Many abalone divers on California’s North coast were angry and disappointed with the closing of the abalone fishery in Sonoma and Mendocino counties this year. Others supported the closure to give the abalone population a time to recover from a reduction in the size and health of the abalone population. Bringing them together is a plan to give the abalone population a boost and hopefully help in their recovery by reducing the population of purple urchins, which compete with abalone for their main food source – kelp.

The Waterman’s Alliance is one group organizing divers to harvest purple sea urchins on the north coast. Their first effort this year was an event held on the Sonoma coastline at Ocean Cove, where nearly 57,000 urchins totaling about 7,100 pounds were brought to the surface in two days of diving. More than 100 sport divers participated, in addition to scientist Cynthia Catton who was on-site to study the harvested urchins.

purple sea urchins

Working with California Fish and Wildlife, Cynthia noted that in addition to the challenges abalone are having, the urchins weren’t in that great of shape, either. She found that nearly all were starving and their stomach contents  and reproductive organs were shrunken — signs of starvation brought on by their own proliferation.

To help in reducing the purple sea urchins, the California Fish and Game Commission adopted emergency regulations this year. Purple sea urchins generally fall under the commission’s “general invertebrate bag limit” of 35 a day for SCUBA and skin divers off the Mendocino and Sonoma county coasts, but the new emergency regulations allow a daily bag limit of 20 gallons, with no limit on how many urchins can be possessed. The commission warns recreational divers that there are regulations prohibiting the waste of fish and it is only legal for divers to take urchins they plan to use – although that doesn’t necessarily mean they need to be eaten. Smashing urchins with rocks and leaving them is considered a waste of fish, and could be counterproductive, since it could result in accidental spawning through the release of reproductive material that would only boost the population.

JOIN THE HARVEST

The second recreational urchin removal event by the Watermen’s Alliance will be held on July 21-22 at 8am at Albion Campground, just south of Mendocino. Recreational divers will again harvest as many purple urchin as possible over these two days.

Interested parties should make reservations with Albion campground at (707)937-0606 http://albionrivercampground.com/ or with Schooner’s Landing at www.schoonerslanding-albion.com Make sure to tell them you’re with the urchin removal event. For more info check in at the facebook event page at https://www.facebook.com/events/167251583951557/