* . *
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact
Sunday, June 29, 2025
Earth-News
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Susquehanna Raises Penn Entertainment Inc. (PENN) Price Target. – Yahoo Finance

    Susquehanna Raises Price Target for Penn Entertainment Inc. (PENN)

    George Lopez is coming to Spokane – KXLY.com

    George Lopez is coming to Spokane – KXLY.com

    Netflix unveils Dallas immersive venue for fans of hit shows like ‘Squid Game,’ ‘Stranger Things’ – Houston Chronicle

    Step Inside Netflix’s New Dallas Immersive Experience Featuring Hits Like ‘Squid Game’ and ‘Stranger Things

    ‘Puttin’ on the Ritz’: Civic Players bring ‘Young Frankenstein’ to life – Yahoo

    Civic Players Deliver a Hilarious and Unforgettable Performance of ‘Young Frankenstein

    ‘Wheel of Fortune’: Amputee Wins $60,000 After Breaking Incredible ‘Curse’ – Hastings Tribune

    Wheel of Fortune’ Amputee Breaks Incredible ‘Curse’ to Win $60,000!

    North Star Sports & Entertainment Network: Coming soon – KTTC News

    North Star Sports & Entertainment Network: Coming soon – KTTC News

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    Naples restaurant owner prepares for hurricane season with new flood technology – Fox4Now.com

    Naples restaurant owner prepares for hurricane season with new flood technology – Fox4Now.com

    Emerging Memory and Storage Technology Market Analysis Report 2025-2034 | AI and HPC Boom Fuels Surging Demand for Fast, Low-Power Memory Devices – Yahoo Finance

    How AI and HPC Are Driving Explosive Growth in Fast, Low-Power Memory Technologies Through 2034

    Ostin Technology (OST): Volatility’s Warning or Contrarian Opportunity? – AInvest

    Ostin Technology (OST): Navigating Market Volatility – Red Flag or Hidden Opportunity?

    St. Francis Medical Center brings advanced robotic surgery technology to Northeast Louisiana – KNOE

    St. Francis Medical Center brings advanced robotic surgery technology to Northeast Louisiana – KNOE

    Wayve Expands Engineering Leadership to Power Next-Gen Autonomous Driving Technology – Silicon Canals

    Wayve Boosts Engineering Leadership to Accelerate Next-Gen Autonomous Driving Innovation

    Frontdoor Announces Tech Expert Dr. Bala Ganesh as Chief Technology Officer – Business Wire

    Frontdoor Appoints Tech Visionary Dr. Bala Ganesh as New Chief Technology Officer

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Susquehanna Raises Penn Entertainment Inc. (PENN) Price Target. – Yahoo Finance

    Susquehanna Raises Price Target for Penn Entertainment Inc. (PENN)

    George Lopez is coming to Spokane – KXLY.com

    George Lopez is coming to Spokane – KXLY.com

    Netflix unveils Dallas immersive venue for fans of hit shows like ‘Squid Game,’ ‘Stranger Things’ – Houston Chronicle

    Step Inside Netflix’s New Dallas Immersive Experience Featuring Hits Like ‘Squid Game’ and ‘Stranger Things

    ‘Puttin’ on the Ritz’: Civic Players bring ‘Young Frankenstein’ to life – Yahoo

    Civic Players Deliver a Hilarious and Unforgettable Performance of ‘Young Frankenstein

    ‘Wheel of Fortune’: Amputee Wins $60,000 After Breaking Incredible ‘Curse’ – Hastings Tribune

    Wheel of Fortune’ Amputee Breaks Incredible ‘Curse’ to Win $60,000!

    North Star Sports & Entertainment Network: Coming soon – KTTC News

    North Star Sports & Entertainment Network: Coming soon – KTTC News

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    Naples restaurant owner prepares for hurricane season with new flood technology – Fox4Now.com

    Naples restaurant owner prepares for hurricane season with new flood technology – Fox4Now.com

    Emerging Memory and Storage Technology Market Analysis Report 2025-2034 | AI and HPC Boom Fuels Surging Demand for Fast, Low-Power Memory Devices – Yahoo Finance

    How AI and HPC Are Driving Explosive Growth in Fast, Low-Power Memory Technologies Through 2034

    Ostin Technology (OST): Volatility’s Warning or Contrarian Opportunity? – AInvest

    Ostin Technology (OST): Navigating Market Volatility – Red Flag or Hidden Opportunity?

