June 9th urchin dive report

[Eric Sedletzky]

Hey purple urchin diving aficionados,

Sunday 6/9 at Stillwater.
When we got there the tide was very low. Only three of us showed up.
We sat around and caught up on things for a while to let some water come back in. The day called for a lot of wind and some substantial wind driven swell but in the cove it wasn’t bad.
I got there early to set up and noticed a lot of kelp weed on the beach from the last high tide. I have not seen that much loose kelp debris on the beach in quite a few years now due to most of that cove being an urchin barren. We got in a while later and there was a lot of surge. Vis was about 5’ and water temp was 50 degrees. We each managed to get a bag. All of us agreed it was a lot if work just to get that one bag.
I noticed many changes in the area I was clearing.
First, in the last two weeks the ribbon kelp and various sea lettuces have exploded in population.
I didn’t find that many purple urchins re-encroaching since my last clearing effort in that spot. It appears my efforts are holding and all the kelp growth actually has a fighting chance now. I’m going to declare success at this point. But our work is not done yet! No resting!
We must continue the effort and continue to clear. I didn’t see any bull kelp yet, but next dive in that cove I plan to go out a ways and do some recon.
Seeing this new growth is huge!
I’m more pumped than ever!

 

[Green Frog]

It’s good that you guys are putting in all this work on behalf of the native species, and it’s wonderful that you’re seeing such positive results in such a relatively short time. It must feel very good to you and your fellow urchin gatherers.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

It’s good that you guys are putting in all this work on behalf of the native species, and it’s wonderful that you’re seeing such positive results in such a relatively short time. It must feel very good to you and your fellow urchin gatherers.

Yes, it’s very encouraging to see different kelps explode in volume. The ice cold water down to 45 degrees has really helped. Spring/early summer time here brings winds on the coast due to the inland valleys warming up and all that hot air rising which sucks in air from the ocean causing coastal wind. The wind draws up very cold water from the depths which is an Alaskan current and it’s also full of nutrients. Kelp and sea lettuces love this cold water. The ice cold water is not entirely pleasant for us but we deal with it and do what we can.
Some of the urchins (the few I found) I plucked from the weed zone were eating very well and had some good uni in them. By the end of the year I hope to have most of that cove cleared. I’m projecting about a five year plan to rid the cove of purple urchins and see a healthy stand of bull kelp come back in the cove.
Then it will require weekly maintenance and kelp protection so our work is never done and we won’t be sitting on our laurels anytime soon.

 

[Johnoly]

Yes, it’s very encouraging to see different kelps explode in volume.

Congrats on your success. Forget all the science studies, papers, models and experts who don't even dive. Sometimes it just hard underwater work that produces the results. Great job !!

 

[summitdogg]

Hey purple urchin diving aficionados,

Sunday 6/9 at Stillwater.
When we got there the tide was very low. Only three of us showed up.
We sat around and caught up on things for a while to let some water come back in. The day called for a lot of wind and some substantial wind driven swell but in the cove it wasn’t bad.
I got there early to set up and noticed a lot of kelp weed on the beach from the last high tide. I have not seen that much loose kelp debris on the beach in quite a few years now due to most of that cove being an urchin barren. We got in a while later and there was a lot of surge. Vis was about 5’ and water temp was 50 degrees. We each managed to get a bag. All of us agreed it was a lot if work just to get that one bag.
I noticed many changes in the area I was clearing.
First, in the last two weeks the ribbon kelp and various sea lettuces have exploded in population.
I didn’t find that many purple urchins re-encroaching since my last clearing effort in that spot. It appears my efforts are holding and all the kelp growth actually has a fighting chance now. I’m going to declare success at this point. But our work is not done yet! No resting!
We must continue the effort and continue to clear. I didn’t see any bull kelp yet, but next dive in that cove I plan to go out a ways and do some recon.
Seeing this new growth is huge!
I’m more pump

Hey purple urchin diving aficionados,

Sunday 6/9 at Stillwater.
When we got there the tide was very low. Only three of us showed up.
We sat around and caught up on things for a while to let some water come back in. The day called for a lot of wind and some substantial wind driven swell but in the cove it wasn’t bad.
I got there early to set up and noticed a lot of kelp weed on the beach from the last high tide. I have not seen that much loose kelp debris on the beach in quite a few years now due to most of that cove being an urchin barren. We got in a while later and there was a lot of surge. Vis was about 5’ and water temp was 50 degrees. We each managed to get a bag. All of us agreed it was a lot if work just to get that one bag.
I noticed many changes in the area I was clearing.
First, in the last two weeks the ribbon kelp and various sea lettuces have exploded in population.
I didn’t find that many purple urchins re-encroaching since my last clearing effort in that spot. It appears my efforts are holding and all the kelp growth actually has a fighting chance now. I’m going to declare success at this point. But our work is not done yet! No resting!
We must continue the effort and continue to clear. I didn’t see any bull kelp yet, but next dive in that cove I plan to go out a ways and do some recon.
Seeing this new growth is huge!
I’m more pumped than ever!
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So cool!! Great work!!!

 

[johndiver999]

like this?

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

like this?

Yes, exactly like that!
That’s what we do.

 

[johndiver999]

He's got no tank on.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

He's got no tank on.

Whatever works.
The technique is what I was looking at, not so much if the diver was on scuba or freediving.
We use tanks so we can fill two or three big bags without coming up.
The end goal is to clear as many purps as we can in the shortest time frame possible.
But FYI, we have a cadre of freedivers clearing urchins too.

 

[Green Frog]

Was there some reason for the small crowd you had working this time? It seems like every time in the past you've mentioned having 3-4 times as many divers if not more. Your team isn't losing interest, are they? I'd hate to see this project lag just as you are seeing such good progress!