Norwegians rescue Japanese urchin
Norwegian research has been credited with helping stocks of a popular Japanese sea urchin species recover in the wake of the 2011 tsunami.
The Japanese love sea urchins and eat 50,000 tonnes of the coveted roe each year, but damage to the seabed and kelp forest caused by the tsunami both destroyed many urchins and their main feed source, meaning that the surviving urchins have been suffering from low roe content.
This inspired the establishment of a pilot plant in Minami Sanriku, which is a collaboration between Kaston and Nofima and is part funded by Innovation Norway. It aims to help restore the local sea urchin industry.
Norway’s Fisheries Minister, Elisabeth Aspaker, who visited the pilot plant today, said: “This is a good example of how cooperation between research and industry provides new business opportunities and international growth for Norwegian companies.
“The results from Japan show that we can turn an environmental problem into a resource and new opportunities, just as we have done with the red king crab in Norway.”
