Echinoderm Aquaculture

The cultivation of echinoderms is relatively little widespread as the cultivation of other aquatic organisms such as fish, shrimp and molluscs. According to FAO (2014) the world production of sea urchins and other echinoderms was 209,000 tons, accounting for 0.73% of world aquaculture production, but production of this group of animals was one of the more grew in the past nine years, with a growth of 231.9%.

Currently, the main producers of echinoderms are China, New Zealand, Norway, North America and Scotland. The sea urchin and sea cucumber are the most cultivated species. The marketing and export of echinoderms have increased a lot in the last 15 years in countries such as Ireland, the United States and Canada. The product is exported, especially to the countries of Asia, being its main consumer Japan. The echinoderms are used for a variety of applications from the food to the retardation of the development of diseases in humans. A food very exploited by market is the gonad of sea urchin, which reaches high values on the market and is consumed in several countries all over the world. According to scientists, studying the sea urchin can help in the search for treatments for diseases such as cancer, infertility, blindness and muscular dystrophy. Was discovered an extreme similarity between the human and the sea urchin genome. Another work, developed by British scientists has shown that the sea star can help in the discovery of new treatments for diseases such as asthma, fever and arthritis, besides having a strong anti-inflammatory feature. In addition, the consumption of sea cucumbers can contribute to the reduction of cardiovascular diseases, according to the Center of Marine Science at the University of Algarve. A lot of researches being done in search of drugs present in the oceans, sea animals produce an immense amount of compounds with different properties, so they must be encouraged research and improvement of knowledge in the area that presents immense potential for human health. For the responsible and sustainable development of this activity, must be evaluated and studied the populations and the management of the environment and of the natural stocks seeking prosperity in the use of this feature. This book gathers knowledge about the biology, ecology and human health applications, showing the great potential of the echinoderms in aquaculture.