Casts + Blasts
The widespread collapse of kelp forests, valuable fish habitat, in northern California coastal waters, attributed to an explosion in purple sea urchin populations, compelled the California Fish and Game Commission to adopt emergency regulations.
Following the assessment that purple sea urchin populations have grown to more than 60 times their historic density in northern California, emergency regulations have increased the daily bag limit for these spiny echinoderms off Mendocino and Sonoma counties. Purple sea urchins fall under the general invertebrate bag limit of 35 per day, but the new regulations recently put into place allow a daily bag of 20 gallons, with no limit on possession.
These voracious herbivores can easily wipe out vast expanses of kelp and other algae. In fact, about 90 percent of all coastal kelp from San Francisco to Oregon has been mowed down by purple sea urchins, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW). Climate change and warming ocean temperatures struck the first blow by weakening and thinning established kelp beds, which thrive on the nutrients available in cold, deep water. Add to that a brutal combination of toxic red-tide
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algae and a sea-star-killing virus, and the urchins’ most effective natural predators were effectively removed from the equation, laying the groundwork for the unprecedented proliferation of purple sea urchin populations that made giant “barrens” of the thriving kelp forests that once provided cover and forage for numerous species, including popular game fish like California yellowtails, white seabass, rockfish, kelp (aka calico) bass, and others.
The emergency regulations will remain in effect until November 6, unless extended by Fish and Game. Upon expiration, the daily bag limit will return to 35. Meanwhile, CDFW has prioritized assessment and monitoring of the situation, and is collaborating with academic researchers, commercial divers, and stakeholders to clear purple sea urchins in select test plots in order to study the effectiveness of clearing for restoring the bull kelp ecosystem.
CDFW reminds participants that the new recreational limit allows urchin collection by hand while skin or scuba diving, and that smashing and disposing of sea urchins in the trash is still illegal, so recreational harvesters must put any urchins taken to good use.
As reported recently in Saveur magazine, restaurant chefs on the West Coast are setting a great precedent for how to combat this environmental crisis through culinary ingenuity, offering an array of dishes featuring purple sea urchins and their delicious roe.