The Abundance of the Sea Urchin Paracentrotus lividus on the Coasts of Gökçeada

Abstract

The demand for the roe of Paracentrotus lividus is increasing despite world-wide fisheries bans and the balance of marine ecosystems is disturbed due to this overexploitation. Although not consumed locally, there has been fishing pressure on this species, due to the intense export demand in recent years. For an ecosystem-based sustainable fishery of P. lividus, it is very important to establish the stock status as well as the reproductive biology of this species in Turkish seas. However, studies on the stock information of the species are limited. This study reports preliminary findings on the abundance of P. lividus on the coasts of Gökçeada by using the visual counting technique with SCUBA during the summer of 2012 and 2018. In the study carried out with transects of different lengths, the highest number of individuals was observed on the rocky shores of Laz Bay in 2012 with 4 individuals m-2, between 112-120 m of the Kuzulimanı transect with 5 individuals m-2 in 2018, and between 0-52 m transect of Kokina III in 2018. According to the SACFOR scale, when P. lividus species was observed on the coasts of Gökçeada, it was either common or frequent in terms of abundant. For an effective and sustainable sea urchin management plan, the stock status of the P. lividus species in Turkish waters should be determined immediately.

Keywords

• paracentrotus lividus
• sea urchin
• gokceada island
• abundance
• stock
• aegean sea