At Peter Herbert’s kina factory on the Coromandel, Ashley Hine cracks kina open so his colleagues can scoop out the roe. Photo: © Richard Robinson
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The kina are out of control. As many as 40 urchins crowd into a single square metre of rock, devoid of other life.
A kina barren is a symptom of an ecosystem out of balance. Could we eat our way to a solution?
Putting kina on the table
Kina-nomics involves taking starving kina off reefs, fattening them up and selling them to an East Asian market.
But how can the kina be made more consistently tasty? And can economic and conservation goals really align?
Todd Herbert collects kina from a barren for Envirostrat, which is collaborating with Ngāti Porou Seafoods, international startup Urchinomics, and commercial fishers from Sea Urchin NZ. Photo: © Richard Robinson
Learn more:
- Listen to the full episode on Our Changing World.
- Read the accompanying New Zealand Geographic article by Kate Evans, with photography by Richard Robinson.
Photo: NZ On Air
Voice of Tangaroa is a joint production between RNZ’s Our Changing World and New Zealand Geographic.
Reporting for this series is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air. You can learn more and read the articles for free at www.nzgeo.com/seas