‘We’ve been looking at the impact of our urchin biostimulant on lettuce for 67 days now,’ says Abirami Ramu Ganesan, a research scientist with NIBIO, talking mid-April. Her work has a dual focus: on food production and society as well as biomarine resource valorisation – disciplines that come together on the Ocean Green project.


‘What we’ve found is a significant increase in biomass production compared to the control – and compared to a seaweed-based extract as well,’ she says.

The results point to the urchin biostimulant as a highly effective growth enhancer. At the right concentration, the urchin biostimulant performed as well as, and in some cases even better than, the commercial product, though the commercial one was more consistent overall. Such a marked improvement in yield suggests strong potential for scalable, sustainable agricultural applications.

This difference is clear to see from photos of the lettuce Ganesan has been growing in her lab in Bodø, more than 1,000 km north of Oslo – and some 70 km north of the Arctic Circle – where she explains that the team chose lettuce largely because it was likely to grow well in the limited space of the lab.


There is another factor too. Ralf Rautenberger, another research scientist at NIBIO, explains that, up in the north of Norway in particular – where people spend multiple months of the year shrouded in night – the choice, supply and quality of fresh vegetables leaves room for improvement.

‘Here in the north we don’t have any farmer’s markets, for example,’ says Rautenberger, ‘and there isn’t always a huge variety available, so green-leaf lettuce is a great choice for us to work on’.



At the moment, iceberg is one of the more commonly found lettuce options – but it is also one of the least nutritious lettuce varieties. On top of that, there is evidence of a global reduction in the nutrition we get from fruit and vegetables, something that goes hand in hand with the need to find new fertiliser and biostimulant sources. .

‘The range of what we eat needs to be expanded – if only for nutritional reasons. So, if you could introduce a new vegetable for Norwegians to eat, then green lettuce is a good choice,’ says Rautenberger.

It is also a theme tied to much wider issues. There are the sustainability questions around the global fertiliser supply chain as well as the impact of geopolitics here. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for example, sent global fertiliser and food markets into turmoil, with fertiliser prices remaining high. Diversification is needed, home-grown solutions, derived from a source that needs managing – such as northern Norway’s urchin barrens – presents a great opportunity to tick multiple boxes with a single, spiky pest.


The research to develop biostimulants from the urchins harvested as part of the Ocean Green are still in the early stages with a lot to be uncovered. Ganesan explains, for example, that she is also looking at the shelf life of the biostimulant, which must be reliably stabilised in order to begin thinking about any scale up.

All this has implications that go to the very core of the Ocean Green project. ‘The most important thing is to stabilise the chemical components of the urchin,’ says Ganesan. And that influences the way that these creatures can be harvested as well as how they’re stored on the vessel or how long they can spend between ocean and lab.

This is what the Ocean Green project is all about: bringing funding opportunities that secure longevity for a project developing a new, circular economy with urchins at its core.

For Dagny-Elise Anastassiou, chief impact officer at Ava Ocean and management lead for the Ocean Green project, this latest development comes back to the ‘poetry of the Ocean Green story’.


‘We have Ava Ocean – a fishing company – trying to play its part in correcting something that our industry helped to break in the first place. But it was not just overfishing that damaged our coastal marine ecosystems. Another culprit is runoffs from the agricultural sector, with fertilisers leading to overgrowth of algae that can have potentially disastrous consequences for local biodiversity.

‘By using the urchins from the fishery to offer substitutes for these products, we add value both financially and ecologically.’

Then, there is the circular economy focus of the project.

‘When you remove urchins for kelp restoration, you address the cause but are left with a huge volume of urchins biomass,’ explains Anastassiou. ‘Instead of wasting these urchins, we are turning them into a valuable resource. Being able to produce fertiliser alternatives is one way of applying a zero-waste approach to one of the causes of kelp deforestation. Ideally, if we want the trifecta, the harvested area would be banned from fishing to allow the larger fish to establish themselves. but that’s a whole other Pandora's box in Norway.



Locally produced biostimulant could deliver broad benefits

From sea to lettuce to better nutrition for Norwegians: early tests show biomass boost with urchin derivatives 

Clearing urchins from bigger spaces, watching kelp forests return and bringing fish and other species along as well. These are the things Delphin Ruché, founder of Tromsø-based non-profit Rissa Citizen Science, talks about when asked what his goals are.


And those ambitions are being realised. Ruché, supported by a small army of volunteers, has been working on a 150-meter-long jetty in the city for some time, removing urchins from one side, watching life replace barrens. After success along a jetty in Tromsø, Ocean Green’s citizen science partner Rissa Citizen Science has broken new ground – or new water perhaps – in Telegrafbukta.


The team’s first real expedition at Telegrafbukta, a wide beach and local recreation area, saw nine volunteers join Ruché in removing more than 5,000 urchins, though he stresses that it’s not about the numbers. Instead it is about the return of essential kelp forests, the boost to biodiversity, the science and the community.

Rissa CS work at Telegrafbukta builds on the success it has already had along a jetty in the city, where urchin removal along just one side highlights in stark contrast the difference between an urchin barren and what a returning kelp forest looks like. Speaking to those who have taken part in that restoration, the sense of community really comes through.


‘You go out there and it’s just this really positive experience – almost an antidote to the huge problems we’re facing on climate. Whether you’re in the water or just making waffles, it’s fun and you’re making a difference for your community,’ says Jamie Hollander, an American who was in Tromsø on a Fulbright Norway research scholarship to investigate methane emissions from glacial and permafrost landscapes in Svalbard.


‘I do climate science, I study the carbon cycle and melting glaciers. It’s easy to get lost in the feeling that there’s not a lot we can do. But in getting involved in Rissa CS, you’re seeing the difference as you’re making it. You start to recognise people and develop this feeling that you're working towards something together.’


Ruché says the project simply would not be possible without the volunteers that Rissa CS works with.


‘Lots of people come but it’s not just that,’ he says. ‘People are coming back and this is creating a community with a sense of belonging in sharing this adventure and of having achieved something – and that is fantastic.’


While the purpose of each meet up is urchin removal, the set up makes Rissa CS’ work accessible for all. Hollander did go into the water for example – something she describes as an incredible but challenging experience for her – but ultimately felt her skills were best used on land, in particular at the waffle maker.


Ruché also talks about the many ways people can get involved. There are parents who come along with their kids for example, with Ruché explaining that ‘we use a remote operated vehicle, or ROV, for people who are too young to go in the water, so they can still explore and have fun, they see what the others are seeing in the water.’

But to remove the urchins, some people do have to go into the water. Ruché says there is no need for previous diving experience, with most people freediving or snorkelling close to shore. ‘We have a lot of people who have never been in the water before – they’re not marine biologists, they’re not divers. But they’re curious – they want to see the situation for themselves and to experience being in the cold water.’


There are also some experienced divers in the community. One is Michael Paul Morreau, a lecturer in philosophy at The Arctic University of Norway, and a New Zealander who arrived in Tromsø via the US. He found out about the work Rissa CS does after attending a lecture on Norway’s kelp problem as a representative of a local diving club. ‘We have a very similar problem in New Zealand, caused by over fishing,’ he notes.


Even as an experienced diver, Morreau says urchin removal helps hone your skills: there’s a lot to learn around buoyancy, technique and positioning. And like Hollander, he talks about the community spirit as being a real draw. Everyone has their role, from providing warm drinks to people leaving the freezing fjord to those who help carry gear or, like Hollander, work the waffle grill. Armed with a dry suit, Morreau plays his part, diving in deeper ‘areas where the snorkelers might struggle’.

The urchin-kelp battle is a long fight. Morreau talks of removing maybe 500 an hour ‘or more if I get mad because one pierced a glove,’ he jokes. Ruché has easily removed 1,000 on a quick check up at the jetty without any volunteers to support the work. And the work is constant. As part of the Ocean Green project, Rissa CS represents the consortium’s citizen science work – which includes educating people on the need to restore Northern Norway’s kelp forests and getting them into the water to help in the removal process as well as monitoring biodiversity below water. But more urchins need to be removed – and faster.


‘What’s needed for long-term restoration is a large-scale solution,’ explains Dagny-Elise Anastassiou, chief impact officer at Ava Ocean and project lead for Ocean Green. ‘And this solution must be something that works in shallow waters, that can handle tides and large changes in weather, that can go on uneven, large rocky areas, on bedrock, on sand. At the same time, it must be gentle enough and bring minimal disruption.’


Ava Ocean is currently adapting the technology it developed to gently harvest scallops from the Barents Sea – a fishery closed for 30 years due to over fishing. ‘This technology will allow the scale needed to make a real and lasting difference in the urchin-kelp fight,’ says Anastassiou, ‘though we’ll always need organisations like Rissa CS to keep banging the drum to make sure that people understand just how valuable our underwater ecosystems are.’


Local non-profit is getting people into the water and into kelp restoration

Breaking new water: Ocean Green partner Rissa Citizen Science begins work at new site in Tromsø

Dagny-Elise Anastassiou, chief impact officer at Ava Ocean and project lead for Ocean Green, joined 100,000 visitors, 15,000 participants and more than 60 heads of state in Nice, southern France, for the United Nation’s third Ocean Conference.

Co-hosted by France and Costa Rica, the event closed with a number of pledges the UN describes as ‘ambitious’. These include a European Commission investment of €1 bn to support ocean conservation, science and sustainable fishing, a pledge by French Polynesia to create the world’s largest marine protected area and a commitment from New Zealand to strengthen ocean governance in the Pacific. Elsewhere, a 37-coutry coalition launched an initiative to tackle underwater noise pollution.

But private industry was notably absent from the conversations, says Anastassiou as she shares some quick-fire thoughts direct from Nice.


How would you sum up your UNOC experience?

Positive but logistically challenging. It was amazing to see the enthusiasm: so many people showed up from all sorts of countries, including some incredible speakers. The Crown Prince of Norway spoke at a couple of talks for example – he really showed excitement about the ocean space.

The logistics were a challenge however. The Blue Zone – for governments and accredited organisations – and the Green Zone – an open exhibition space – were a 25-minute-plus walk from each other, in the hot Mediterranean sun. That meant people were often late and my carefully planned schedule didn’t really work.

And even though the speakers were great, it was often the same speech with different terminology. We know about climate change and biodiversity loss and we know we want healthier oceans – but we need bold debate that asks daring questions to talk about why we’re not achieving the change we need.


What would you have liked to see more of?

We definitely need to get private industry involved in these discussions, rather than sidelining voices that are being depicted as part of the problem only. Ava Ocean and Ocean Green is just one example of how the industrial fishing industry can be a force for sustainable change, delivering partnerships with science and bringing innovation to a global food problem, a fishing problem and a marine biodiversity problem.


In the same way that COP is criticised for being too focused on private interest, this conference went too far the other way. Even coming from a firm like Ava Ocean, with a sustainable model that has reopened a long-shuttered fishery, I felt uncomfortable telling people I was from the fishing industry.


We need to find that middle ground that doesn’t involve going in guns blazing. It would be great to see some closed debates, where people can speak freely and know they won’t be quoted – and won’t be attacked on social media. Imagine bringing the frankness of the LinkedIn comments section to the stage instead of a series of panels discussing topics we’re already in agreement on.

There was a quote I heard repeated on probably a panel a day – probably because it really sums up what’s needed: If you want to go fast, you go low; if you want to go far, you go together.


Ultimately the challenges we face in the ocean need private collaboration and innovation alongside governments, NGOs and science. And we need to talk more about what collaboration actually looks like for it to work.


I had the chance to meet the iconic oceanographer and marine biologist Sylvia Earle at an event hosted by the Blue Marine Foundation. She is such a huge inspiration to me, and meeting her in person was a highlight for sure.


How would you sum up the conversations you had with other attendees?


There was definitely interest in Ava Ocean technology but that was backed by scepticism too. It is clearly a struggle for people to equate industrial fishing with sustainable practices – even if we know we need more protein from the ocean.


Where did Ocean Green come into the conversation?


Ocean Green piqued the interest of most people I met. Everyone was speaking about 30x30: the idea of protecting 30% of the ocean by 2030. Ocean green is really unique, in these conversations because it’s one of the few restoration projects that is able to approach the issue with an industry and business case. Our sustainable business model that uses new or undervalued marine resources with the potential for a cascading effect for biodiversity is something that really sparks a lot of interest.


What was the most exciting outcome of UNOC for you?


The European Ocean Pact. It’s the equivalent of the EU Green Deal – but for the ocean. The Green Deal did a lot to unlock funding and make space for innovation. So I’m excited to see how a similar plan for the ocean will translate into action, funding and regulation.


Ava Ocean recently took part in the UN Ocean Conference in Nice, which saw the seafood industry notably absent from discussions and events concerning the future of fishing and seafood. 

"Where are the industry voices?" A UN Ocean Conference summary

In northern Norway, native kelp has been decimated by the march of urchins, a species whose voracious appetite and over-abundance as predators have been over-fished has turned once-kelp-green waters into barrens devoid of their natural biodiversity.

This is the balance that the Ocean Green consortium is seeking to restore. 

 project is a world-first in its scale, scope and ambition, with plans to restore kelp forests over a large scale and for the long term.


“We know that restoring the kelp forests of northern Norway will provide a huge boost to local biodiversity,” says Dagny-Elise Anastassiou, chief impact officer at Ava Ocean, lead on the Ocean Green Project. “We have seen how quickly kelp returns when you clear urchins – and the ocean life comes with it.


“That alone is of huge value but we also know that healthy kelp forests act as a nature-based sea defence system. They offer carbon sequestration. And, by establishing a new urchin fishery to drive a zero-waste, circular economy for clearing urchin barrens, Ocean Green is also delivering social benefits to the communities it serves. These are the kinds of tangible, holistic and long-term benefits that should come with any kind of credit system – be that carbon removal or biodiversity. We should be delivering on all fronts.”

Anastassiou stresses the need for a robust system that makes investment easier and more transparent. “Carbon and biodiversity credits are a real win-win for hard-to-abate emissions – but they must deliver. High-quality credits allow companies to invest in sustainability projects like Ocean Green while also offering an essential funding stream that offers stability and longevity to the projects themselves, allowing them to achieve more over the longer term.”

Nata Tavonvunchai, a sustainability consultant with Across Nature, which works with Ocean Green has been exploring the possibilities of self-reliance that come from the credit system.


The idea of biodiversity credits is quite new, she explains “but they offer something more tangible than the traditional carbon-focus, which is harder to visualise. With biodiversity credits, we’re looking at species count and species diversity. We’re looking at habitat complexity and structure.”


Tavonvunchai talks about the ‘permanence’ of the solutions being offered on the credits market. And this is where the idea of carbon credits 2.0 comes in. “Previously, the focus was really on the carbon, with social or benefits seen as add ons. But the approach should be holistic and broader benefits should come as standard.”

“With the Ocean Green project, what we are really emphasising is the potential for permanence,” she continues. Though incredibly important, the lifespan of a kelp plant does impact its carbon sequestration abilities – with further research still ongoing in areas such as 

the role of kelp detritus in the deep sea

. But, as Tavonvunchai points out, “we’re looking to make sure the biodiversity and social benefits of the Ocean Green project continue. We’re focused on that longevity and that tangibility.”

Carbon credits are essentially a system designed to compensate for unavoidable emissions while companies work become greener. But some critics raise questions about the quality or impact of some of the credits traditionally offered.


Increasingly however, it is being recognised that certain sectors – particularly those with ‘hard-to-abate’ emissions, such as from essential activities – will be unable to meet their net-zero goals without some form of carbon credit system. Tavonvunchai also points out that, because of the newness of biodiversity credits, these novel credits offer an opportunity to learn from past criticisms and deliver an even higher impact.


As the sector matures, moving into areas such as carbon removal as well as biodiversity credits, experts from corporate advisers such as Nasdaq and McKinsey to the 

 agree that the credits system is an essential cog in the global transition – and what is needed now is a new generation of solutions that come with a much broader scope than just carbon.


Anticipated demand for high-quality credits far outstrips what is currently on offer in the carbon market and there is an urgent need for creative, high-quality solutions that deliver across multiple challenges and for the long term. Growing demands from investors – including the world’s largest money manager 

, which has been spearheading biodiversity reporting by its investee companies – is further driving the potential for biodiversity credits as a sustainability solution.

One of the goals of Ocean Green is to become a self-funded project. Ocean Green was awarded NOK 47 million from the Norwegian government Green Platform grant to run for three years but is also looking at how it can open an entirely new fishery to further fund its work.


As Ocean Green works to remove urchins at scale, allowing kelp to return to Norway’s northern waters, scientists within the consortium are looking at economically viable products that can be developed through zero-waste solutions. Those products will help drive the project forward, offering durability as well as a template for others 


Carbon and biodiversity credits offer yet another funding source: “These credits are meant to provide a sustainable, long-term, independent source of financing for projects like Ocean Green,” says Tavonvunchai. The idea is essentially a virtuous circle, where funding from such credits drives the growth of regenerative, carbon sequestering projects that boost biodiversity.

 and (at the time) projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 39.4% from 2024 to 2030. There is a huge pot of money with the potential to be funneled into projects that do long-lasting environmental good.


Kelp is something of a wonder plant. From a natural coastal defence system to a foundational species that provides shelter and a place to grow for a myriad of ocean life, these underwater rainforests also serve as essential carbon sinks.

Carbon markets 2.0: How the Ocean Green project fills a need far beyond carbon capture

Ocean Green project brings together diverse minds to get creative on urchin-kelp challenge


"An urchin does not want to be removed from its rock or it’s place on the sea floor," states Terje Stokkevåg, senior R&D engineer with Ava Ocean and one of the brains behind a tool that has already revolutionised scallop fishing and that is now being adapted to solve Northern Norway’s urchin problem.


This might seem like an obvious statement but is just one of the many challenges that engineers, trying to remove millions of these creatures, must grapple with.


Stokkevåg talks of having to ‘get inside the mind of an urchin and think like an urchin.’ What is also apparent is that you have to think outside the box.


The Ocean Green project is a diverse consortium and what Stokkevåg and the other engineers bring is a diversity of thinking, married up with experts on conservation, restoration, fisheries and more.


Stokkevåg example, came to Ava Ocean and came to the world of scallops, urchins and kelp restoration not from an ocean-going role but from something drastically different: the Texas oil and fracking industry. What’s clear is that his experience in R&D – 

an area the UN says is hugely underfunded around ocean projects

 – means he sometimes takes an unusual route to his goal. For example, Stokkevåg talks of having employed ‘a helicopter engine and the world’s largest hydraulic power pack’ in his fracking work and, while his passion for a far greener project is clear, his ingenuity remains as crucial to its success as before.


So what is his approach to urchin removal? "You have to have a game plan," he says, talking about the things you might expect – 3D printers and scale tanks – to the far-less expected: dump trucks to hand mixers.


He is Doc Brown from Back to the Future, working through any way to harvest urchins in order to restore kelp for future generations.


He has weighted ‘urchins’ made from a type of rubber that, in the last round of testing, could be harvested at a rate of around 70% by their scale model tool. But for him, that’s not enough. "The goal is to make it 100% in a controlled environment," he explains. "Once you have that in the aquarium, and it is as good as possible, that is when you take it out into mother nature – because that’s where you’re going to face the real obstacles."


These obstacles come in many forms. They might be predictable – "managing the GPS-controlled positioning of the vessel to the impact of its thrusters and how water currents might shift the harvester". Then there are also the potential for challenges that you haven’t fully anticipated. "You need to be prepared for everything – including all the things that won’t happen," he says.

Of course, if the goal was simply to remove the urchins that have grazed down kelp forests to urchin barrens covering an estimated equivalent of one million football fields, that would be a less complicated task.


But while the spotlight is on the urchin at the moment, Ocean Green is about much more than establishing a fishery and the economic force that a circular economy can provide. The project is ultimately about kelp.


"We need to keep focus on the fact that what we’re trying to do here is restore the kelp forests that used the thrive here," says Dagny-Elise Anastassiou, chief impact officer at Ava Ocean, whose job it is to oversee the consortium and make sure that, as urchins are gathered, processed and turned into economically viable products, the surrounding environment remains undamaged and allowed to flourish.


"This is about bringing back biodiversity," she explains. "We know we’ll see an abundance of life return once the kelp is allowed to grow back on these barrens," adds Anastassiou, "but that is a challenge in itself. We need to make sure that, by harvesting these urchins, we do not damage the ecosystem, that we do not further impact the local biodiversity. Together with engineers like Terje, we need to monitor and assess the impact of the urchin removal process."


And that means that, even as the urchins cling to their spot in the barren and Stokkevåg uses his ingenuity to get inside the mind of these spiky, voracious creatures and remove them in their millions, it must all be done with delicacy and balance – with kelp and biodiversity in mind as well.


Where engineering and conservation come together to solve Northern Norway’s urchin problem

‘You’ve got to get inside the mind of an urchin’

Being endorsed under the Marine Life 2030 action stream, the Ocean Green project is among a select group of leading global initiatives recognised for tackling critical ocean challenges.

The Ocean Green project is tackling the devastating impact of sea urchin barrens in Northern Norway – areas where overpopulations of sea urchins have destroyed vital kelp forests and unbalanced ecosystems. By using Ava Ocean’s innovative seabed harvesting technology for efficient harvesting or urchins, the project aims to restore these crucial ecosystems while also creating a sustainable economic value chain from the harvested urchins.

UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030)

 is a global initiative aiming to foster scientific collaboration and promoting the sustainable management of the oceans. It focuses on generating transformative ocean science solutions for sustainable development, connecting people and the ocean.


The Ocean Green project has been endorsed under 

 actions which aims to establish a globally coordinated system to deliver actionable, transdisciplinary knowledge of ocean life to those who need it, promoting human well-being, sustainable development, and ocean conservation.


The Decade’s endorsement process is highly selective, recognizing projects that demonstrably contribute to its ambitious goals, including open data principles, co-design, and user engagement. The Ocean Green project's endorsement signifies its alignment with these core values and its potential for substantial global impact.

Ocean Green: Restoring Kelp Forests and Creating Economic Opportunity


Part funded by a NOK 47 million grant from Norway's Green Platform, the 

 project is a collaborative endeavour, bringing together a consortium of industry, research institutions, and local communities, including NIBIO, NIVA, Akvaplan Niva, Hofseth Biocare, and Across Nature. This multi-sector approach is vital to tackling the complex challenge of restoring kelp ecosystems and to create long-term, economically viable solutions that will make a positive impact.


Ocean Green is repurposing Ava Ocean's patented, non-invasive, seabed harvesting technology to efficiently remove sea urchins from the Tromsø area in Northern Norway. This technology, already proven successful in Arctic scallop fishing, will be adapted for the careful and efficient harvesting of sea urchins, even the smallest, which is crucial for kelp forest regeneration.


It is estimated that Norway has lost more than 80 percent of its kelp forests due to invasive urchin populations in the past decade. Kelp forests are vital parts of coastal ecosystems, providing nursery grounds for all kinds of fish, sequestering carbon, and protecting coastlines from erosion.


The project goes beyond simply removing the urchins. It aims to create a sustainable, circular economy by developing commercially viable products from these often overlooked creatures. This innovative approach addresses environmental issues while creating new economic opportunities for local communities.

UN endorsement highlighting the opportunities of restorative fisheries


Dagny-Elise Anastassiou, Ocean Green Project Manager and Chief Impact Officer at Ava Ocean, emphasized the significance of the UN endorsement of the project:


“Receiving this recognition from the UN means an incredible amount to us and confirms that what we are trying to accomplish in the Ocean Green project is of great importance and interest beyond just what we are doing in Tromsø. There is an urgent need globally for scalable solutions to combat sea urchin deserts and restore these vital ecosystems.


"It will be a total game-changer in the ocean restoration space if we manage to revitalize the kelp forest by developing a sustainable and regenerative fishery of these sea urchins, which will benefit both nature and local communities."


“We are thrilled to endorse the Ocean Green project as part of the Ocean Decade,” said Alison Clausen, Deputy Coordinator of the Ocean Decade. “By combining ecosystem restoration, innovative technologies, and community-driven solutions for kelp forest restoration, this initiative exemplifies the holistic approach needed to tackle pressing ocean challenges. We look forward to seeing its impact inspire similar efforts worldwide.”

The three-year project, which commenced early 2024, aims to demonstrate a scalable and replicable model for sea urchin barren restoration, inspiring similar initiatives globally.


The Ocean Green regenerative fishery and kelp restoration project in Northern Norway, led by Ava Ocean, has received official endorsement from the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030).

UN Ocean Decade endorses Ava Ocean’s kelp restoration project

For Dagny-Elise Anastassiou, chief impact officer at Ava Ocean, the Ocean Green project is an opportunity to help solve a problem seen in waters around the world, with sea urchin proliferation decimating kelp forests.
Having seen how Ava Ocean’s gentle scallop technology could re-open a fishery in the Barents Sea that had been shut for three decades, Anastassiou was confident it could be adapted to other sea life.

“I come from a research and conservation background and spent many years doing coral restoration and sea grass monitoring in the Caribbean, where I got really into the potential of kelp – especially when I moved back to Europe,” she explains. “Then, when I started with Ava Ocean, we began looking at the potential of not just scallops, but also marine resources lower down the seafood chain.”


Reading about the ‘urgent’ urchin problem in Norway – where some 80% of kelp forests have given way to urchin barrens – Anastassiou felt confident the firm could help. The problem however, was that while there is a market for scallops, the general response to the idea of harvesting urchins was ‘who in their right mind is going to pay us to do this?’


As she dived further into the world of kelp and urchins, Anastassiou says she came to understand that urchins today have no real value. What they needed was a product. But to invest in developing a product, you need to be able to harvest a good supply of urchins. So who goes first? It was a catch-22.

“We realised that we have to do it at the same time,” she explains. That was the beginning of the Ocean Green project, where a consortium of partners brings together industry minds, researchers, individuals that have been at the forefront of the urchin problem for decades.


As the project lead, Ava Ocean is key to getting enough urchins out of the water so that the other partners can do their parts in product development or marketing. As well as project coordination and management (work package one), Ava Ocean is the lead on work package two: Novel sea-urchin harvest technology. Having looked at numerous restoration attempts, Anastassiou says “the problem isn’t understanding what happens when urchins are removed: You remove urchins, kelp comes back.


“The issue is finding a large-scale technical solution that can go in shallow waters, that can handle tides and large changes in weather, that can go on uneven, large rocky areas, on bedrock, on sand. You need to be able to handle more than one type of substrate.” At the same time, this technology must be gentle enough and bring minimal disruption.


“It’s not just conservationists and researchers coming to the table,” she continues, pointing out for example that Ava Ocean’s engineer is a diver who comes from the fracking industry. The chicken-and-egg, ‘who goes first’ problem meant Ocean Green needed minds from outside the box – features Anastassiou says makes the project unique – and more likely to succeed.


Today, as Ava Ocean prepares its first pilot harvesters, Anastassiou is working on attracting new sources of funding for Ocean Green, which received 47 million NOK from the Norwegian government’s Green Platform to run for three years. She feels that regulation is going to galvanise businesses to get involved.


 came into play this year and that is a pretty big game changer,’ she says. ‘We’re going to see a lot of interest and we’re going to see a lot more funding become available – and it always comes down to funding.”


The flip side is that regulation around conservation is also set to pose challenges. “If an urchin barren is inside a marine conservation area, what does that mean for potential restoration efforts,” she wonders. “We’re talking about restoration by starting a new fishery. That’s not been done before.”


Ava Ocean, which is leading the project, is responsible for developing technology to gently but efficiently harvest urchins; 

 are fronting the research and development of urchin-derived products; Hofseth Biocare will be responsible for the marketing- efforts of those products. Wandering Owl contribute expertise to meet the social impacts elements of Ocean Green.


We’re talking about restoration by starting a new fishery: The large-scale ambitions of Ava Ocean

Meet the Ocean Green partners: Ava Ocean

Hartvig Christie has been in the urchin-management business for a long time, getting to work on his first kelp-restoration project back in 1988. He has since been involved in projects that support

 predation or that use quicklime to kill the creatures

 that are decimating northern Norway’s kelp forests.

Now, Christie, a marine biologist, is part of the NIVA team that makes up part of the Ocean Green project, bringing with him decades of urchin-kelp experience. And after all these years, the goal – and the challenges – remain the same. "The major task is to remove the sea urchins and help the kelp forest coming back," says Christie. "For our ocean, it's important to develop a tool or a method for removing the urchins – so that's the first challenge right now."


The loss of Amazon rainforests under water

Research that Christie worked on, published in 2021, put the realities of kelp-forest loss – and the potential held in their restoration – into a stark light, likening the loss of some 8,400 km2 of Norwegian kelp forests to Amazon deforestation, even though the two issues are worlds apart in terms of global attention.

"Norwegian kelp forests are important carbon sinks and nutrient filters, as well as focal points for high biodiversity and abundances of commercial fish species, generating an estimated €16.7 million per km2 per year," the researchers wrote. "In comparison, boreal forests are valued at about €0.24 million per km2, which makes kelp forests 70 times more valuable than their terrestrial counterparts."

They estimate that restoring the 5,000 km2 area ‘still dominated’ by urchin barrens would provide an extra €83.6 billion per year – a value they put at three times as high as all of Norway’s terrestrial forests combined.

"There is no doubt that if Norway lost all its trees today, there would be a public outcry over their disappearance and calls for immediate restoration actions; a perception that must be adopted for kelp forest ecosystems to firmly establish their conservation and restoration as an integral part on political agendas," wrote the researchers.


As part of the Ocean Green project, Christie and his colleagues at NIVA are responsible for work package three: the environmental impact assessment. This involves assessing not just the effectiveness of the tools developed by Ava Ocean in removing urchins but also their potential impact on non-target species and the surrounding habitat.

NIVA is currently working to identify grounds for urchin removal and will also be involved in monitoring progress as the project moves through urchin collection and into kelp restoration – something Christie explains often happens faster than you might expect.

"We have been very surprised about the recovery of the kelp because it's so efficient – even across really long distances." Christie points to examples in both open and more sheltered water where, if you’ve removed urchins sufficiently, researchers have found not only kelp spreading from further afield on the currents but also more kelp plants growing than would be usual. "Normally, in the kelp forest, you have about 10 adult kelp plants per square meter. But [we found one restored area] that had these very tiny juveniles and there were more than 400 per square meter."


Finding solutions for a worldwide problem

The urchin-kelp dilemma is one seen across the world as overfishing and climate change lead to decreases in natural urchin predators, allowing the invertebrates to proliferate, eating their way through essential underwater forests. The result is urchin barrens where there should be kelp.

In Norway, Christie points out that the "Norwegian coastline is two and a half times the equator: lots of islands, a lot of fjords and cold water." These characteristics create their own challenges when it comes to NIVA’s job identifying areas for Ocean Green to work on. Climate change and warming seas further complicate the picture, making it harder to predict what things will look like in the future. Christie uses the brown crab as an example. "The increase in sea temperature has created a northwards extension of brown crab," he notes, with the result that, "in some parts of the southernmost areas where we had these sea-urchin barrens, urchins have been partly removed through crab prevention. Sea urchins are a cold-water species and there has also been some impact on their reproduction," he adds. These ‘no action’ areas have resulted in the return of kelp, explains Christie, though the scale of the problem in Norwegian waters means projects like Ocean Green remain essential to kelp restoration.


These various issues – climate change, species creep, urchin management across smooth bedrock versus ‘stony bottoms’ that offer a multitude of urchin hiding places – offer up more questions than answers at the moment.

Christie talks about the scale of the issue too, noting the popularity of discussing these things in terms of football pitches. "Our calculation is more than 700,000 football fields of grazed areas," he says. Which is why a new, large-scale approach to restorative harvesting is so essential. The challenge, is to be ‘efficient’ enough for these large areas.

"This project has what you call good intentions," says Christie. "You start on the easy parts, then you can move to the more challenging tasks."

Ava Ocean, which is leading the project, is responsible for developing technology to gently but efficiently harvest urchins; 

 are fronting the research and development of urchin-derived products; Hofseth Biocare will be responsible for the marketing- efforts of those products. Wandering Owl contribute expertise to meet the social impacts elements of Ocean Green.



Lots of islands, a lot of fjords and cold water: Finding the right spot for restoration with NIVA

Meet the Ocean Green partners: NIVA 

By her own admission, Giovanna Ottaviani Aalmo is a person that sees things with a different eye. 

She has the type of eye that can connect a small dog-food production facility in Greenland making use of by-catch to a restaurant in Sicily where a fisherman and chef rediscovered an old family recipe that took a very cheap, almost unwanted catch and returned it to the delicacy it once was – and to the Ocean Green restorative-harvesting project.

Aalmo is a research scientist in the department of food production and society economics at NIBIO – one of Norway’s largest research facilities – with lead responsibilities for two of the Ocean Green work packages: WP4, which focuses on sea urchin valorisation and circular innovation and WP6, where the focus is on the socioeconomic impacts analysis of the main value-chains. This is Aalmo’s sweet spot.

"The objective of the Ocean Green project is to showcase the technical innovation of Ava Ocean in quickly the problem of having too many sea urchins, with the consequence that the kelp forests will be restored. What NIBIO needs to do is to look into the potential of those sea urchins that are going to be extracted."

Aalmo’s colleagues at the research centre are exploring a number of possibilities, including fertiliser – she notes that urchin-fertiliser has already been proven on basil; now they’re trying it out with strawberries. Then there is the possibility of higher-value products, made by extracting specific enzymes for example. For Aalmo however, the focus is very much on the chain of stakeholders involved – a reach that goes far beyond the consortium and its core goals.

Her role involves everything from focusing in on the areas where the urchin harvest will take place in order to facilitate the uptake of this raw material, to exploring what skill sets are available today – and where there are gaps – to best take advantage of the job-creation possibilities of opening a new fishery and resulting products. She looks at what has been done before, what has worked, what can be built upon. Aalmo brings in a policy view too: "I look at the current policy environment, at governance, to see how this is driving – or hindering – innovations in terms of product development."

She also explores where indigenous knowledge fits into all this – which is where the conversation goes from Norway to Greenland, to Sicily as Aalmo cites examples of regained knowledge coming together with social innovation to benefit communities.

"I'm dealing with social innovation," she states. "Social innovation is going to provide input to the business models and the governance and policy analysis, because what we want is to create a new policy."

Aalmo points out that her skill of ‘seeing things differently’ – and looking in places the traditional scientists working on product creation don’t look – provides a new perspective to those working to turn urchins into viable commercial products. The two perspectives serve the purpose of taking the possibilities further.

This is very much the Ocean Green approach. As crucial as the core urchin-kelp challenge is, the project is not seeking to solve only a single problem but to bring together people with different viewpoints to create a circular economy, to launch a new fishery that can bring economic diversification to coastal communities in Northern Norway, to deliver social benefits that goes far beyond the biodiversity boost and carbon sequestration that kelp restoration brings.

 is responsible for two of seven work packages and, alongside 

, is fronting the research and development of urchin-derived products. 

 will be responsible for the marketing efforts of those products.  Wandering Owl contribute expertise to meet the social impacts elements of Ocean Green, while 

 leads the project as a whole, adapting its specialised non-invasive seabed-harvesting technology to urchin catch.

Traditional and indigenous knowledge can also be used: NIBIO on the value of social innovation

Meet the Ocean Green partners: NIBIO  

"We want to make sure that the concept of restoring kelp beds on a large scale can be a self-perpetuating process," says Paul Renaud, a marine biologist and ecosystem expert serving as research and development manager for climate and ecosystems at Akvaplan-niva. "And that costs money".

As the lead on work package five, Akvaplan-niva is tasked with creating a viable financial and ecological model that supports the long-term financing, monitoring and sustainability of sea-urchin removal and kelp restoration projects.

"We want to point to the value of the project: the tangible market value of the sea urchins and the kelp but also the jobs that the small and medium-sized companies who maybe take advantage of this bring as well – from tourism to pharmaceuticals or chemicals that they can extract from these bioactive chemicals," he explains.

There is potential in both sea urchins and kelp within food production. Urchins contain enzymes that carry value. There is the biodiversity and ecosystem services delivered through restoration. There is "the recreational and cultural value of having the kelp beds that have been here for hundreds and hundreds of years, but which in the past 50 years or so have disappeared because of the spread of sea urchins – which in turn is likely linked to overfishing of sea-urchin predators, as well as perhaps the warming of the ocean," adds Renaud.

All these elements and more must be factored into any value assessment. "To actually try to get a composite value of kelp-bed restoration from all its different aspects," is the first step, quickly followed by finding those looking to pay for restoration to continue.

This is particularly appealing "as a mitigation tool for habitat destruction that might occur somewhere else," explains Renaud. "This is done all over the world. When someone wants to build a marina in some place and has to dredge that seagrass bed, they have to plant seagrass or mangroves somewhere else. If Ocean Green can be part of that mitigation process, the money coming in from those carbon credits would pay for future rounds of kelp restoration."

, published in 2023, found that 78% of companies have already implemented some type of carbon-credit purchase programme, with Nasdaq advising companies that their net-zero ambitions would be impossible without carbon-dioxide removal credits. It puts a $2 bn value on the voluntary carbon market, noting that the compliance carbon market value is close to $270 bn.

For Renaud and Akvaplan-niva, one current challenge is simply pulling together all the elements in the urchin-kelp value chain, work that includes an array of ecosystems, businesses and social elements, with input from another Ocean Green partner, NIBIO. "We're working together to split up different elements of the value chain," explains Renaud, pointing to the need to get out and talk to individuals, to companies about where they see value from the project as well. "We’re trying to say, for example, if we restore 20% of the possible kelp-bed area, it could lead to many new jobs in North Norway. But we need to talk to industry as well. We need to ask, If we restore this much kelp bed, what would do for your company?"

All these elements – a boost to business, diversification opportunities for these coastal economies, an attractive and realistic prospect for blue carbon – depend completely on the one thing Renaud says sets Ocean Green apart from others that have targeted the urchin-kelp problem before now: scale.

"This is the potentially large-scale restoration of kelp beds. If the harvesting works as well as we hope it does, it can also be applied to different kinds of habitats," Renaud says, adding that Akvaplan-niva is also linking the Ocean Green possibilities with some of its other work around reestablishing natural predators in the ecosystem, "so we don’t have to keep going back with boats and harvesters".

The goal is not just self-perpetuating finance, but self-perpetuating restoration.

"We want kelp restoration to be a self-perpetuating process": Akvaplan-niva on the possibilities of blue carbon and more

Meet the Ocean Green partners: Akvaplan-niva

“We geared up, squeezing into freediving wetsuits, and then we jumped in into the four-degree water,” says Dagny-Elise Anastassiou, Sustainability Manager at Ava Ocean, which is leading the multi-partner Ocean Green project around Tromsø.


Guided by Delphin Ruche from Wild Lab Projects, Anastassiou was in the water with the Ava Ocean technical development team led by Bjørn Roppen and engineer Terje Stokkavåg, to see not only the urchin barrens that Ocean Green is seeking to drive out, but also the creeping success of existing kelp restoration efforts.


Norway has seen some 80% of its kelp forests disappear over the last half century – a problem replicated around the world as these essential habitats are lost to changes in ocean environments. Around Tromsø, an explosion of native sea urchins that eat the kelp has created the ‘urchin barrens’ that Ocean Green is seeking to restore.

“On one side of the pier, there’s just all these urchins,” explains Anastassiou. “Then we swim around the corner and it’s almost completely restored. It was really beautiful, really colourful.” This restoration has been done by hand, taking the not-for-profit organization Wild Lab Projects many weeks and many volunteers to clear this one small area.

Wild Lab projects is part of the Ocean Green team and brings to the mix a focus on citizen science. Anastassiou and the team got to experience firsthand just how hard it is to stem the spread of these prolific sea urchins that are responsible for the widespread decimation of kelp forests around northern Norway.

“We were given hammers, and Delphin said, Have at it! Try to kill a few,” says Anastassiou. “You see how hard it is to remove these urchins – I was lucky to do maybe three or four in one breath. Meanwhile, I was thinking about how many thousands there were just around the jetty.”


In recognition of not just the need to restore the kelp forests but also the economic potential of the harvested urchins, the Ocean Green project won 47 million NOK in Green Platform funding from the Norwegian government last year. Now in the early stages, the project is set to run for at least three years.
Anastassiou explains the next steps.


“This trip highlighted how a one-size fits all approach won’t work,” she says. “When you look out at a fjord it’s hard to appreciate just how varied the seabed is. Being able to come up with a solution that can work across large, flat areas as well as small, dense, rocky areas is going to be a challenge. We also need a solution that can handle all the elements: we're on the Norwegian coast where you've got proper, natural elements that you're fighting against.”


This is also about balance. “These urchins are not alien and we need to harvest them without damaging anything else,” continues Anastassiou. “These are fragile ecosystems: you don’t want something too industrial but you need to be effective too. There are a lot of things at play.”


This is where the Ava Ocean technology comes in. The lead partner on the project made headlines when its patented, gentle harvesting solution saw it successfully petition to have the Barents Sea scallop fishery reopened after 30 years. That technology is now being adapted to harvest urchins instead – and Anastassiou reiterates the need for multiple solutions.


“Not only are we making technology for large-scale restoration, we are also designing something that locals, that citizen scientists, can use,” she explains. “We want something handheld but that is more effective than freediving with a hammer.”


Ava Ocean’s engineers get familiar with the urchin problem and challenge ahead during trip to Tromsø.

Ocean Green project kicks off below the surface in Tromsø

The project aims to develop a sustainable value chain through restorative harvesting, developing novel products of the harvested sea urchins which pose a serious threat to coastal ecosystems in Norway and many other locations worldwide.


Building upon Ava Ocean's revolutionary seabed harvesting gear, already successfully employed in Arctic scallop fishing in the Barents Sea and recognized as the only one of its kind globally, the patented technology will now be adapted for effective yet gentle harvesting of sea urchins.

Dagny-Elise Anastassiou, Sustainability Manager at Ava Ocean, states, "Through the Ocean Green project, we intend to showcase how our innovative seabed harvesting technology can play a crucial role in the restoration of kelp forests. By employing our unique harvesting system, we can address the challenges posed by invasive sea urchins and explore new avenues for utilizing these resources sustainably."


Green Platform to drive green transition in Norwegian industry


The Green Platform, supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Fisheries and jointly administered by the Norwegian Research Council, Innovation Norway, and Siva, has allocated a total of NOK 573 million in this year's call for projects aimed at driving green transition initiatives.


Minister of Trade, Industry, and Fisheries Jan Christian Vestre emphasizes the importance of the Green Platform's support in advancing sustainable practices, stating, "Green Platform's goal is to accelerate green transition in business. The substantial support we provide to these impactful projects is a vital contribution to the government's objectives for green transition and economic growth."


Ocean Green Consortium: A Collaborative Effort for Sustainable Impact


Ava Ocean leads the Ocean Green project consortium, which includes key partners such as Wild Lab Projects, NIBIO, NIVA, Akvaplan Niva, Hofseth Biocare, Across Nature and Wandering Owl. Together, they represent a strategic collaboration between industry and research environments, working toward the ambitious goals of the project.


"We are thrilled that the Green Platform has entrusted us and our esteemed partners with the responsibility to embark on this exciting journey. The Ocean Green project potential extends beyond Norway's borders, offering positive impacts, and aims to derive economic value from sea urchins that pose a significant threat to coastal ecosystems," comments Anastassiou.


Restorative Harvesting: Addressing Challenges and Creating Opportunities


The three-year project, starting early 2024, focuses on addressing the challenges posed by extensive sea urchin populations in the Tromsø area. The development of specialized harvesters for sea urchins, based on Ava Ocean's patented technology, will be a key aspect of the initiative.


Anastassiou explains, "The lack of effective and gentle harvesting systems has been a challenge. With millions of these sea urchins present, including the very small ones, almost all need to be harvested to provide the necessary foundation for kelp forests to recover."


Beyond simply removing sea urchins, the Ocean Green project aims to create commercially valuable products from these otherwise overlooked creatures. Anastassiou adds, "We aim not only to efficiently remove sea urchins but also to develop products from them that can be traded, establishing a sustainable, circular value chain."


With effective control over these often called "zombie" sea urchins, the project envisions the restoration of kelp forests along the coast, acting as vital nurseries for juvenile fish and other seafood, carbon storage, nitrogen recycling, and erosion protection.


In addition to its environmental objectives, the Ocean Green project strives to create awareness and engagement within the local community, involving businesses, schools, and tourism in Tromsø. Wild Lab Projects, based in Tromsø, will play a crucial role in this novel aspect of the initiative.


Delphin Ruché, leader of Wild Lab Projects, emphasizes, "We aim to ensure that people enjoying the Northern Norwegian coast, whether as visitors or residents, can actively participate in the project and gain insights into the importance of these often overlooked natural areas for biodiversity and marine life."


The Ocean Green project, led by Ava Ocean, secures NOK 47 million from the Norwegian government Green Platform grant to eliminate sea urchin deserts and rejuvenate kelp forests along the Norwegian coast.

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