Beyond Abalone: Diversifying South African Aquaculture

Marissa Brink-Hull is a production scientist at the Department of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment, with a PhD in genetics from Stellenbosch University and postdoctoral experience on EU-funded IMTA research across the Atlantic. Her work spans population genetics, hatchery and grow-out technology for low-trophic species, and microbiome dynamics in aquaculture systems, with a particular focus on advancing the Cape Sea Urchin and collector urchin toward commercial viability in South Africa. Niall Vine is Associate Professor of Zoology at the University of Fort Hare, where he heads the Fort Hare Aquaculture Research Unit. His career has spanned probiotic development for fish, marine hatchery management, and research on species ranging from copepods and abalone to seahorses, silver cob, and sea cucumbers.In this episode, we dig into species diversification as both a commercial risk-reduction strategy and a food security tool. Marissa walks us through the state of sea urchin aquaculture in South Africa, covering the differences between the warm-water collector urchin and the cold-water Cape Sea Urchin, and why the latter is particularly well suited to integration with existing abalone farm infrastructure. We then look at IMTA system design, including a small-scale study integrating sea urchins, seaweed, and bloodworms in a circular system, and what scaling that up actually looks like in practice. Neil brings in his own bloodworm research, the fatty acid case for using worms in broodstock diets, and what diversification has looked like across his wide-ranging research career.This episode is part of the LIMAQUA Focus Series, produced under the LIMAQUA Programme, a South African-French joint research initiative on nutrition-sensitive marine aquaculture.