Comment from Kimberly , Jennifer
Jennifer KimberlySupportIndividual
Summary: A recreational diver who has spent decades in the area argues that crushing urchins is more efficient and environmentally beneficial than removing them. The commenter supports the action by requesting that recreational divers be allowed to crush urchins and suggests a closure of hunting in specific areas to protect local wildlife.
I have been diving northern California since 1979. There was a purple urchin overpopulation issue in the 80's but nature restored the balance without otters or humans. I witnessed the starfish wasting disease and the subsequent wave of urchins mowing the bull kelp starts in 2015. I have hammered urchins at Casper cove and been working for years with purp removing urchins from Stillwater cove. It requires a huge amount of time, energy and resources to remove vs crushing. Kelp returned to Casper years ago but has only begun to grow at Stillwater and only a few individuals. The ocean uses calcium to absorb CO2. Calcium is a scarce and coveted mineral essential to sea life. The urchins do not reproduce when crushed. They push their spores out of the top of their shells thereby dividing the spores into floating individuals for fertilization. When they are crushed, the gonads fall by gravity as whole chunks and are consumed by other sea creatures. There was an experiment done in the year 2000 at Cedar key in Florida. The reefs were not vibrant. A group created artificial reefs from thousands of pounds of oyster shells. Local fishermen and environmentalists fought the project. It was beneficial and successful and changed the opinions of all of the objectors. Also, otters are not the solution. They are not helping with the urchin problem in Monterey and the otters suffer when you relocate them. This otter relocation was done in the channel islands and was a failure as most of the otters swam back or died. The otters prefer all of the other shellfish because the urchins don't contain enough sustinence. When the otters were eliminated by the Russians it didn't hurt the local environment. Abalone grew more abundantly but abalone know how to feed themselves without killing their food source. Gpo's took over the otters' job of consuming crustaceans and shellfish. I wish there was a moratorium on gpo's and wolf eels. I don't think gpo's eat urchins but wolf eels do. I don't think we should relocate otters but let them expand naturally. I respectfully request that you allow recreational divers to crush urchins as it's better for the environment and more efficient. The only downside is that the fish and octopus become accustomed and even friendly with the urchin crushing divers, making them unfairly more vulnerable to hunters which is why I wish for a closure of hunting gpo's and fish in the crushing and kelp arkev plantings.