Urchin barrens and spear fishing?

[Tjack]

I did a 5 day trip on the Vision at the end of August and we ended up diving urchin barrens on numerous occasions. Areas off both Santa Barbara Is. and Anacapa were devoid of kelp and the bottom was literally covered in a carpet of brittle stars. Is this a recent phenomenon? I don't recall ever seeing such an over abundance of brittle stars.

There were quite a few spear fishers on the trip and I assume the boat put us on the barren sites because spearing is allowed there. On the other hand the marine protected areas we dove had a lush abundance of kelp and other life associated with it. My next trip I may have to look for a non-hunting group so I don't have to dive unprotected barrens.

The Vision crew are awesome, and I'm sure they do their best to keep everyone happy. Does anyone on the board know of non-hunting trips? I figure a photo specific trip might be the ticket.

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Here is an interested read in the LA times. I remember in the later 70's a similar issue and trying to figure out how to harvest the pest and ship them to Japan and make some big money

Helping kelp now an urchin matter - Los Angeles Times

 

[mathauck0814]

Some boats just don't let people hunt period. Danny Howard's boat and the Waterhorse in San Diego don't allow spear fishing (and I won't dive with them because of it). Sucks for me, but sounds like what you're looking for.

 

[Tjack]

Great article Grumpy, here are some excerpts...

"Over the years, environmental groups have repeatedly attempted to restore kelp forests by removing urchins and transplanting healthy seaweed. But the scale of this latest endeavor reflects the growing belief that some ecosystems have been so altered by humans that they require radical intervention to function again.


"We don't want to wait until it's gone so we have to start planting kelp," Ford said. "Let's go in there now while there's still something to build" on.


Over the last century, kelp declined steeply off the California coast as storm runoff, erosion and other shore-based pollution clouded the water and made it harder for sunlight to penetrate. As kelp struggled -- and predators like sheephead, lobsters and sea otters declined -- sea urchins moved in."

Helping kelp now an urchin matter - Los Angeles Times

 

[drbill]

Carpets of brittle stars (Ophiothrix spiculata mainly I think) have been around Anacapa for a number of years. I'm not sure why.

As for allowing spear fishing in areas with urchin barrens, that's a good way to promote the barrens IMHO... depending on what fish are targeted. Although sheephead are rarer up in the northern Channel Islands than down here in the southern ones, they (and lobster) are major predators on urchins. Take away the sheephead and lobster and... voila... urchin barrens (although there may be other factors at work as well)!

 

[Tjack]

So if Lobster and Sheephead eat urchins one solution might be to close the hunting season on these species in affected areas?

 

[tracydr]

How about transplanting some otters or other urchin ravenous animals to those areas?

 

[Tjack]

I read a interesting story about this. Sea Otters from northern CA were transplanted to the Channel Islands but they were not pleased with the new local so they swam back to where they came from!

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

I do recall the overabundance of urchins in Laguna Beach area seemed to be reduced once the entire area was made a preserve. Concurrently, there are more controls on runoff. The kelp is coming back in a few places, but not nearly to the original level. This is personal observation, totally unscientific. The only areas I see that are close to the density of kelp and sea life 30+ years ago are the preserves. Hence the reason I made a personal choice to no longer fish (spear or pole) in populated areas.

 

[mathauck0814]

How about transplanting some otters or other urchin ravenous animals to those areas?

Like what? Japanese people?