Overpopulation of kina - native sea urchins of New Zealand - is wiping out kelp forests and, with them, entire ecosystems.
Photo: Adobe Stock.
Back in April, we learned New Zealand was seeking solutions to tackle the problem of kina barrens off its coast. Two possible solutions were then proposed: options to increase recreational daily bag limits for kina in the Auckland East Fisheries Management Area, and a new special permit for targeted culling, harvest, or translocation of kina and long-spined sea urchins.
Later, in July, it was announced that both options would finally be implemented and now, the Government has announced that the first special permit to remove the excess kina has been approved and will help local restoration efforts in the Hauraki Gulf.
Earlier this week, New Zealand's Oceans and Fisheries Minister, Shane Jones, announced that the first group to be approved to remove kina from the seabed is the Te Kohuroa Rewilding Initiative. This community-led initiative's mission is to clean up the marine environment of Te Kohuroa/Mathesons Bay, where it has identified kina barren areas for harvesting.
The Minister, who congratulated the group for being the first to secure one of these permits, explained that Te Kohuroa Rewilding is made up of volunteers who work with iwi (tribes), other organizations, and the community to create positive outcomes for their local coastal marine ecosystem.
Moreover, the head of New Zealand Oceans and Fisheries added that the new rules allowing local communities to take direct action against kina barrens are starting to bear fruit. "This is exactly what the new special permit purpose was designed for," he said referring again to the first approved project. "It enables communities to take action by removing excess kina to help restore local marine habitat."
As WeAreAquaculture has previously explained, kina barrens are rocky reef areas where an overpopulation of kina and long-spined sea urchins has consumed healthy kelp forests, forming a barren space detrimental to other marine life.
These native sea urchins are important herbivores in kelp forests, so when hordes of these kina strip a reef of kelp and create this open area known as barren, young kelp attempting to colonize it is eaten by the resident kina. A barren may remain free of large seaweeds for years.
Special permits approved by the Government can be applied for anywhere in New Zealand and allow individuals or organizations to harvest, cull, or move kina to help with habitat restoration or to prevent the development of kina barrens. All go through an application process that includes providing evidence of actual or potential kina barrens in the area before being approved.
It should be noted that, although the New Zealand Government's measures refer to catches, there is also a project in the country, Urchinomics Aotearoa, dedicated to solving this problem through aquaculture.
The joint venture in New Zealand of global sea urchin ranching and kelp restoration company Urchinomics and the environmental project developer and advisory firm EnviroStrat will remove malnourished kina from the seafloor - for which it could perhaps apply for one of these permits - to convert them into premium 'uni', creating jobs while helping kelp forests to recover.