Stock Assessment of the Green Sea Urchin (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis) in Southern Breiðafjörður West Iceland

In Icelandic waters the green sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis) is the only targeted urchin species. It is common around Iceland but its distribution is very pachy. Harvesting started in 1983 by divers which was not economically feasible and stopped in 1989. In 1993 the fishing started again and now by dredging and peaked in 1994 when 1 500 tonnes were landed. After that the fishery diclined extremely and stopped 1997. More than half of the catches in these years came from Breiðafjörður west Iceland, but the fishery was conducted wiedly. In 2004 exploitation of the stock started again and now only in Breiðafjörður. The landings were minimal (<50 t) until 2007 when it reached 134 tonn. Since then the landings have been 130-400 tonn [1]. The main fishery has alway been in the the southern part of Breiðafjörður and focused on small hot spots. Since 1993 sea urchins have only been harvested by dredging but the selectivity and efficiency of the dredges used in Iceland is unknown.