Urchin dive - Nov. 13th

[Eric Sedletzky]

I have a purple urchin collection dive planned for Sunday, November 13th st Stillwater Cove Regional Park in Sonoma County.
9:00 am.

Seal’s Water Sports in Santa Rosa will be taking part, they will be hosting a shop fun dive in conjunction with my urchin dive.
If you wish to take part please go to Seal’s Water Sports website and fill out the waiver.
Some things you will need:
At least two tanks.
A large green Trident game bag with a double ender stainless bolt snap.
A lift bag or a 6’ deluxe SMB that can double as a lift bag, one that has lift straps / exhaust valve, and capability to lift at least 25 lbs. also with a double ender bolt snap.
A valid CA fishing license.
Two 20 gal Brute trash cans or one 45 gal Brute trash can to measure quantity.
I have a wheel dolly to get the urchins from the beach to the parking area.
It would be great if there were other people with P/U trucks to be able to haul the urchins. The more pickups the better!
For now, I’m opening about a dozen urchins to test them to see if there is any food value to them. Most of the time there is not so I compost them, but it is prudent to at least make an effort.
At this point I am taking them home and dumping them into my yard waste/compost container.
I’m working on a place locally to dump the urchins for compost but I have not secured a location yet so yard waste is it.
Bring your lunch too.
There are restrooms and picnic tables at the site, plus barbecue stands if someone wants to get a little more elaborate with lunch.
Parking is $7 day use fee if you want to park across the highway up in the campground day use lot. There is also a turnout on the highway right above the cove that is free but limited. You may want to get there early as there are a lot of kayak fishermen on the coast.
It should be a nice day with favorable conditions.
Hope to see you there!
However, all dives are weather dependent so check in closer to the date to see if there are any changes or cancellations.
If you have any further questions you can PM me and I’ll fill you in.
Together we can make a huge difference!!

Thank you!

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Add:
Also, it definitely helps to have an old ab bar, BFK, or other implement to knock loose the urchins from the rocks. I thought of maybe using a mini hand held gardening rake. Many times they are stuck on well enough that trying to remove them by hand is a challenge without puncturing your gloves and getting urchin spines stuck in your fingers.
Once they are knocked loose and rolling around they can be handled carefully/gingerly (without putting pressure on them) and placed into the bag safely. I recommend a pair of good kevlar dive gloves and even maybe a pair of oversized leather work gloves over the dive gloves, or if you are a polar bear maybe just leather work gloves?

 

[azstinger11]

Sounds like fun honestly, best of luck! I need to get some more dives up in Nor Cal. One of these days....

 

[Bubblesong]

Would grilling tongs work to loosen and transport to bag? I am east coast, but thinking of the invasive green crabs here.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Would grilling tongs work to loosen and transport to bag? I am east coast, but thinking of the invasive green crabs here. View attachment 752453

Yeah maybe?
Once they’re loose they can be handled easily, just don’t grip them tight. No reason to really, just a very light touch. Knocking them loose is one step, then the next step is to stuff what you’ve knocked loose into the bag. Shake the bag down to get them all to the bottom then repeat.
The tongs may work to get them out of in between rocks perhaps? But for general bag stuffing just handling them lightly, flicking them into the bag by hand with good gloves works very well and it’s fast.
Fast is good.

 

[azstinger11]

If urchins are pulverized could they be used as a fertilizer or something?

Just trying to think of a commercial use case for them.

 

[Tassi Devil Diver]

We smash the long spine urchins, that are creating vast urchin barrens in my area, in situ with tools like this.

 

[Tassi Devil Diver]

Smash those urchins, make great fish food!!

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Smash those urchins, make great fish food!!View attachment 752483

We’re not allowed to smash urchins at this particular site, it’s removal only of whole live urchins.
There are only two sites designated for urchin culling (smashing) and one is Caspar Cove up in Mendocino County, and the other is Tankers Reef in Monterey County. They are a couple hundred miles apart. The culling zones are under experiment at this point to gauge the effectiveness of culling vs removal before they designate more sites for culling. According to the scientists, the jury is still out on whether culling is harmful or helpful. More study needs to be done.
Removal however is pretty certain, it’s just a bigger PITA.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

If urchins are pulverized could they be used as a fertilizer or something?

Just trying to think of a commercial use case for them.

There is huge potential for urchins as fertilizer. It’s a very rich material full of all sorts of good stuff.
Someone needs to take the reins and get the ball rolling with all the legalities, red tape, etc, dealing with a government agency that moves at a glacial pace regarding commercialization of a game animal.
It would be a lot of meetings, scientific reviews, and years of very frustrating stonewalling at a minimum to get this through.
Then it would probably require some sort of commercial license involving a lottery to harvest, and an industrial structure of sorts to process the urchins, grinding, drying, etc.

I’m actually going to begin reaching out and try to find the right people to talk to just to see what it would take to do this and create an industry.
Wish me luck.
It would be a cool way to make a few extra bucks.