Commercial Urchin Diving

[Kquim]

Could anyone here who has work experience in commercial urchin diving share some of their experiences? I've heard a lot about it from friends who know people in the industry but I've never gotten any information from anyone who has actually done it themselves or is currently doing it.

I’m interested in giving it a try but don’t know where to look at the moment. I've been told you basically need to know somebody who’s already doing it to get in. Regardless, it sounds like it would be a nice change from my all year around monotonous aquaculture gig.

 

[DCBC]

Having worked in the offshore, I don't have any experience in this area. I've spoken to number of divers over the years that harvest green urchins on the east coast of Canada. As I understand it, there are large market fluctuations, so it's not a reliable source of income. The work is hard; especially with the rough seas and bad weather that's common. I remember an urchin boat was lost a couple of years back because of rough seas (all hands lost). Diving in these waters is a hard thing to comprehend for many who haven't done it. I see you're from the Rock, so you know what I mean...

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I live in Northern California and know several past and current urchin divers.
I tried to get into it around here and it's extremely hard to break into the trade.
There are only a handful of permits and if I was to buy a boat it would have to already have urchin permits plus not just anybody can buy a permitted boat and expect to start urchin diving, you have to have already worked on an urchin boat for a specified number of years and hold an uninterrupted deckhand license for the same amount of years (I'm not clear on the time frame).
At one time urchin divers in my area made millions of dollars, sometimes up to $5000 a day when the price was up and they hit a glory hole. Those days are over, now they are competing with Russia and other countries. there is a fraction of the boats going out from what it used to be and the price is mediocre. This is good and bad - Less boats, less competition, but there are also hardly any buyers/processors and they dictate the prices. Combine that with very expensive fuel and the price of everything else associated with keeping up a boat and it's not such a great deal anymore.
A walk on diver (like day labor) doesn't make squat if they are even needed at all.

One things for sure though, there are still a gazillion urchins out there, all fat and sweet. I always grab a few and eat them back at the beach when I get out.