Their habitat consists of a preference for rocky ground in areas that are not subject to extreme wave action. These animals live for seven to ten years and can grow up to 10 cm in diameter. The maximum age for green sea urchins may be up to 20 to 25 years. B.C. This restriction allows sea urchins to spawn at least once before being recruited to the fishery. Other precautionary fishery management measures include time and area closures, and quotas.
Sea urchins have many predators, such as sea stars, octopus, wolf eels, crabs, and sea otters.
Divers use hand rakes and mesh bags to commercially harvest their spiny catch. Harvesting generally occurs in depths of 18 m or less. Today, there are only red and green sea urchin fisheries. The red sea urchin fishery began in 1978. The green sea urchin dive fishery began in 1987 and steadily increased until 1992, when the number of vessels participating in the fishery peaked at 49.