectors.
Compliance plan - IFMP section 10
Conservation and Protection (C&P) staff will pursue opportunities to monitor and enforce this fishery, in conjunction with the monitoring and enforcement priorities directed by senior management in the Pacific Region.
Performance review - IFMP section 11
Performance indicators are reported in the Post-Season Review. Stock assessment and research activities are outlined. The post season review may include outcomes from meetings with First Nations and other sectors regarding Urchins. The delivery of the commercial fishery will be assessed by performance measures such as the amount of product landed and the value of the fishery. Input from members at the Sectoral Committee meetings will be included. The post season review will also include time spent attending to enforcement of the fishery.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada contact
For additional information on this IFMP Summary or to request an electronic version of the full IFMP, please contact Invertebrates Resource Management at DFO.PACInvertebrates-InvertebresPAC.MPO@dfo-mpo.gc.ca.
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