Utilisation of the Arctic Sea Urchin Resource

Programme 2014 - 2020 INTERREG VB Northern Periphery and Arctic

Date of latest update: 2023-11-16

Description

Description (EN):

This project aims to gather the existing expertise from Norway, Iceland, Ireland and Greenland, together with knowledge from Canada and Scotland to optimise the fishing of high value sea urchins in Northern and Arctic areas. Furthermore, roe enhancement technology for roe fattening to increase the value of low value sea urchins once they have been collected in the northern arctic regions will be developed in Greenland and Iceland. The project would also investigate sea ranching to repopulate areas that have been extensively overfished in the past in Ireland. Issues regarding the provision of adequate legislation and fisheries management will be identified and legislative organisations will be provided with the appropriate knowledge to provide sensible and sustainable management of sea urchin fisheries. The project will also estimate market needs for sea urchin roe as well as establishing logistic routes from the NPA to markets.

Achievements (EN):

As a result of the project´s research and underwater surveys, new fishing areas were discovered in Iceland. This allowed the Thorisholmi fishing company to increase their annual catch, buy new fishing boat and hire more employees. Additionally, the project helped the fishing companies to discover new markets in the USA and Asia and to develop new products, such as frozen urchin roes. Based on the results of the project´s dredge surveys and research of urchin populations, a management plan was made for the first time for the sea urchin fishery in Iceland. Marine & Freshwater Research Institute has given advice to the Icelandic Ministry of Industries and Innovation about the maximum allowable catch within the investigated area to make the fishery sustainable. Minimum landing size of the urchin was decided as well as the size and weight of the dredge used was limited. The research institutes involved in the project have all increased their institutional capacity through cooperation and knowledge sharing. Some partners had minimal experience with sea urchins and thus benefited greatly from knowledge exchange. For instance, Greenlandic partner adapted Icelandic fishing method and Irish partner successfully re-seeded urchins and tested a roe enhancement diet developed by Norwegian partner. All project´s reports are available at URCHIN´s website.

Website: http://www.interreg-npa.eu/

Delivered Outputs (EN):

(1) A platform for the establishment and expansion of sea urchin fisheries in the NPA (https://urchinproject.com/) - The platform provides services to SME´s in the NPA through an open-access website. Services: description of the optimal urchin fishing techniques, transfer the knowledge and techniques regarding roe enhancement of wild-caught sea urchins, establish restocking protocols using hatchery-reared larvae in order to re-establish the sea urchin fishery in Ireland. (2) Implementation of a framework for fisheries management. Available through reports on the project's website (3) Restocking and maximum value URCHIN developed and shared: - adequate methods of measuring stock biomass, to enable the implementation of adequate sea urchin fisheries management and legislation, - transfer knowledge on existing techniques for roe enhancement - established market needs and methods of getting products to market.

Thematic information

Education and training SME and entrepreneurship Agriculture and fisheries and forestry

Specific Objective: Increased innovation and transfer of new technology to SMEs in remote sparsely populated areas

Thematic Objective: (01) strengthening research, technological development and innovation by:

Investment Priority:

(01b) promoting business investment in R&I, developing links and synergies between enterprises, research and development centres and the higher education sector, in particular promoting investment in product and service development, technology transfer, social innovation, eco-innovation, public service applications, demand stimulation, networking, clusters and open innovation through smart specialisation, and supporting technological and applied research, pilot lines, early product validation actions, advanced manufacturing capabilities and first production, in particular in key enabling technologies and diffusion of general purpose technologies

Partners (6)

Lead Partner: Nofima - Matforskningsinstituttet

Department: Aquaculture production division

Address: Muninbakken 9-13, N-6122 Tromsø, Norway

Legal status: public

Website: http://www.nofima.no

Total budget: EUR 375 000.00

Galway Mayo Institute of Technology

Name: Galway Mayo Institute of Technology

Department: Marine & Freshwater Research Centre

Address: Dublin Road 1Galway,, Ireland

Legal status: public

Total budget: EUR 175 789.00

ERDF budget: EUR 114 262.85

Arctic Caviar AS

Name: Arctic Caviar AS

Address: Innstrandveien 98, N-8020 Bodø, Norway

Legal status: private

Total budget: EUR 51 542.00

Þórishólmi ehf

Name: Þórishólmi ehf

Address: Aðalgata 11, 340 Stykkishólmur, Iceland

Legal status: private

Total budget: EUR 35 000.00

Marine Research Institute (Iceland)

