TOM MACSWEENEY'S SEASCAPES MARITIME LOG

TOM MACSWEENEY'S SEASCAPES MARITIME LOG

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Cultivating Aristotle's Lantern in West Cork

When I first met Gerry Mouzakitis seven years ago at University College Cork I did not know a lot about "Aristotle's Lanterns," the spiky creatures which stick themselves to rocky areas of the sea shore. These are sea urchins and he told me he was going to develop a project to grow them commercially, by developing a system through which they would be available not alone in season, but also as a product, particularly for export, out-of-season. If that could be done, there would be an international market for them. He has done that successfully. In the 1970s and 1980s Ireland was a net exporter of sea urchins. At the peak around 350 tons were exported annually.

Gerry Mouzakitis and the successful development of Sea Urchins

But stocks collapsed in 1996 and exports have dropped to about 5 tons. Sea urchins were collected from rock pools along the south-west and western coastlines and mostly exported to France. When I met Gerry again in Cork, it was in his role as Founder and Chief Executive of Gourmet Marine, when sea urchins were produced out-of-season.

"This is a milestone. We have produced sea urchin roe, cultured roe out-of-season, the first time it has ever been done. What we have done is to develop a system, the only one of its kind, for the growth of urchins in a controlled environment and it has been patented in 19 countries."

This development underlines the view I have often expressed - that seafood deserves its place in the "smart economy" to which the Government so often refers. The nation would be better off if politicians turned their faces towards the sea and directed more investment into maritime projects, rather than turning their backs to it. I also met John Chamberlain, Managing Director of Dunmanus Seafoods, which operates a hatchery at Dunmanus Bay in West Cork and introduces "several million sea urchins every few years back into the sea," as he put it.

CLICK on this link to hear Gerry Mouzakitis
CLICK on this link to hear John Chamberlain (part 1)
CLICK on this link to hear John Chamberlain (part 2)

John Chamberlain with Sea Urchins grown in Dunmanus Bay