Urchin cull approved for Monterey reef

[wnissen]

Kelp coverage down 95% in a decade. I didn't even start diving until 3 years ago, can't imagine what it must have been like. New satellite images show Northern California's kelp forest almost gone. Here's the reason

 

[Chavodel8en]

Im far from the oldest diver around (started in 2003), but I remember that in the height of summer, you couldn't surface swim much past Worm Patch unless a boat cut a nice path through the Great Wall of Matted Kelp filling Whalers Cove. The supposed path through the kelp corresponding to the Sand Channel was illusory.

You had to make sure you had enough gas to return under the kelp, or else you were in for some serious kelp crawling. One time I didnt reserve enough gas -- it was SERIOUS EFFORT to crawl over yards and yards of matted kelp, where you only progress inches at a time. My heart was pumping so hard I felt it was going to EXPLODE. I was seriously considering giving up and yelling to my (actually managed to make it in under the kelp) buddy to get help, but I was too embarrassed to have the Coast Guard come rescue me from my own stupidity ("ALERT ALERT !!- go get this dumbass stuck in the kelp"). Relaxed for a minute, then continued. Had to be 20-30 minutes of intense kelp crawling. Was not fun.

I havent really worried about kelp crawling in years. There's no way I could reach the farther regions of Whalers Cove on one tank if the kelp wasnt so thinned. Easier diving, but very sad.

I signed up for the cull. I'll even buy the approved hammer.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Kelp coverage down 95% in a decade. I didn't even start diving until 3 years ago, can't imagine what it must have been like. New satellite images show Northern California's kelp forest almost gone. Here's the reason

Excellent article! It addresses the problem very clearly.
I wish more divers from all over would choose to maybe take a vacation here to to Norcal and help out. Maybe give back for once instead of always having to fly somewhere tropical or “Coz” all the time. At one point I was set to go to Florida when the lion fish crisis hit and do a “work” dive vacation to help get rid of them. Stuff got in the way and I was unable to go anywhere that year.
Maybe it’s time to organize a scubaboard dive invasion on the north coast and put people to work. Don’t worry about the cold water, you’ll be working too hard to worry about being cold. Besides, all that great wine and food we have will fix that after diving.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Kelp coverage down 95% in a decade. I didn't even start diving until 3 years ago, can't imagine what it must have been like. New satellite images show Northern California's kelp forest almost gone. Here's the reason

I remember one year kelp was so thick back in 2010 or thereabouts that you couldn’t even get a boat 1/4 mile from shore. I had to make a kelp cutter blade that went on the front edge of my outboard so I could slice through the kelp to get anywhere. The kelp used to get so thick in summer late summer that many coves were almost un-diveable. You had all the stringy stuff clinging on to you and you would drag it, slowing down until you weren’t moving anymore. Then you’d have to tear all of it off you and start over.
Kelp crawling was pretty much every shore dive at some point.

 

[wnissen]

Not part of the Giant Kelp Restoration Project, but there is a NOAA presentation tonight on kelp and urchin barrens as part of the National Marine Sanctuaries Webinar Series. Dive into a Changing Ecosystem: From Lush Kelp Forests to Urchin Barrens, at 6 p.m. Pacific, 9 Eastern.

Tucked along California's coast is a vibrant underwater forest of towering kelp and diverse wildlife. In the last six years, unprecedented outbreaks of purple sea urchins have decimated kelp forests within Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, lending several questions: what caused the urchin outbreak? How have sea otters responded? Will intervention and urchin culling enhance kelp recovery? Through underwater photography and observations by Kate Vylet, a scientific discussion by Josh Smith, and a policy overview by Karen Grimmer, this talk will outline how science, art, and community observation intersect to inform the path forward.

I will be listening in, hope it's as interesting as it sounds.

 

[MichaelMc]

I just got my CA fishing license so I can cull urchins. Yay!! Having a fishing license to cull urchins feels strange, but needs must. Yesterday was a great dive at North Monastery, yet the urchins are encroaching that reef from the shallows. Their friends elsewhere must go!!

The cull site, tankers reef, is a beach walk down from the Del Monte parking lot. Closer to the site there are 6 to 8 spaces, on the other side of the grassy park to the right of the Del Monte lot, with unlimited weekend parking but only 2-hour weekday parking.