Name: Marine Research Institute (Iceland)

Department: Resource section

Address: Skúlagata 4, IS-101 Reykjavík,, Iceland

Legal status: public

Website: http://www.hafro.is/

Total budget: EUR 125 082.00

Matís ohf.

Name: Matís ohf.

Department: Resources and products

Address: Vinlandsleid 12, IS-113 Reykjavik, Iceland

Legal status: public

Website: http://www.matis.is

Total budget: EUR 111 667.00

Partners map

Partners and Projects info

Galway Mayo Institute of Technology

Utilisation of the Arctic Sea Urchin Resource

Partners and Projects info

Arctic Caviar AS

Utilisation of the Arctic Sea Urchin Resource

Partners and Projects info

Thorisholmi (Iceland)

Utilisation of the Arctic Sea Urchin Resource

Partners and Projects info

Marine Research Institute (Iceland)

Utilisation of the Arctic Sea Urchin Resource

Partners and Projects info

Matis

Utilisation of the Arctic Sea Urchin Resource

Partners and Projects info

Nofima - The food Research Institute

Utilisation of the Arctic Sea Urchin Resource

Lead partner

Project partner

Summary

Project name (EN): Utilisation of the Arctic Sea Urchin Resource

Project acronym: URCHIN

Project start date: 2015-05-01

Project end date: 2018-04-30

Project status: closed

Total budget/expenditure: EUR 874 080.00

Total EU funding (amount): EUR 114 262.85

Co-financing sources:

ERDF: Amount, EUR 114 262.85.

Third-country contribution: Iceland: EUR 119 498.14 (ERDF equivalent only); Norway: EUR 213 271.00 (ERDF equivalent only)

Documents

Documents on this project are listed below, and organised by category. Please note field "Data source", attached to each document. Keep.eu users are free to use these documents as long as they mention the data source and keep.eu.

Reports

Branding Sea Urchin for the NPA (Northern Periphery and Arctic) Region

Attachment type: file

Type of document: Report

Data source: http://www.urchinproject.com

Publication date: 2020-01-27

Document date: 2018-04-01

Languages: en

Attachment file: Download

Guide to the Sea Urchin Reproductive Cycle and Staging Sea Urchin Gonad Samples

Attachment type: file

Type of document: Report

Data source: http://www.urchinproject.com

Publication date: 2020-01-27

Document date: 2018-04-01

Languages: en

Attachment file: Download

Sea Urchin transportation systems for land, sea and air

Attachment type: file

Type of document: Report

Data source: http://www.urchinproject.com

Publication date: 2020-01-27

Document date: 2018-05-01

Languages: en

Attachment file: Download

Sea Urchin Fishing techniques Report

Attachment type: file

Type of document: Report

Data source: http://www.urchinproject.com

Publication date: 2020-01-27

Document date: 2018-04-01

Languages: en

Attachment file: Download

Restocking of the purple sea urchin

Attachment type: file

Type of document: Report

Data source: http://www.urchinproject.com

Publication date: 2020-01-27

Document date: 2018-04-30

Languages: en

Attachment file: Download

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

Financing programme

2014 - 2020 INTERREG VB Northern Periphery and Arctic

Last month that data in keep.eu was retrieved from the Programme's website or received from the Programme

2023-11-02

No. of projects in keep.eu / Total no. of projects (% of projects in keep.eu)

152 / 152 (100%)

No. of project partnerships in keep.eu / Total no. of project partnerships (% of project partnerships in keep.eu)

779 / 779 (100%)

Notes on the data

Information provided by the Programme

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Contact Form

Utilisation of the Arctic Sea Urchin Resource

Description

Thematic information

Partners (6)

Partners map

Summary

Documents

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

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