How do you challenge the thinking that restoring a degraded habitat can’t surely be a profitable activity?
EnviroStrat’s Kinanomics project is a great example of the blue economy, and this article explains how an environmental problem can also be a business opportunity.
Kinanomics Aotearoa is set to scale in 2025.
We enjoyed our Kinanomics work being featured in the Voices of Tangaroa podcast on Radio New Zealand. Here’s how we achieved our proof-of-concept:
The purpose of of Kinanomics New Zealand was:
- To develop a new, high value seafood export industry that provides commercial, social and environmental benefit to Aotearoa New Zealand.
- To identify and establish an end-to-end supply chain for sea urchin (kina) enhancement in New Zealand.
- To promote environmental restoration by exploring sea urchin removal as seabed habitat management tool (kelp forest restoration).
- To develop a business model and investment case for kina enhancement, with a pathway to scale to a national level industry.
- To create regional employment opportunities.
What did we achieve?
- We characterised the urchin roe (uni) value chain – creating a scalable operating model to grow the urchin enhancement industry. This involved;
- Validation of consumer preferences of the target export market(s)
- Description of the regulatory environment, and a pathway to increase commercial catch quota
- Limits to support the expansion of the enhancement industry
- Identification of value-add opportunities (e.g. bio actives) that could be adopted into the value chain
- Market analysis
- Financial modelling (harvesting to market), and;
- Post-pilot business model and investment strategy for scaling the industry
We also focused on delivering harvesting and ranching protocols that were optimised for kina. We did this through adaptation, local knowledge, science and experimentation.Through the pilot phase were were able to;
- Leverage experience from the wild kina fishery and local knowledge to identify collection, handling and transport techniques to promote high survivorship and condition pre ranching.
- Adapt known ranching techniques and enhancement conditions and optimise for kina, including stocking densities, enhancement duration, culture conditions and identifying optimal feed rates.
The kinanomics proof-of-concept gave us an understanding of the environmental benefits driven by kina removal activities, namely seabed recovery. For this, we;
- Undertook a synthesis of relevant seabed restoration research
- Validated the efficacy of accelerated restoration through kelp reseeding techniques
- Developed seabed restoration protocols.
Projects like Kinanomics and Greenwave Aotearoa demonstrate that addressing environmental challenges can also create prosperity, supporting New Zealand’s regional and coastal economies.
EnviroStrat will continue to champion innovative, scalable solutions that restore ocean ecosystems while driving sustainable growth.