Urchin cull approved for Monterey reef

[Bigbella]

The reason the culling didn't start right away was the need to perform an experiment to see whether the urchins need to be removed or if culling with hammers is sufficient. They selected control and experimental areas and culled urchins to various densities per square meter. As I understand it, the kelp came back more in the culled regions, though I have not seen the data myself. Once that was established they are permitting culls in a larger area.

I knew of a "private effort," in 2019-20, by a number of SF Bay Area divers, who took it upon themselves to "cull," by both hammer or knife butt, the urchin population at Salt Point / Gerstle Cove; and a second spot near Sea Ranch, on the Sonoma Coast. I was told that the number eliminated, approached 13,000 of both the purple and red urchins (Strongylocentrotus purpuatus and S. franciscanus) over the course of three months. Some of that number had been also collected as food.

A visit, back in January of 2021, revealed that the barrens had actually expanded; and there's very little but urchins, within the cove and mouth . . .

 

[MichaelMc]

A visit, back in January of 2021, revealed that the barrens had actually expanded; and there's very little but urchins, within the cove and mouth . . .

Say you clear a patch, then leave, and that patch gets covered in urchins again. Like your example. How do you know if the new ones are children of the ones you killed or of the thousands still nearby?

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Hi Eric,

How is the urchin smasher coming along? My son, a friend and I are looking forward to trying them out. We dove Pt. Lobos last week. There is still lots of kelp inside the cove, but further out the purple urchins are taking over. They need to have several urchin cull weeks there also.

Take care,
Britt Percival

PS; I bought a freedom wing from you. We met at Russian Gulch. It is very comfortable diving with it in cold California water and tropical Hawaiian waters. My son has contacted you about getting one also.

Hi Britt,
I’m using a ball peen hammer instead, it works great. I drilled a hole in the bottom of the handle and laced a wrist lanyard on and also put a clip on it to clip it off to a D-ring for getting in and out on the beach. I originally got the hammer at harbor freight so it was cheap enough. It rusts a bit but I just rinse it in fresh water and it’s fine. It’s a medium size one probably 8-10 oz.
Last Sunday I smashed a lot of urchins (three tanks worth) at Stillwater cove and didn’t feel like I made much of a dent. I need about 100 divers to show up and we could get some work done!
I’m working on sponsoring some urchin smashing dives.
Your son contacted me and I’m working on one I found in my stash that was a prototype and needs some work to make it presentable. I’ll contact him about it when I get it finished.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Say you clear a patch, then leave, and that patch gets covered in urchins again. Like your example. How do you know if the new ones are children of the ones you killed or of the thousands still nearby?

More than likely they are not the children because in order for them to reproduce they have to be READY to broadcast the goodies up onto the water column. If they are not ready then more than likely they just become fish food. I’m not a marine biologist specializing in purple urchins and their reproductive systems but this is what is currently the common diver urban legend. Please correct me if I’m wrong.
There is some debate (diver mythology) whether or not the urchins should be completely removed from the water or if they should be smashed in place so that the biomass can be returned to the ocean.
What about removing them, grinding them up, then dumping them back into the ocean?
IMO, the only way to visibly see that there are no urchins is to physically remove them. By smashing them so many get away and in some cases I’ve run into cracks where they are 4 to 7 deep on top of each other. I have never seen so many in one place I think sometimes I’m narced diving in 6 feet of water just from what I see!
I becomes very difficult to make sure everything is smashed in an area with surge and swell whipping me around. I say start at the beach and remove every single one and work outward.
People need to make a point to get out there whenever they have a free morning or day even if conditions are marginal. Nobody said it’s a picnic, it’s hard work! I just wish people would but down their expectations of fair whether pleasure diving and dedicate themselves to this cause!
From what I saw it’s dire! There are no fish, no abalone, no pretty nudi’s, nothing but purple urchins. They have eaten everything and are now starting to grind holes in the rocks to hunker down.

 

[Bigbella]

Say you clear a patch, then leave, and that patch gets covered in urchins again. Like your example. How do you know if the new ones are children of the ones you killed or of the thousands still nearby?

Outside of DNA testing, it would be difficult to know. Like most intertidal animals, competition for space, is a primary stressor and real estate, in the littoral zone, doesn't stay unoccupied for long; and remnant urchin populations may well have just migrated; though the area, that I saw, back in January, had about the most uniform size of urchin that I have seen, outside of aquaria. I would estimate that they were about two years old; just sexually mature; and could likely be traced back to that "culling effort" . . .

More than likely they are not the children because in order for them to reproduce they have to be READY to broadcast the goodies up onto the water column. If they are not ready then more than likely they just become fish food.

There is some debate . . . whether or not the urchins should be completely removed from the water or if they should be smashed in place so that the biomass can be returned to the ocean.
What about removing them, grinding them up, then dumping them back into the ocean?

IMO, the only way to visibly see that there are no urchins is to physically remove them. By smashing them so many get away and in some cases I’ve run into cracks where they are 4 to 7 deep on top of each other. I have never seen so many in one place I think sometimes I’m narced diving in 6 feet of water just from what I see!

I becomes very difficult to make sure everything is smashed in an area with surge and swell whipping me around. I say start at the beach and remove every single one and work outward.
People need to make a point to get out there whenever they have a free morning or day even if conditions are marginal. Nobody said it’s a picnic, it’s hard work! I just wish people would but down their expectations of fair whether pleasure diving and dedicate themselves to this cause!
From what I saw it’s dire! There are no fish, no abalone, no pretty nudi’s, nothing but purple urchins. They have eaten everything and are now starting to grind holes in the rocks to hunker down.

