Urchin dive - Nov. 13th

[Dann-Oh]

Hey there Eric,

Id like to hear how you went about setting this up? I'm in Southern California and I think my Scuba Shop and dive club would be interested in putting together a similar event here in Southern California.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Hi Eric. Do you have any idea when your next planned urchin dive is? I'd love to participate in this. I would need to rent tanks but I have the rest of the equipment.

We just did another one last Sunday. The conditions were absolutely EPIC!!!
Flat as a lake and vis in excess of 40’. I stayed in the shallows and got to work, but other people went out and did more fun diving.
There were only four of us this time but inly two urchin takers, me and Jennifer from the shop.
I got my limit of 40 gallons and she took about twenty gallons which is four 5 gal buckets.
Sign up for Seals Watersports email list at sealswatersports.com and you’ll get email alerts when we will be going out. It’s normally on Sundays and occasionally Wednesdays.
I will try and post stuff here too when I know I’m going out.
Thank you for taking an interest!
It’s a noble and worth while cause.
When the kelp comes back in Stillwater Cove and all the fish and abalone also come back they can thank us!

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Hey there Eric,

Id like to hear how you went about setting this up? I'm in Southern California and I think my Scuba Shop and dive club would be interested in putting together a similar event here in Southern California.

It was partially through the dive shop, combining my urchin collecting interests with their monthly fun dives, and posting stuff up here.
You might want to check to see what the rules are down in your area. I’m not sure of the DFW rules in Southern California regarding bag limits on purple urchins. You may want to go online and look to see what the bag limits are in your area. Up here the daily bag limit is 40 gallons of whole urchins per day with no possession limit. We have an exceptional problem and if nothing is done I’m afraid the bull kelp may become extinct. If there is not enough biomass of kelp to create a successful spawn for a prolonged time period as in years (which it already has been) then we may never see kelp again, and I can’t even begin to imagine the environmental catastrophe this would create. Kelp is absolutely vital to almost everything, not just fish and everything that depends on it’s existence for survival, but also kelp is a CO2 sink and critical for atmospheric balance.
I really wish more people would realize the urgency of this problem and get involved. Put your scuba skills to work!
We need to be the new otters and giant sea stars, we are the only predators right now for purple urchins.

 

[Fonzi4]

We just did another one last Sunday. The conditions were absolutely EPIC!!!
Flat as a lake and vis in excess of 40’. I stayed in the shallows and got to work, but other people went out and did more fun diving.
There were only four of us this time but inly two urchin takers, me and Jennifer from the shop.
I got my limit of 40 gallons and she took about twenty gallons which is four 5 gal buckets.
Sign up for Seals Watersports email list at sealswatersports.com and you’ll get email alerts when we will be going out. It’s normally on Sundays and occasionally Wednesdays.
I will try and post stuff here too when I know I’m going out.
Thank you for taking an interest!
It’s a noble and worth while cause.
When the kelp comes back in Stillwater Cove and all the fish and abalone also come back they can thank us!

Amazing! I've signed up. Hoping to bring my wife and another diver friend of ours to your next outing!