    St. Francis Medical Center brings advanced robotic surgery technology to Northeast Louisiana – KNOE

    St. Francis Medical Center brings advanced robotic surgery technology to Northeast Louisiana – KNOE

    Wayve Expands Engineering Leadership to Power Next-Gen Autonomous Driving Technology – Silicon Canals

    Wayve Boosts Engineering Leadership to Accelerate Next-Gen Autonomous Driving Innovation

    Frontdoor Announces Tech Expert Dr. Bala Ganesh as Chief Technology Officer – Business Wire

    Frontdoor Appoints Tech Visionary Dr. Bala Ganesh as New Chief Technology Officer

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
Earth-News
No Result
View All Result
Home Science

Can we eat our way through an exploding sea urchin problem?

November 5, 2023
in Science
Can we eat our way through an exploding sea urchin problem?
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

sea urchin

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Longspined sea urchins are native to temperate waters around New South Wales. But as oceans heat up, their range has expanded more than 650km, through eastern Victoria and south to Tasmania. Their numbers are exploding in the process, clear-felling kelp forests and leaving “urchin barrens” behind.

The species (Centrostephanus rodgersii) is now the single largest and most urgent threat to kelp forests along the southeastern coast of Australia’s Great Southern Reef.

What can we do? Here’s one excellent solution: eat their roe, a buttery delicacy that can fetch hundreds of dollars per kilogram. Tasmania already has a government-backed urchin fishery. When combined with a mix of other tools, as outlined in our submission to the invasive marine species Senate inquiry, harvesting urchins can put the brakes on this overabundant, range-extending marine species.

Today, the Senate handed down its findings, identifying investment in commercial harvesting as a frontline climate-ready tool to combat the urchin. It presents a win-win opportunity by maximizing socioeconomic and environmental returns for kelp ecosystems, while lessening the ongoing cost of control.

Dealing with urchins is urgent

Almost 200 marine species have been documented shifting range in Australian seas as climate change heats the oceans. But longspined sea urchins are the most damaging so far.

The waters along hundreds of kilometers of coastline have now warmed above a winter average of 12°C. This is the temperature at which urchin larvae can develop during spawning. The ocean is warming faster than land, heating at a rate of 4°C per century.

The Senate inquiry shows the government is listening. The inquiry and accompanying five-year plan for control methods are based on more than two decades of scientific research.

The tragedy of the barrens

Urchins chew through entire forests of kelp. Once the big kelp is gone, they switch to feeding on tiny encrusting seaweeds that can regrow rapidly and persist in the face of intensive grazing. This creates “hyper-stable” urchin barrens.

The damage is dramatic, with the local loss of hundreds of kelp-associated species ranging from valuable abalone to the iconic leafy seadragon.

Barrens in southern NSW, eastern Victoria and Tasmania can now be measured in the scale of kilometers, with whole reefs turned into underwater deserts.

They expand fast, too. In Tasmania, early sightings off the northeast in 1978 have turned into a population estimated at 20 million around the eastern coastline. Barren areas now cover 15% of Tasmanian reefs. If left unchecked, 50% of reef habitat could be lost by the 2030s, as we’ve seen in southern NSW and eastern Victoria.

Correcting an imbalance of nature

Rock lobsters are a natural predator of urchins. They boost kelp bed resilience and even prevent barren expansion in some areas off limits to lobster fisheries.

The Tasmanian East Coast Rock Lobster Rebuilding Strategy focuses on rebuilding stocks to help combat the urchin. However, the lobsters’ strong preference for local prey such as abalone, their negligible capacity to rehabilitate extensive barrens once urchins reach hyperabundance, and high recreational and commercial fisheries value, constrains the scale of effectiveness.

Another option is culling, where divers kill urchins underwater. The upshot is that kelp can grow back quickly, within just 18 months, if all visible urchins are culled. But it’s extremely expensive and urchins can reemerge, meaning culling needs to be ongoing.

Strategies for urchin control.

An affordable, scalable, long-term solution?

Yes. Make it profitable. The main game here isn’t the urchins themselves but their roe, known as “uni” in Japan. Urchin roe is a delicacy, renowned for its sweet, buttery, umami flavors and bright golden color. Premium roe returns top dollar in markets from across South East Asia, the United States and the Middle East.

If commercial fisheries are viable, we can remove vast quantities of urchins from reefs in a low-cost urchin control program over large areas.

But there are challenges here too. Extracting the roe is labor-intensive. Roe quality can vary greatly, dropping as overgrazing ensues. To date, infrastructure, access to markets, and detailed knowledge of processing techniques has been a limiting factor.

Tasmania is showing it can be done. In 2018, the state government invested in a fledgling urchin fishery in conjunction with the abalone industry by offering harvest subsidies.

These gave urchin processors the financial certainty to invest. In a few years, annual urchin fishery yields have grown from 40 metric tons to 500 metric tons, all harvested by hand by divers.

To date, the fishery has created more than 100 jobs and boosted regional economies. It’s starting to work too. The fishery has not only slowed the expansion of urchin barrens, but allowed recovery of kelp habitats in some heavily fished areas.

