Urchinomics

WE ARE HIRING IN JAPAN! OFFERING A EUROPEAN COMPENSATION PACKAGE! Urchinomics is a restorative aquaculture venture that aims to turn an environmental challenge into a commercial, ecological and social opportunity. Our Global Challenge Due to a combination of overfishing of predatory species, climate change and pollution, sea urchin populations have exploded, causing catastrophic imbalances in coastal ecosystems around the world. Uncontrolled quantities of sea urchins overgraze kelp forests and seagrass meadows, turning once pristine and vibrant, carbon sequestering marine ecosystems into lifeless, barren deserts, or "Urchin barrens". Devoid of food, these urchins then starve away and become empty shells that just barely survive. Empty sea urchins have no nutritional value so predatory fish avoid eating them. Urchin fishers have no incentive to fish them either, as they have no commercial value (no roe). Without any predatory pressure, urchin barrens can persist for decades or even centuries. Our Solution We specifically target these ecologically destructive, empty sea urchins and re-home them into our ranching systems. Here, they are fed a natural, formulated feed for 5 to 10 weeks until they are full of delicious roe and ready for sale to high end restaurants around the world. As a result of removing the empty sea urchins from the barrens, we help kelp forests recover to their original majesty. The restoration of kelp helps bring marine biodiversity and biomass back to coastal ecosystems. The restoration also contributes to carbon sequestration, as well as reducing the effects of coastal erosion and (localized) ocean acidification. Finally, our concept contributes to the creation of meaningful employment in rural, coastal communities. Background Urchinomics is funded by a major European investment group and currently operates in Norway, Japan, Canada, and the Netherlands. Expansion into Australia and the United States is planned for 2018.