In summer, fishing for sea urchins is prohibited everywhere

It can happen: you go to a restaurant and the menu includes spaghetti with fresh sea urchins. A friend invites you on a boat and offers you fresh sea urchins with lemon, to eat with a spoon. Well, be aware that this is a huge waste, as sea urchin fishing, throughout Italy, in summer, is prohibited.

The reasons are known, and concern the protection of the species, whose survival has been at risk for some time.

In summer (in many areas of the Mediterranean, including Italy) sea urchins:

• si reproduce
• they release eggs and sperm into the water
• they need to remain undisturbed to ensure the renewal of the population

If they are caught during this period, the species' ability to regenerate is drastically reduced.

And since, among other things, hedgehogs eat seaweed and they help maintain the balance of coastal habitats; if they decrease too much, the algae grow excessively and the ocean floor ecosystem is altered.

In some Italian regions, sea urchin fishing is prohibited even for long periods or for entire seasons (not just in summer), and in some cases it was precisely suspended for several years or indefinitely for species protection reasons. The best-known cases are Sardinia, Puglia, Campania, Calabria, and Sicily.

To understand the specific situations, just start from the decrees specifics on sea urchin fishing published annually by each region. .

Just search on the Internet:

• "sea urchin"
• “Paracentrotus lividus”
• “sea urchin fishing calendar”
• “fishing department decree”.

You can also find all the information on individual bans, region by region, on the Port Authorities' websites.

Read also:

• Too warm water is causing sea urchins to disappear
• Massimo Vacchetta, the man who is creating the hedgehog hospital