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General Objective:

Obtain key information for the correct development of the crop and for the management and conservation of the sea urchin. The project is presented with an integrative approach in which aspects of nutrition, genetics, health and cryopreservation are addressed, as well as the study of the behavior of the species in the face of the alterations caused by climate change. OCIMER+ gives continuity to the OCIMER project, but also innovates by presenting new approaches.

Specific objectives:

• Obtain information on parasitic pathologies and diseases in the sea urchin
• To evaluate the level of genetic diversity and reproductive isolation of five species of sea urchin living on the Galician coasts
• To determine the optimal parameters in the larval settlement phase of P. lividus and to implement fattening diets that increase its GI (gonadal index), as well as its marketing period in Galicia
• To promote the conservation of species of sea urchin native to Galicia (through cryopreservation), susceptible to reproduction in captivity.
• Evaluation of the state of the repopulated populations in OCIMER and the continuity of collaboration in the management of populations in danger of overexploitation with the guilds of the Ría de Vigo.

OCIMER+ is a project of only nine months of execution, a short but intense period that highlights the quality of the work carried out by the Marine Research Center of the University of Vigo.

During this period of time, progress has been made in the fields of parasitology, genetics, cultivation or cryopreservation of five species of sea urchins that are present in the waters of the Ría de Vigo and the Atlantic Islands National Park. Advances that we consider essential for the correct management and future conservation of the resource. Thanks to the time we have dedicated to this project, we know more about the pathologies and parasitic diseases in sea urchins.

• The level of genetic diversity and reproductive isolation of sea urchin species living on the Galician coasts has been evaluated.
• Optimal parameters have been determined in the larval settlement phase of Paracentrotus lividus.
• Cryoperption protocols have been found for the larval stages.

We believe that all these works can mean important advances in their cultivation and help the conservation and repopulation of those populations that are overexploited.