REV Ocean’s CEO Nina Jensen and Capt Nils Baadnes hit the cool Arctic waters of Tromso to pick sea urchins and help protect kelp beds.
- Sea urchin populations have proliferated due to marine ecosystems being out of sync.
- They are destroying kelp forests, leaving large swathes of barren ocean.
- These kelp forests form part of a crucial carbon sink that helps in our battle against climate change.
One study estimates that plagues of purple sea urchins have caused a 90% reduction in a particular variety – bull kelp – along a 350 kilometre stretch of California coastline.
Top Innovator Urchinomics is restoring kelp forests by harvesting sea urchins, one of only three commercial ventures in the world to be formally endorsed as an Ocean Decade action. Urchinomics gather urchins, feed them in shallow rectangular aquaculture tanks on land, then sell the fattened-up results to distributors and restaurants.