Today’s urchin dive

[Eric Sedletzky]

Got out today up to Stillwater Cove Park in Sonoma County. The weather was great, ocean was pretty flat, a little breezy on the morning but it layed out like glass as the day went on.
I was diving for Purple urchins doing an experiment to see what it would take to collect 40 gallons of whole urchins as per CDFW regulations.
I went and bought a 20 gallon “brute” trash can to use as a large measuring cup and already had a large plastic tote to use also.
I was using the biggest green mesh game bag that Trident makes. I also had a 6’ sausage clipped off but never used it.
I filled that bag with probably 200-300 purple urchins within 20 minutes maybe. I was not looking at time but my SPG and only burned 1000 PSI in a steel 72.
When that bag was packed full to where I could barely close it. I came in and dragged it up onto the beach and dumped it into the 20 gallon container. It turned out to be about 12 gallons of urchins.
I went right back in and did it again on the same tank.
Total amount of bag fills to get 40 gallons worked out to be about 4 bags total. As the urchins move around in the containers I found they tend to settle and the containers can be topped up.
I only burned two tanks to get a limit.
Carrying those urchins back to the truck was the hard part. I may get another big trash can and bring my hand truck next time.
All the purples are pretty small. I did open a few up and the roe was there, not a lot, but it was good-sweet. I gave a bunch away to some Chinese people who got very excited when they saw them. They were camping out in the campground. Very nice people.
I’m guesstimating that I collected somewhere between 800 and 1000 urchins. I don’t think I could smash that many in the given time I was diving.

 

[Akimbo]

What was visibility like? A friend was thinking of driving up the coast this week.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I was in shallow right off the beach and it was probably 10’ to 15’.
Out deeper I don’t know, sometimes there’s clouds of krill blooms and vis goes right down.

 

[wnissen]

WOOT WOOT!!! That is just a ton of urchins. Interesting that there was roe, I guess the ones you got weren't as hungry. I found my hands did not smell that great after handling them. What a haul for two tanks!

 

[Norwegian Cave Diver]

What do you do with them now? I’m from Canada so this is completely new for me. Do you report what you removed? Sell them? Dump them? Thanks

 

[Bigbella]

All the purples are pretty small. I did open a few up and the roe was there, not a lot, but it was good-sweet.

Great job! You easily doubled or, more likely, tripled my yield in Monterey and Carmel, this last week. Small or not, the purple urchins only have to be a bare minimum of 25 mm to be sexually mature . . .

 

[happy-diver]

Nice!

 

[Jake 10]

What you do with them?

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

What do you do with them now? I’m from Canada so this is completely new for me. Do you report what you removed? Sell them? Dump them? Thanks

What you do with them?

I gave several buckets away to the Chinese people that I met on the beach, I gave my brother a bucket full of big ones so his daughter could eat them, I gave away a bucket full to me next door neighbor who loves uni, I ate a few, and the rest went for compost. I found that about 1 in 6 or 8 actually had any roe in them worth eating.
I also noticed that the urchins from the left side of the cove (see the first pic) had some roe, and urchins from the right side had nothing.

The next time I plan a trip up there I will post it with plenty of heads up so anybody in the area can show up to help.
I have a list of things you’ll need:
A large green Trident game bag, two is better.
A 50 lb lift bag with air dump and or a deluxe DSMB with a pull dump (two of either if you have two game bags) the reason for two is because you will be able to fill a bag in probably fifteen to twenty minutes. It would be a lot more efficient to be set up with two bags and make use out of one tank. Getting to shore and dragging them in onto the beach then going back in and splitting up your tank is not as efficient and it wears you out. But if you only have one setup that’s fine too.
My idea is to fill one then blow up the bag and let it drift to shore to the beach and it could sit there while you’re filling another bag.
There were so many that I was literally scooping them up with the edge of the game bag hoop and dozens were falling right into the bag. I ran the game bag right up the side of a rock scraping them off and they were falling right into the bag. I was bagging them up like a bank robber.
You’ll also need either two 20 gallon Brute trash cans or one big 45 gallon can that you can fill. The reason for Brute cans is because the thin cheap ones will be full of holes from urchin spines sticking through.
I’m using an old large plastic tote and a new 20 gallon can.
You’ll need your California fishing license with ocean enhancement stamp.
You’ll need a vehicle capable of transporting that many urchins and your gear and your buddies urchins plus gear (if you have one). Pick ups are strongly recommended. You also must transport your own urchins.
You’ll also want to go in heavy because this is very shallow diving. Bring some extra lead at least 5-7 lbs more than you normally use. We will be working in 4’- 10’ water and it gets really annoying if you’re constantly fighting to try and stay down in the shallows.
I have a place to compost the urchins fairly close by the dive site (a few miles away) if you do not want to deal with them. As long as you break open a few as a test sample to determine that they are not fit to consume then it’s not wanton waste.
Let’s not get too caught up in worrying about what happens to them, the bigger picture is the benefits of the work we are doing by clearing them.

 

[happy-diver]

Tomorrow, the World!