Sea urchin aquaculture in Australia

Although Australia has had a commercial fishery for sea urchins for over 30 years, there is relatively little aquaculture done on sea urchins there. Australia has cultural and biological attributes favorable to sea urchin aquaculture: it is a multicultural society with diversity in cuisines and correspondingly catholic tastes, and it also has a high natural diversity of sea urchin species. Modern Australian cuisine has been strongly influenced by such globalization and there is a rising popularity in serving sea urchin roe as exotic and desirable ingredients at fine dining restaurants. Australia has a large number of indigenous and Pacific Islanders comprising its population, among whom sea urchin roe is a traditional and, sometimes, cultural food. This chapter presents a review of what is known regarding aquaculture of Centrostephanus rodgersii, Heliocidaris erythrogramma, and Tripneustes gratilla.