Sea urchins from Finnøy receive a UN award
The Ocean Decade programme is supposed to be the driving force behind new and innovative solutions in the ocean space. Urchinomics’ solution for farming sea urchins on land is one of a kind.
At the Aquaculture Park in Stavanger, the company has developed the technology where they collect sea urchins from Troms and make them ready for the market within 6-12 weeks. Here, they are sold as delicacies all year round.
Sea urchins – from a problem to business
A few years ago, sea urchins were viewed as a big problem for the ocean floor along the Norwegian coast. The shellfish had grazed down several thousand square kilometres of kelp forests and created a desertlike landscape underneath the surface of the ocean. This creates a large environmental issue because the kelp forests help bind CO2 and store carbon. A kind of underwater rainforest. Removing the sea urchins from the ocean floor will help the kelp forests grow back.
Stavanger municipality supports the Aquaculture Park
Stavanger municipality has contributed by providing three million kroner to the Rogaland Aquaculture Park through the municipality’s Growth Fund. As the country’s fourth largest municipality within aquaculture, Stavanger municipality invests a lot into aquaculture. Many people are employed in the aquaculture industry, and it constantly creates innovation within new production technology.
Today, Urchinomics has active businesses in Japan, Canada, and Norway. Multiple markets await. The sea urchins from Stavanger have really made the world open its eyes.
– We are extremely humbled to receive this award that recognises that our technology and methods are a part of a bigger solution to protect the biodiversity of the ocean at the same time as it promotes economic development. Our farming technology converts a destructive species in the ocean into a wonderful seafood product of premium quality in a few weeks, says Brian Tsuyoshi Takeda, the CEO and founder of Urchinomics in a press release from the company.