Increase in sea urchin population raises concerns off California’s coast

SAN DIEGO, Calif. (KSWB) — Scientists are taking drastic measures to rehabilitate the California coastal kelp after an extreme warm water event knocked the ecosystem out of balance.

Scientists say global climate change caused a superheated Pacific Ocean, killing off sea stars which eat sea urchins.

“Sea stars plummeted and urchins exploded, and they ended up over grazing the kelp forests,” explained Dr. Lyall Bellquist, a senior fisheries scientist with the California Oceans Program at The Nature Conservancy. “And that caused kelp forests in Central and Northern California to decline by over 90%, and Southern California to also decline dramatically.”

Bull kelp and giant kelp have severely hurt fish inhabiting waters near the coast, experts explained.

…encouraging recreational divers to bring hammers on their dives to destroy the purple urchins

Now in specific beaches in Mendocino and Monterey, the California Fish and Game Wardens are encouraging recreational divers to bring hammers on their dives to destroy the purple urchins, which they say are killing the kelp.

“They jump in the water, like any diver would with scuba gear, and they swim around the reefs with hammers, crushing as many urchins as they can,” said Dr. Bellquist.

The novel approach to thinning out the urchin population is a test to see if […]

Full article: fox5sandiego.com