Are we ready to tuck in to £1.2m sea cucumber?
THEY look more like something you would find in a compost heap than on a plate.
But despite its slug-like appearance, the humble sea cucumber could be the unlikely answer to solving the world’s food shortage, say Scots researchers.
Marine ecologist Dr Georgina Robinson is examining if using industry waste to farm the creatures could provide a sustainable source of food for people and livestock. She has been awarded a £1.2million grant by UK Research and Innovation to examine the viability of farming.
Sea cucumbers, which have a similar texture to squid, are often eaten in China. They are used in stir-fries, combined with ingredients such as meat, seafood and vegetables.
Dr Robinson, of the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) in Oban, Argyll, said: ‘Sea cucumbers are already very popular in China and across the world but have never taken off in Britain. They are basically a super food, high in protein
‘This is really exciting science’
and low in fat. They don’t really taste of much and are used in stir-fries to add texture alongside other ingredients.’
She added that farming sea cucumbers is cheaper and less harmful to the environment than traditional farming.
Dr Robinson, who is working on the project in Mauritius, added: ‘What I am doing is developing a simple process to upcycle the nitrogen that has already been used in the agriculture process by feeding the nitrogen-rich waste from farms and the food industry to farm sea cucumbers. Everyone is busy talking about reducing CO2 levels, but if we don’t solve the problem of putting nitrogen into the atmosphere anything we do is going to be offset, so I am trying to change the cultural approach to farming.
‘My system will be scalable and transportable so it will work in Mauritius or Scotland. Sea cucumbers are like the vacuum cleaners of the ocean and we are fishing them into extinction.
‘The only way to use them as a sustainable food source is to farm them.’
Dr Adam Hughes, a senior aquaculture researcher at SAMS, said: ‘This is really exciting science, dealing with one of the biggest challenges we currently face.
‘Georgina’s work is changing the way we think about waste and turning it into a resource rather than a problem.’