Urchin cull approved for Monterey reef

[napDiver]

@Raphus i agree. It's ironic. We have done so much that rapidly changes the ecosystem and destroy them. Yet now, it's almost a requirement for us to intervene and play god to maintain/grow these ecosystems. Hopefully we will succeed and not make it worst.

Sighing up!

 

[Akimbo]

Why not just break them open so the fish can eat their roe and guts?

 

[Raphus]

Why not just break them open so the fish can eat their roe and guts?

This will probably increase the fish population, that eats them. Which might be the next target of a cull.

 

[wnissen]

@Raphus i agree. It's ironic. We have done so much that rapidly changes the ecosystem and destroy them. Yet now, it's almost a requirement for us to intervene and play god to maintain/grow these ecosystems. Hopefully we will succeed and not make it worst.

Sighing up!

Yep, I certainly worry the most about doing things that seem like they're helpful. I was cheered to see that they did experiments in limited areas first that indicated that the ecosystem wouldn't be made worse, so it seems like that possibility is being considered.

 

[lostsheep]

Sad that we actually have to cull a species to safe others(the kelp).

Thats how bad it is...
We humans destroy everything.

Culling the sea urchins is the best we can do now, i understand. I just want to point out how far this all went. Whole eco systems just die..

And the media is all about totally meaningless news and which star had a baby or kissed whatsoever..

I didn’t realize we had determined what caused the starfish die-off that allowed our urchin population to explode.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

If you clean out an area you need to make sure that you REALLY clean it out completely or all you’re doing is eliminating some competition for other purple urchins and the numbers will just explode again. Either wipe out all of them in a given area or leave them alone and they will starve themselves out once all the food is gone.
And if an area is completely cleaned out it needs to be maintained constantly and kept clean while the kelp is developing or else you just wasted all your time. Urchins will move around a lot in search of food. We thought of trying to come up with some sort of stainless underwater fencing to keep them out of a cleared area. In a certain cove in Norcal there are these big rocks about the size of pick up trucks that are surrounded by sand. There is normally a lot of kelp growing of those rocks and each rock used to have a healthy population of abalone. Since the urchin explosion all there is are purple urchins and nothing else.
We were going to propose an idea to eliminate each and every urchin on those rocks then surround the rock with some sort of barrier so the urchins physically can’t get past the barrier to get back in. I proposed a fence similar to hog fencing but with smaller holes and made out of stainless. This way the kelp could return and a population of abalone could be returned and a small “farm” could be created.

Perhaps a good fertilizer can be made from urchins in some sort of giant blender or crusher that can purée them?

 

[MichaelMc]

In a certain cove in Norcal there are these big rocks about the size of pick up trucks that are surrounded by sand. There is normally a lot of kelp growing of those rocks and each rock used to have a healthy population of abalone. Since the urchin explosion all there is are purple urchins and nothing else.
We were going to propose an idea to eliminate each and every urchin on those rocks then surround the rock with some sort of barrier so the urchins physically can’t get past the barrier to get back in. I proposed a fence similar to hog fencing but with smaller holes and made out of stainless. This way the kelp could return and a population of abalone could be returned and a small “farm” could be created.

Can the fence have active defenses, caped bungee defenders, and a video feed?

Warning: PG video. Some defenders get eaten, but not her. She becomes their General.

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

Can the fence have active defenses, caped bungee defenders, and a video feed?

Warning: Some defenders get eaten, but not her. She becomes their General.

ok that was freaking awesome. thank you.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

That WAS awesome.
I’m going to hire and train a whole cadre of sheepshead to patrol the rocks!

 

[wnissen]

Can the fence have active defenses, caped bungee defenders, and a video feed?

Warning: Some defenders get eaten, but not her. She becomes their General.

I don't think a single one of those defenders was using approved scientific culling hammer. Very disappointing! Otherwise that is exactly how I picture it.