Perspectives on the sea urchin fishery in the Gulf of Maine in the face of changing community states, management decisions and sea urchin ecology

Major changes have occurred in the Gulf of Maine over the last 30 years, beginning with a population explosion of the green sea urchin Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis.  A new community state of urchin dominated barren grounds replaced the historical climax community of kelp beds in shallow near shore habitats.   Initiatives by the Maine Department of Marine Resources and Federal sources, primarily Sea Grant, led to a sea urchin fishery that quickly grew to the second largest fishery in Maine for a few years.  Delays in implementing a management effort allowed overfishing and a steady decline in the fishery until the present day where harvests have dropped from their high of near 40 million pounds in 1993 to about 3 million pounds for the 2008-2009 season.  The vacuum created by overfishing saw not only a return to algal dominated communities, but also establishment of a number of introduced algal and animal species.  The resulting benthic communities represent a new and still evolving community state for which there is no precedence in the literature.   The role of sea urchins in this new community state and the future of a viable sea urchin fishery are still to be determined.