The sea urchin enters the Philippines via Zamboanga City. The first shipment was brought in by a Japanese businessman in 1996. The shipment is said to have come from the coast of Hokkaido, Japan.

Today, more than 10,000 families are engaged in sea urchin farming. The industry provides employment and livelihood to local fishermen and farmers as well as to people who have no prior experience in aquaculture.

The project has been recognized as one of the most successful aquaculture projects in the country. It is an example of how responsible management of the environment can bring economic progress to a community.

Sea urchin farming is a potential industry in the philippines. 

The Philippines is endowed with a wide range of marine resources, including invertebrates such as abalone, sea cucumber and sea urchins. The supply of sea urchins can be increased through mariculture or aquaculture, the practice of cultivating marine organisms for food and other products in the open ocean, an enclosed section of the ocean, or in tanks, ponds or raceways which are filled with seawater.

This new technology has been developed by Japanese scientists and is becoming increasingly popular in other countries where it is already commercially viable such as United States, Canada, France and Spain. The technology was introduced in the Philippines during the 3rd International Conference on Sea Urchin Research & Development held at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada last May 2003.

Sea urchins are harvested from natural stocks with a maximum annual demand of 2 000 tonnes valued at US$8 million (van der Meeren et al., 1993). However, due to depletion of natural stocks and increasing market demands, there is an urgent need to develop and improve culture technologies for sea urchins.