Could the harbour's invasive starfish become the next big thing in beauty? A new skin cream made from starfish collagen could save more than just people's skin - it could also help saving the Ōhiwa mussels.
The production of the cream was just one part of the Awhi Mai Awhi Atu project to inform a seastar management plan for the harbour, funded by the Sustainable Seas National Science Challenge project and overseen by University of Waikato professor Kura Paul-Burke. Seastars have been increasing in numbers in the harbour in recent years, decimating the shellfish populations – in particular, the mussel population.
Rather than just thinking of ways to remove the sea stars from the harbour a product development study was done to identify potential economic value in harvesting seastars to assist population management. Conducted by Cawthorn Institute research scientist Dr Matt Miller and Plant and Food Research marine biopolymer science team leader Dr Mathew Cumming, it was found that seastars are a good source of marine collagen, which is in high demand as an ingredient in cosmetics. Sixty pottles of a product called Hinu Pātangaroa (Starfish cream) was developed using 1 percent starfish collagen. This amount of product was produced using just three starfish.
Ngāti Awa conservationist Te Kei Merito designed the labels for the test product and gifted the name, Hinu Pātangaroa, for the hand cream.
Further research into the potential use of starfish from Ohiwa Harbour is dependent on funding becoming available.
Learn more about the Ohiwa mussel restoration project here.