If the urchin population has viable sperm and eggs (and they did as of two days ago), they have the potential to reproduce, regardless of whether their spawning season supposedly ended in March (we were easily able to do that under laboratory conditions, year round). There is no "ready." Those that I had recently collected, were exuding sperm and eggs, within minutes of reaching shore.

The best way of eliminating urchins is their physical removal; or else, get those otters to do the work that they had once done so well . . .

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I knew of a "private effort," in 2019-20, by a number of SF Bay Area divers, who took it upon themselves to "cull," by both hammer or knife butt, the urchin population at Salt Point / Gerstle Cove; and a second spot near Sea Ranch, on the Sonoma Coast. I was told that the number eliminated, approached 13,000 of both the purple and red urchins (Strongylocentrotus purpuatus and S. franciscanus) over the course of three months. Some of that number had been also collected as food.

A visit, back in January of 2021, revealed that the barrens had actually expanded; and there's very little but urchins, within the cove and mouth . . .

Are you sure they took urchins inside Gerstle Cove?
It’s a protected preserve where nothing can be taken or disturbed, I’m baffled by this report.
Or was it outside the marker line? Not a lot of good would be done if it was outside. I dived inside Gerstle Cove a little more than two years ago. I saw nothing purple urchins and nothing else. There were a few small abalone right up by the beach starving and looking for any scraps of kelp to eat. The very sad part and the thing that made me livid was seeing 6 abalone shells freshly shucked and laying at the base of the service road. There was a big running event there that weekend and a lot of people from the city. Some ignoramus rock picked those abs when the tide was low that morning.

One question I had was what about all the other MPA’s they created up here where nothing can be taken. Does that mean that the purple urchins will have a safe haven to hide in, or I wonder if they will make an exception? I just know how long the legislative process in California takes to get anything done. It could be years before they rewrite the rules through all the meetings and arguments.
I’m not holding my breath.

 

[Bigbella]

Are you sure they took urchins inside Gerstle Cove?
It’s a protected preserve where nothing can be taken or disturbed, I’m baffled by this report.

One question I had was what about all the other MPA’s they created up here where nothing can be taken. Does that mean that the purple urchins will have a safe haven to hide in, or I wonder if they will make an exception? I just know how long the legislative process in California takes to get anything done. It could be years before they rewrite the rules through all the meetings and arguments.
I’m not holding my breath.

I am not suggesting that what was done in Gerstle Cove and another site, was remotely legal (nor was I involved); and that legislative process in Sacramento moves with the same speed and precision as the glaciers which carved Yosemite. Divers just took it upon themselves to make an effort, when no one else would . . .

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Outside of DNA testing, it would be difficult to know. Like most intertidal animals, competition for space, is a primary stressor and real estate, in the littoral zone, doesn't stay unoccupied for long; and remnant urchin populations may well have just migrated; though the area, that I saw, back in January, had about the most uniform size of urchin that I have seen, outside of aquaria. I would estimate that they were about two years old; just sexually mature; and could likely be traced back to that "culling effort" . . .



If the urchin population has viable sperm and eggs (and they did as of two days ago), they have the potential to reproduce, regardless of whether their spawning season supposedly ended in March (we were easily able to do that under laboratory conditions, year round). There is no "ready." Those that I had recently collected, were exuding sperm and eggs, within minutes of reaching shore.

The best way of eliminating urchins is their physical removal; or else, get those otters to do the work that they had once done so well . . .

Otters are gone and the species that inhabited North of the GG bridge are extinct. The Russians made sure of that and for a long time people praised them because no otters meant lots of abs. But now with the urchin explosion not so much.

From now on I’m only going to physically remove urchins and not smash them, until positive confirmed science tells me otherwise. I’m going to take your word for it.
Not only that, the DFW has a written and confirmed limit of 40 gallons of crushed purple urchins. Why they even have a limit on purple urchins makes me wonder and is a topic for a different discussion.
With smashing urchins there is no way to really confirm a limit on gallonage of urchins, therefor a grey area and not actually completely legal. There is also the clause of “willful waste” of sealife, which technically puts you in violation.
I suppose physically removing a limit of purple urchins and then dumping them in a pit somewhere could be considered “willful waste” also, but if it is determined that there is nothing edible inside then perhaps tossing them suddenly becomes legal?
I don’t like grey areas when it comes to DFW.
They need to update and clarify their rules.
However I have not been to their website in a while to check for updates, maybe the rules have changed. All I have is the 2021 written handbook.

 

[Bigbella]

Otters are gone and the species that inhabited North of the GG bridge are extinct. The Russians made sure of that and for a long time people praised them because no otters meant lots of abs. But now with the urchin explosion not so much.

I am well aware of the history of the otter, and the Russkies up North; but they historically consumed a massive number of urchins, from Davenport to Big Sur, until quite recently.

We would have to travel to the Sonoma Coast, just to obtain a sufficient number of urchins for lab use; so few were they, South of the Golden Gate, through the 1990s.

No longer . . .

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I am well aware of the history of the otter, up North; but they historically consumed a massive number of urchins, from Davenport to Big Sur, decades ago . . .

I guess we need to be the otters for a while. Not the same but beats sitting around doing nothing.