What Are The Economic Importance Of Echinoderms?

Echinoderms are a family (or phylum) of sea life that includes sea-urchins, starfish and sea-cucumbers. They are fished for food in the Far East and South-East Asia, and also have some use in agriculture and scientific research, and in the making of fish meal.

As you can see from the statistics below, enchinoderms play a small role in the world fishing trade, but this doesn't mean they are unimportant, not only to the thousands of jobs dependent on the trade, but also in a wider sense, to the scientific community, given the importance of echinoderms in geological research.

2006 - 100 318 tonnes of echinoderms fished worldwide

2007 - 108 851 tonnes " " " "

2008 - 111 077 tonnes " " " "

2009 - 118 453 tonnes " " " "

2010 - 110 270 tonnes " " " "

2011 - 114 555 tonnes " " " "

2012 - 109 222 tonnes " " " "

No figures are yet available for 2013. To give a sense of scale, in the most recent year available, 2012, 91, 336, 230 tonnes of marine life were fished in total in the world, of which sardines, herring, and anchovies, the most heavily fished group, contributed 17, 549, 124 tonnes to the global total.

The place to go for more of such statistics is FAOSTAT (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) who produce statistical yearbooks on all aspects of world food production. Here's a look at how you can find out more: