“More hands are great, but recurring hands are even more valuable,” says Ronan Gombau, CEO of Wild Labs Project – the non-profit, citizen science arm of Tromso-based ethical tourism firm Wandering Owl – and a key partners in the Ocean Green project.

“The local community is the backbone in a project like this,” continues Gombau, talking about what he’d like to see from the Ocean Green project as it works to eradicate urchin barrens in Northern Norway in a bid to restore essential underwater kelp forests.

A Frenchman who moved full time to Northern Norway five years ago, Gombau explains that he started out with an interest in kelp farming – something that has helped shape his understanding of just how crucial these kelp forests are for everything from biodiversity to climate-change mitigation. Some 80% of these forests have already been lost in the north of Norway and the urchin-kelp problem is one being faced around the world.

A tourist attraction with a positive impact

Wild Labs Project and Wandering Owl are responsible for work package seven of the three-year Ocean Green project, covering learning, dissemination and outreach. But what does that mean in practice? What does it mean for tourists visiting Tromsø – a city most know for the Northern Lights – or for locals looking to get involved in restoration efforts?

It means getting into the water and getting your hands not dirty, but certainly wet, explains Gombau. He and his team help take tourists and locals into the water to see for themselves the damage that an overabundance of urchins causes – and to do something positive, to work towards the restoration of these underwater rainforests.

“We bring the gear and we also accompany them in the water,” says Gombau, adding that this is “a great opportunity for travellers or students staying in the area for some months – those on Erasmus exchanges for example. You get to know about the environment, you get to dive. And you also know you’re having also a positive impact.”

Bonding through research and diving

These events are also very social, he continues. “People don’t necessarily go free diving and then they get into this kind of project and find they like it – and they meet other people. So, the social aspect is great.” It’s also an activity that can be done without prior diving experience – something that opens it up to many more volunteers. “We go where the ocean is very shallow – no more than maybe three metres and we go together in areas that are protected from currents,’ explains Gombau. ‘You can basically join at the last minute – show up, suit up and dive in.” This means that tourists taking a stroll around Tromsø could simply stumble across the project and get involved.

What the project gets is not only a stream of people helping to crush urchins – something that remains a hugely manual effort – but, more importantly, people who help to gather data. And it really is all about the science. “We need to monitor the initial state, so we can look at changes after [restoration efforts],” says Gombau. “So it’s essential to go into the water to study different sites. Then there is the collection and maybe destruction or crushing of sea urchins that needs to happen. Then, at the end comes the monitoring and maintenance: we need to make sure these areas stay clean of urchins, we need to see how the kelp grows back and what that does for biodiversity and environment.”

You can follow Wild Labs Project and Wandering Owl on Instagram.

The Wild Labs Project and Wandering Owl efforts are, of course, just one part of a multi-pronged approach to solving the urchin-kelp dilemma at scale. To date, most urchin harvesting or kelp restoration projects happen at the small scale. The Ocean Green consortium is working towards commercialising urchins of all sizes to make the project economically viable and to offer a solution that can be exported around the world.

Ava Ocean, which is leading the project, is responsible for developing technology to gently btu efficiently harvest urchins; NIBIO, NIVA and Akvaplan-niva are fronting the research and development of urchin-derived products; Hofseth Biocare will be responsible for the marketing- efforts of those products.

Read more about the Ocean Green project, progress and how to get involved.