Aquaculture as a major part of the Maine fishing industry was the topic of a special conference at the three-day 37th Fishermen’s Forum March 1 at the Samoset Resort in Rockport.
Repeatedly it is heard that the lobster fishing industry is sound, but that most other fishery stocks are in peril. That’s been the story of the sea urchin fishery in Maine, whose heyday in the 1980s and ’90s brought in millions of dollars to the state.
That can change, according to scientists and conservationists working for the Center for Cooperative Aquaculture Research (CCAR), out of the University of Maine, and outlined through the presentation, “From Capture to Culture: Opportunities for the Sea Urchin Fishery in Maine.”
Attendance was down at the Thursday presentation, owing to an intense snowstorm, and therefore some key panelists, including Mick Devin from the Darling Marine Center in Walpole were absent.
A special guest, with a viable plan for bringing back the sea urchin industry, was Dr. Gerry Mouzakitis from County Cork, Ireland, representing his company Gourmet Marine Ireland. It was just by chance that Mouzakitis was in the United States, and was invited to be a presenter at the Forum to introduce a land-based urchin farming system.
Paul Anderson of Maine Sea Grant, hosted the presentation with the panel heavily represented by CCAR, the business and research incubator whose mission it is to improve stocks of halibut, cod, seaweed, sandworms and sea urchins.
Anderson spoke of finding ways to have aquaculture help the existing urchin industry. He noted that some fishermen are suspicious of aquaculture through the belief different ways of growing stocks will be competitive and put them out of business.
“There’s a need to turn the conversation around,” Anderson said. “It’s about what aquaculture can do for fishermen with hatch technology for re-seeding, and land-based farms seen as tools for fisherman, with producers putting in land-based systems, bulking up the stocks and increasing value.”
Anderson introduced Jim Wadsworth of CCAR, who gave a short history of the sea urchin industry in Maine, explaining that besides Chile’s 46 percent of the market, Maine actually was a “minor player and it’s safe to say we didn’t do a really good job of managing the urchin fishery in Maine,” Wadsworth said.
According to historical statistics, in the 1993-94 season, the peak landing was 39 million pounds of sea urchins, almost all purchased by Japan.
Anderson introduced Dr. Larry Harris from University of New Hampshire, who has been intensely studying urchins since 2005, and has seen ecology and the fishery change.
Harris said Maine Sea Grant and the Dept. of Marine Resources put effort into marketing the fishery that was unregulated for a number of years, until 1993 when the DMR attempted to regulate, and the fishery went into a steady decline because of over fishing.
The fishery sort of “bottomed out and I hope and there are signs [of recovery] at least in Zone 1 where I spend most of my time, and right on the border where there are indications of a bit of a recovery, though nothing that would cause you to run out and start doubling and tripling fishing days.”
Looking at future trends, Harris said he firmly believes there is a sustainable fishery for urchins that would be complimentary to the wild fishery. The prevailing interest in the industry is developing land and sea based nurseries, sea ranching in effect, and the retrieval and re-seeding of existing sites.
Mouzakitis is a scientist from the Dept. of Zoology, Ecology and Plant Science at University County Cork (UCC), and is the founder of the Gourmet Marine Ltd., a UCC startup aiming to capture some of the $200 million global market for urchin with the UrchinPlatter system, now patented in 19 countries.
Begun in 2001, it is a new type of feeding system for urchins, funded by UCC.
Using an array of slides, and displaying a sample of the bright blue “sandwich” type perforated basket, Mouzakitis explained how the new technology allows for urchins to be bulked at high densities with efficient use of space and natural seaweed or kelp as feed.
Young urchins of a determinate size are introduced to the baskets, with a layer of feeding medium like seaweed sandwiched in-between, and the urchins stick to the sides, feeding and growing at a surprising rate.
The baskets are stacked in such a way, that changing the feeding medium and checking on the growing urchins can be accomplished easily and are within easy reach of farmers. Also, the system as explained, is not labor intensive, and depending on the size of the land-based farming tanks, cleaning, removal of excrement and feeding can be accomplished by one person on a rotating daily basis.
Mouzakitis explained the system avoids artificial diets that are costly, and which have also caused problems with other fishery farming.
He explained the striking benefits are first, the UrchinPlatter system is “complete farming” which is the “most environmentally sustainable method, relieving the pressure from the wild, and not affecting the wild,” Mouzakitis said.
Second, it is “on demand harvesting, straight out of the water, and easily transported to market,” Mouzakitis said.
The third advantage to UrchinPlatter system is roe enhancement. “Taken from the wild, there’s very little roe,” Mouzakitis said, but when feeding for 12 weeks in the land-based farming system, there’s a higher quality and quantity of roe in and out of season, and “using seaweeds, there’s medium length turnover of animals at 12 to 16 weeks.”
Mouzakitis showed how it is possible to sea farm on land, adjacent to the shore and using ocean water in a shallow water/shallow tank system, where the water flows from one UrchinPlatter tank to another, filled with perforated baskets where urchins are grown attached to the baskets directly feeding on kelp sandwiched inside.
Mouzakitis said the initial price and setup of the farming system is approximately $15,000. Depending on the size; a single individual, keeping labor costs low, could “easily” farm it.
At its website, the company also states it is interested in collaborations with feed producers for the development of a commercial sea urchin feed, by contacting info@GourmetMarine.ie.
For more information on Gourmet Marine Ltd., visit www.GourmetMarine.ie.
