There is a need to review and update the existing body of research and management approaches to:
1. prevent the further expansion of Long Spine Sea Urchins onto new reefs
2. reduce the impacts of Long Spine Sea Urchins on existing reefs to facilitate recovery
3. promote commercial harvesting as a control effort
Facilitating this review process through a workshop is necessary to ensure that all key stakeholders in New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, the Commonwealth have input into:
• identifying R&D gaps
• sharing and agreeing (where possible) on objectives
• contributing to the design of a coordinated, regional approach to mitigate and manage the impacts of Long Spine Sea Urchins
Final report
The 2023 National Centrostephanus Workshop was convened by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania. The workshop brought together 130 representatives from industry, government, research, Aboriginal communities, recreational fishing groups, and the community to:
• Identify challenges and opportunities related to Longspined Sea Urchin across regions.
• Identify the R&D gaps across the Longspined Sea Urchin range.
• Foster cross-jurisdictional and inter-sectoral relationships, as well as information sharing for improved management outcomes.
• Contribute to the design of a coordinated regional approach for the sustainable management of Longspined Sea Urchin.
The workshop included over thirty presentations from researchers, commercial divers, recreational divers, industry, and businesses. These explored the current state of Longspined Sea Urchin (Centrostephanus rodgersii or “Centro”) range expansion, marine ecosystem health across Tasmania, Victoria and NSW, potential controls, and interventions to manage densities below key ecological thresholds, strategies to rehabilitate damaged ecosystems, potential new markets for Centro as a food product, and productive utilisation of waste from food processing. A series of facilitated workshops were held to identify risks, opportunities, actions and research priorities.