G2KR (Giant Giant Kelp Restoration) should have Padi and NAUI classes this month to train people with specialty certs to smash them, at tankers reef possibly within the measurement grid. It is online plus 1-2 dives at the site. Folks with AAUS or Reef Check certs have a simpler path, seemingly just the online portion. They seem to want to avoid any 'vigilante mob' impressions with CA fish and wildlife.

Two videos from their March 8th volunteer presentation:


How to Help | Giant Giant Kelp Restoration Project

Let's go (get trained to) smash urchins!

(With training to not hurt other stuff, at tankers reef, in the approved grid, with approved hammers, and recording our efforts for science, so fish and wildlife lets us smash them elsewhere soon.)

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I just got my CA fishing license so I can cull urchins. Yay!! Having a fishing license to cull urchins feels strange, but needs must. Yesterday was a great dive at North Monastery, yet the urchins are encroaching that reef from the shallows. Their friends elsewhere must go!!

The site is a beach walk down from the Del Monte parking lot. There are 6 to 8 spaces closer, on the other side of the grassy park to the right of the Del Monte lot, with unlimited weekend parking but only 2-hour weekday parking.

G2KR (Giant Giant Kelp Restoration) should have Padi and NAUI classes this month to train people with specialty certs to smash them, at tankers reef possibly within the measurement grid, it is online plus 1-2 dives at the site. Folks with AAUS or Reef Check certs have a simpler path, seemingly just the online portion. They seem to want to avoid any 'vigilante mob' impressions with CA fish and wildlife.

Two videos from their March 8th volunteer presentation:


How to Help | Giant Giant Kelp Restoration Project

Let's go (get trained to) smash urchins!

(With training to not hurt other stuff, at tankers reef, in the approved grid, with approved hammers, and recording our efforts for science, so fish and game lets us smash them elsewhere soon.)

I like it!
If you get tired of smashing urchins in Monterey you and your gang of urchin murdering thugs are always welcome up here to help us out.
Open invitation to anyone reading this.

 

[Akimbo]

I just got my CA fishing license so I can cull urchins. Yay!! Having a fishing license to cull urchins feels strange, but needs must.

How would anyone know if you smashed a bunch of those purple little buggers? OK, coming out of the water with a mall in your belt might be hard to explain but a BFK works great.

You will sure make a lot of fish friends.

 

[wnissen]

I just got my CA fishing license so I can cull urchins. Yay!! Having a fishing license to cull urchins feels strange, but needs must. Yesterday was a great dive at North Monastery, yet the urchins are encroaching that reef from the shallows. Their friends elsewhere must go!!

The site is a beach walk down from the Del Monte parking lot. There are 6 to 8 spaces closer, on the other side of the grassy park to the right of the Del Monte lot, with unlimited weekend parking but only 2-hour weekday parking.

G2KR (Giant Giant Kelp Restoration) should have Padi and NAUI classes this month to train people with specialty certs to smash them, at tankers reef possibly within the measurement grid, it is online plus 1-2 dives at the site. Folks with AAUS or Reef Check certs have a simpler path, seemingly just the online portion. They seem to want to avoid any 'vigilante mob' impressions with CA fish and wildlife.

Two videos from their March 8th volunteer presentation:


How to Help | Giant Giant Kelp Restoration Project

Let's go (get trained to) smash urchins!

(With training to not hurt other stuff, at tankers reef, in the approved grid, with approved hammers, and recording our efforts for science, so fish and game lets us smash them elsewhere soon.)

I was worried I had somehow dropped off their list, but it looks like this is a recruitment video and they will send out an official notice once they have the specialty finalized. $200 is not cheap but I am willing to pay it. Thanks for posting!

 

[pauldw]

Would someone who actually know something about this project explain the culling process? The video mentioned smashing urchins in a way that they don't spawn. What exactly does that entail? The video shows someone prying out an urchin with a hammer, positioning it by hand on a nearby rock, and chipping away at it. Apart from the fact that handling urchins is asking for ruined gloves and maybe fingers, this process seems much more time consuming than just slowly moving over an area smacking urchins with a hammer. What the rationale for the more time consuming process?