Here you see a diving boat in Naskeag Harbor yesterday, complete with international diving boat flag and wet-suited diver.
The boat reportedly is used for “handfishing” green sea urchins, which are a valuable marine resource in Maine’s fishery. Most urchin divers use scuba equipment and collect the urchins into a mesh bag that is hauled up by a crew member:
Green sea urchins are spiked and have one of the longest scientific names in the animal kingdom: Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis, which primarily means round and prickly. The animal itself is an echinoderm, a group of radially symmetrical, invertebrate animals that includes starfish, sand dollars and sea cucumbers.
Sea urchin “uni” is considered to be a delicacy for sushi in Japan, apparently the principal market for Maine urchins, and has become increasingly sought-after in Europe. The high-priced uni sometimes is called urchin “roe,” but it is not eggs; it’s the yellow-orange reproductive gonads of the urchins.
(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on December 20, 2023.)