The spiny creatures have destroyed nearly all of California’s kelp forests, what marine biologists call “the lungs of the ocean.”

Blue foods – fish, invertebrates, algae and aquatic plants captured or cultured in freshwater and marine ecosystems – have traditionally been undervalued in their contribution to global food systems.

Ulsteinvik – March 30th, 2021 – ENEOS Holdings, Inc. (“ENEOS”) a leading Japanese energy and metal conglomerate and a North American family office with a strong interest in ocean health have participated in the €4,85 million Series A for Urchinomics, the pioneering sea urchin aquaculture venture.

Kelp forests are being destroyed by sea urchins. Urchinomics is trying to solve the problem by removing sea urchins and ranching them. Founder and CEO Brian Takeda Tsuyoshi explains the company's mission.

Scuba divers armed with mesh bags and thick neoprene gloves descend onto a rocky reef littered with spiny purple orbs.

Urchinomics says it can fight climate change by harvesting invasive urchins and fattening them up for restaurants.

The “sequoias of the sea” suck up carbon and shelter special species. They’ve been hit hard, but scientists, surfers, and more are banding together to save them.

LOS ANGELES – Considered a delicacy around the globe, sea urchins please the palates of the wealthy, showing up on sushi bars and swirled into pasta at fine restaurants. However, these spiny creatures in recent years have plowed through forests of bull kelp along coasts around the world.

Urchinomics is opening its first land-based sea urchin ranch in Norway, in a project that could both improve marine habitats and help diversify the country's aquaculture sector.

The ravenous creatures are destroying vast swaths of kelp forests, which are crucial for carbon storage. Is the answer staring us in the plate?

Denise MacDonald held out a tray of spiny purple sea urchins. The roe, served in the shell and the color of egg yolk, contrasted nicely with the urchin's dark, purple spines. MacDonald, director of global brand marketing at a company called Urchinomics, invited me to have a taste. I scooped up a blueberry-sized amount with a spoon.

Purple sea urchins have laid waste to Northern California coastal zones in recent years, decimating the kelp forest and ruining the habitat of other sea creatures that depend on it.

Windstorms have whipped up wildfires across California, forcing tens of thousands to flee the inferno. But while our collective attention has justifiably focused on the fires, they aren’t the only climate change-influenced event that’s menacing the state.

PURPLE SEA URCHINS ARE INVADING CALIFORNIA’S COAST. THE STARTUP URCHINOMICS HAS ONE SOLUTION: EAT THEM.

Seafloor denuded, fisheries for red abalone and red sea urchin destroyed.

Tens of millions of voracious purple sea urchins that have already chomped their way through towering underwater kelp forests in California are spreading north to Oregon, sending the delicate marine ecosystem off the shore into such disarray that other critical species are starving to death.