Sea urchin aquaculture it is in full development worldwide . The high market value of sea urchins gonads , the strong market demand and the decrease in the natural stocks stimulated the interest in aquaculture . Globally , there has been enough confidence in its viability to motivate a serious R&D effort in development of technology. The United States , China, Japan , Norway , Australia, New Zealand , Ireland , Ecuador and Chile are developing culture systems . Ireland is the only country that has developed the UrchinPlatter System ™ , it only includes the culture cages for hervibory species . Sea urchin aquaculture technology not only may maintain traditional fishing , by guaranteeing a supply of juveniles in the natural populations , but also generates a higher quality product and allows the development of biotechnology . Sea urchins are a culinary delicatessen, with Japan being the main market . However , sea urchin are also a source of secondary metabolites that have generated pharmacological formulas. In Latin America , the effort to generate sea urchin aquaculture has been strongly focused on Chile, they have developed it focus on the repopulation of habitats to sustain extractive activity . At the market level , aquaculture in RAS of the entire life cycle has proved not to be profitable in terms of business . However , in Argentina a sea urchin aquaculture Project it is focusing on multipurpose products . Increase of gamets productivity rich in secondary metabolites in a system with a semi-continuous manner, generates a sustainable alternative both environmental and profitable opportunity to generate products for the aquaculture , nutraceutical , cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries . However , this effort is not isolated , in Ecuador a similar project in collaboration with the Argentine one and with the support of the Latin American Network of Echinoderms and CYTED is beginning to be carried out , seeking to develop sea urchin aquaculture in Latin America not only for sustainable global culinary demand , but also to provide innovative products.