“Zombie” sea urchins to luxury food

J-STORIES - Sea urchins that are causing environmental harm by eating up seaweed are being harvested, farmed on land and turned into a luxury food product.

The catalyst for this recycling-oriented business that brings together local development and ocean recovery was the March 11, 2011 earthquake that caused huge damage in north east Japan.

After seeing at first hand the earthquake’s devastation in the region, Brian Tsuyoshi Takeda made up his mind to tackle the damage to the seashore (rocky-shore denudation) caused by the enormous tsunami that followed the quake. The tsunami swept away the crabs and turban shells that prey on sea urchins.

An increased population of sea urchins then fed on and damaged seaweed forests that nurture the sea, leading to worries that commercial fishing might become impossible.

In January 2017, Takeda began to remove the excess population of sea urchins and restore the seaweed forests. Then, to effectively use the sea urchins and also support local development and employment, he set up Urchinomoics, also known as Uninomics in Japan. 

Despite being numerous, due to lack of food, the sea urchins are in a “zombie” state and meatless, so they can’t be sold and eaten. In order to make sea urchins taste as they should, the company developed a special feed made from edible-kelp scraps and without any hormones, antibiotics or preservatives. Since developing the technology to turn zombie sea urchins into a luxury food product through farming on land, the company has embarked on full-scale commercial production, and is building its business in Japan and abroad.

Urchinomics’s work was endorsed as a model innovation to protect marine ecosystems and promote sustainable development as part of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. The company is the third for-profit organization to receive an official UN endorsement.

Translation and Editing by Tony McNicol      

Top page photo by Urchinomics YouTube Channel

For inquires about this article, please contact us at jstories@pacificbridge.jp

Click here for the Japanese version of the article.