Expanding urchin fisheries

Tasmania’s example shows the potential of fishery-led control of overabundant, problematic species. Making the most of it means adding value, such as by expanding the international market, developing new uses for low-grade urchin roe and selling waste products. If it’s more profitable, divers will be able to travel farther from port and fish down urchin stocks.

We can also direct fishery efforts for better urchin control by offering subsidies to fish high priority areas.

Other states hit hard by urchins too, such as Victoria, could benefit from control-by-fishery.

Achieving national, widespread urchin control will require challenging coordination. We need to:

support dive fisheries to become the heavy lifter of urchin controladd extra urchin control measures on high-value reefsbegin restoring degraded barrens to a mosaic of urchin fisheries or kelp forestsboost populations of urchin predators on healthy reefs, to increase resilience in the first place.

If we do this right, Australia’s control of the longspined sea urchin could be a global exemplar of climate-ready management of overabundant and range extending species, boosting rural economies and social well-being. As species keep moving, finding low- or zero-cost control measures will be essential to keeping ecosystems intact.

Controlling troublesome species is often seen as a major cost to government. Our work and the work of many others has shown it doesn’t have to be. Creating viable urchin fisheries turns a cost into a benefit.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.The Conversation

Citation:
Can we eat our way through an exploding sea urchin problem? (2023, November 4)
retrieved 4 November 2023
from https://phys.org/news/2023-11-sea-urchin-problem.html

This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no
part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : Phys.org – https://phys.org/news/2023-11-sea-urchin-problem.html

Tags: explodingscienceurchin
Previous Post

Understanding all kinds of English accents can improve empathy and learning—and even be a matter of life and death

Next Post

Endeavour assembly at Science Center starts with lifting 52-ton rockets into place

‘Half the tree of life’: ecologists’ horror as nature reserves are emptied of insects – The Guardian

Half the Tree of Life at Risk: Ecologists Warn as Insect Populations Plummet in Nature Reserves

June 29, 2025
Health, science cuts affect future jobs – The Acorn

Health, science cuts affect future jobs – The Acorn

June 29, 2025
Why Some People Have Absolutely No Sense Of Direction, According To Science – YourTango

Why Do Some People Struggle with Direction? The Surprising Science of Getting Lost

June 29, 2025
Cardiologist shares how stress and modern lifestyle are raising heart risks in 30s and 40s: ‘Don’t wait for chest pain’ | Health – Hindustan Times – Hindustan Times

Cardiologist shares how stress and modern lifestyle are raising heart risks in 30s and 40s: ‘Don’t wait for chest pain’ | Health – Hindustan Times – Hindustan Times

June 29, 2025
79-year old man competing in his 16th World Police and Fire Games – WVTM

79-year old man competing in his 16th World Police and Fire Games – WVTM

June 29, 2025
The Economy Is So Off the Rails That They’re Trying to Figure Out How to Make Ads Specifically Targeted at AI Bots – Futurism

The Economy Is So Off the Rails That They’re Trying to Figure Out How to Make Ads Specifically Targeted at AI Bots – Futurism

June 29, 2025

WATCH: Health Secretary RFK Jr. Faces Intense Questioning on Vaccine Policy and Transparency in House Hearing

June 29, 2025
Jimmy Patronis hails House passage of bill benefitting military, veterans – Florida Politics

Jimmy Patronis Cheers House Approval of Landmark Bill Backing Military and Veterans

June 29, 2025
Naples restaurant owner prepares for hurricane season with new flood technology – Fox4Now.com

Naples restaurant owner prepares for hurricane season with new flood technology – Fox4Now.com

June 29, 2025
Fireworks sales support Folsom youth sports: ‘This is our biggest fundraiser’ – Sacramento Bee

Fireworks Sales Ignite Support for Folsom Youth Sports: “This Is Our Biggest Fundraiser

June 29, 2025

Categories

Archives

June 2025
MTWTFSS
 1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
30 
« May    
Earth-News.info

The Earth News is an independent English-language daily published Website from all around the World News

Browse by Category

  • Business (20,132)
  • Ecology (700)
  • Economy (723)
  • Entertainment (21,613)
  • General (15,619)
  • Health (9,762)
  • Lifestyle (728)
  • News (22,149)
  • People (724)
  • Politics (729)
  • Science (15,940)
  • Sports (21,219)
  • Technology (15,707)
  • World (703)

Recent News

‘Half the tree of life’: ecologists’ horror as nature reserves are emptied of insects – The Guardian

Half the Tree of Life at Risk: Ecologists Warn as Insect Populations Plummet in Nature Reserves

June 29, 2025
Health, science cuts affect future jobs – The Acorn

Health, science cuts affect future jobs – The Acorn

June 29, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

Go to mobile version