An industry-led effort to determine whether sea urchins can be encouraged to grow in once fertile habitat got a boost last week. The Department of Marine Resources Advisory Council unanimously approved a regulation closing a part of the Sheepscot River to urchin fishing for nearly three years.

The closure, which went into effect on Monday and expires May 1, 2018, extends along the western side of Southport Island near Boothbay Harbor in the area around Cat Ledges. The area has been closed to give DMR an opportunity to study whether a viable fishery can be re-established in an area that once supported a substantial urchin harvest but is now virtually devoid of urchins.

The project calls for transplanting wild sea urchins into the area and seeding it with juvenile urchins raised at the University of Maine’s Center for Cooperative Aquaculture Research (CCAR) in Franklin.

Read the full story at the Ellsworth American >>

Read more about sea urchins >>