sea urchin or uni is a prized delicacy
in several parts of the world
but it's not until you crack open the
spiky shells that you see what makes sea
urchins so valuable
the gonads
just one 200 gram tray of urchin gonads
like this can cost 100
today the yellow orange gonads are often
served in sushi
michael robertson has been diving for
urchins for 15 years
michael looks for abundant kelp forests
to help him decide where to dive
more kelp typically means better quality
urchins
and without enough kelp for the urchins
to feed on the gonads start to shrivel
up
if you want to compare how it was to how
it is this was solid kelp from here
all the way in and now you have just
little pockets here here and there
there's a lot more empty urchins than
there is beautiful
packed urchins that you want to sell