Meet OoNee, Sea Urchin Ranchers in Oregon

Aaron Huang, a self-proclaimed "kelp nerd," has always had a passion for seaweed. He eats it every day! As kelp forests around him vanish at alarming rates, Aaron has turned to a surprising solution: sea urchin farming.

"My heart and my stomach pointed me towards this career," says Aaron, the co-founder of OoNee Sea Urchin Ranch in Newport, Oregon. He's transforming an ecological crisis into a culinary opportunity and restoring kelp forests-one urchin at a time.

Kelp Forests in Crisis

Kelp forests are a critical marine ecosystem along the West Coast. They sequester carbon, protect shorelines, and provide habitat for marine life. Populations of two kelp forest keystone species- sunflower sea stars and sea otters-have declined significantly in recent decades in Oregon. These predators control sea urchin numbers, and their disappearance has led to a population boom of purple sea urchins.

With fewer predators, these voracious grazers are now devouring kelp at unsustainable rates, putting the entire ecosystem at risk. Once urchins have consumed all the kelp in an area, they enter a dormant, starved state, but remain alive and ready to eat any new kelp growth. These areas devoid of kelp and full of urchins are called sea urchin barrens .

Restoration to match the scale of the problem is overwhelming. "You're talking billions of urchins along the coast that have to be physically removed," describes Aaron. "We are creating a commercial reason to harvest these dormant urchins and proving that aquaculture can work in tandem with kelp forest restoration."

From Barrens to Bounty

This problem led Aaron and his co-founder Brad Bailey to launch OoNee Sea Urchin Ranch, named after the phonetic spelling of uni, the gonads of sea urchin. Their land-based aquaculture pilot is simultaneously restoring a 10-hectare area off the coast of Southern Oregon and providing the community with a delicious food source.

Instead of breeding sea urchins, OoNee collects wild, dormant purple urchins from urchin barrens and places them in shoreside aquaculture tanks. After being fed algal-based pellets for 8 to 9 weeks in this controlled environment, the once-empty urchins are full of rich, sushi-grade uni.

This approach is known as ranching and offers multiple benefits:

• Restores kelp forests by removing overabundant urchins
• Provides a consistently high-quality product for consumers
• Supports sustainable seafood markets and economic opportunities along the Oregon coast

Ranching Sea Urchins from Tide to Table

Traditionally, red urchins have been the primary commercial fishery because they are bigger and easier to shuck. However, OoNee is joining the movement to focus on purple urchins because they are the main species overgrazing the kelp forests.

The process begins with divers who carefully harvest large purple urchins off the coast of Oregon. Divers can collect a few hundred pounds a day, which are transported by boat to the ranch. The urchins are then cleaned, held in live tanks, and nourished in raceways until they're ready for processing.

The urchins are shucked next door at the Central Coast Food Web, packed in saltwater trays, and delivered to restaurants in Portland and Seattle. Chefs are serving uni in creative ways, from fresh on the half shell to high-end pasta dishes.

Aaron describes how ranching offers consistent texture and taste that isn't guaranteed with wild harvest. While urchins prefer kelp, they are not picky eaters. "Urchins are the roombas of the sea," he says. "They are bottom feeders and eat what's available to them."

With increasing instability in their natural ecosystem, there is increasing variability in the quality of wild harvest urchin. "Some are amazing, some are empty, and some just don't taste good. With ranching, we consistently deliver a sweet, custardy product that tastes like the ocean." He compares the flavor of his urchins to that of a really sweet Kumamoto oyster.

And this consistency pays off. The price point of ranched urchins is 20-30 percent higher than that of wild harvest.

Looking to the Future

Although OoNee is currently a small operation, selling about 30,000 pounds of urchins annually, Aaron has aspirations to scale up into a full commercial facility. He is collaborating with ReefCheck to validate the impact of their farm and demonstrate a working model for how urchin ranching and ecosystem restoration can go hand-in-hand.

"We want to be a case study for what a regenerative blue economy can look like. We're proving this can be done in a way that's profitable, sustainable, and restorative. We're not just farming sea urchins; we're restoring an ecosystem that we depend on."

Fun Fact

A sea urchin's mouth, located on its underside, is called Aristotle's Lantern. It's made up of five tooth-like plates that scrape and chew their food. The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle noticed how the intricate structure resembled the frame of a lantern more than 2,000 years ago.

Uni Pasta Recipe

Ingredients

• Spaghetti or linguine
• 3-4 ounces fresh uni
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 shallot, minced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons dry white wine or sake

• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• Black pepper
• Finely chopped chives or parsley

Steps

1. In a small bowl, use a fork to mash ¾ of the uni with the butter to form a puree.
2. Cook the pasta according to package directions. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta water.
3. While the pasta cooks, heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Add the shallot and garlic and saute until fragrant.
4. Add the wine or sake and reduce for 1 minute.
5. Add the pasta, uni puree, and splash of reserved pasta water.
6. Toss and garnish with the remaining uni, sprinkle of chives or parsley, and fresh pepper to taste.