I started free diving for abalone along the Sonoma coast in 2008. The first few years of diving were plentiful and majestic. But my friends and I noticed the changes around 2015. Less sunflower stars and star fish. After some red tide events, the abalone die offs were crazy. Coves that used to have abs stacked on top of each other were almost empty. Finding a 9” abalone became a chore. The thinner kelp forests meant less fish, less life. It’s been difficult to watch first hand. I get sad thinking about the reality that my children will most likely never see the underwater forests that filled my soul and gave me a deep love of the ocean. I hope we can help the system get back in balance.
I have been diving in the Monterey, CA region since 1999 and have seen the change first hand. Sunflower sea stars are now extinct in the area; I haven't seen one in years. Some of the smaller sea star species have started to gradually recover but they aren't effective at preying on purple urchins. There is a local group culling urchins but they'll only be able to cover a small area.<p><a href="https://g2kr.com/" rel="nofollow">https://g2kr.com/</a>
One reason we don't have kelp forests in Oregon is due to sea otters having been wiped out, which kept the urchins at bay.[0]<p>Unfortunately, according to OPs article:<p><i>Others have suggested bringing in another kelp forest predator, the sea otter, to help fight back the urchins. The problem with this appears to be that sea otters aren’t so interested in the skinny, starved urchins occupying the most barren areas, reports Anuradha Varanasi for Inverse. A separate study published this week in the journal the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests the otters do eat urchins but that they prefer the more well-fed residents of the coast’s remaining kelp forests to the so-called “zombie urchins” clinging to life in the denuded barrens.</i><p>[0] - <a href="https://oregonwild.org/about/blog/lost-sea-otters-oregon-part-four" rel="nofollow">https://oregonwild.org/about/blog/lost-sea-otters-oregon-par...</a>
There is a company called Urchinomics that is catching the purple urchins, then feeding them in a land based environment, then selling them worldwide as high quality uni.[1][2]<p>The reason this is critical is that purple urchins can effectively starve themselves and go into hibernation with a virtually empty body. This virtually empty body is not desirable for either (a) traditional fisherman or (b) any predators (e.g. even fish that eat urchin know to not eat the urchins that have overgrazed a kelp forest as they know they are empty.<p>If Urchinomics can get the unit economics to work out such that there is a financial incentive to catch a significant number of these urchin, that could change this situation.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.urchinomics.com/" rel="nofollow">https://www.urchinomics.com/</a><p>[2] <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2019/09/09/756929657/saving-californias-kelp-forest-may-depend-on-eating-purple-sea-urchins" rel="nofollow">https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2019/09/09/756929657/sa...</a>
I am a diver in NorCal and regularly participate in sea urchin culling.<p>The state had been horrible at allowing ANY action to combat the kelp forest collapse.<p>A blight wiped out the sea stars. The lack of sea stars caused a 100x jump in urchin population.<p>Urchins eat kelp. Worst yet, they only eat the bottom part, and then 99% of the kelp floats away.<p>The state banned even the most modest actions.<p>You need a fishing license to harvest urchins.<p>You could only harvest 20 per day. Recently it’s upped to unlimited though.<p>You had to harvest the urchin, which is way more involved than simply smashing them with a hammer. Smashing in NorCal is only allowed in a spot in Monterey and Fort Bragg. The myth that smashing leads to spawning was laid to rest long ago and yet the authorities were still paralyzed. The paralysis lasted so long that everything is just a barren desert.<p>Sea urchins can live 100 years in a semi dormant starvation state. This isn’t some case where letting them starve out for a season will bring back the kelp.
The podcast "How to save a Planet" did an interesting two parter on kelp farming as a climate solution. If anyone is interested:<p><a href="https://gimletmedia.com/shows/howtosaveaplanet/94h3rvm/kelp-farming-for-the-climate" rel="nofollow">https://gimletmedia.com/shows/howtosaveaplanet/94h3rvm/kelp-...</a>
Many comments here wondering what an individual can do... I'll tell you what I've done in order to stop feeling complicit.<p>I stopped buying anything "new" unless I absolutely cannot live without it.<p>Not all at once, but one thing at a time, I looked for alternatives and pulled the trigger.
Adjacent topic: My Octopus Teacher [1] was a fascinating view into a single kelp forest and occupant that folks here might enjoy.<p>[1] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Octopus_Teacher" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Octopus_Teacher</a>
The day I proposed to my wife on a beach north of Monterey, we found a nearly perfect abalone shell on the beach. To this day she uses it to store her jewelry in. Saddens me to think that no one else will ever find one of these mother of pearl treasures there again without the kelp forests intact.
The Nature paper is available:<p><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-021-01827-6" rel="nofollow">https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-021-01827-6</a><p>and there's a Github repo available:<p><a href="https://github.com/mmcph005/PyMESMA.git" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/mmcph005/PyMESMA.git</a>
Fukushima happened in 2011. This article states the dieoffs of starfish and kelp began 8 years ago. I wonder if there is a connection? Considering all the Plutonium flooding into the pacific. Plutonium the most TOXIC substance known to man. Its not even the radiation, its chemically toxic.
This is unbelievably sad. I learned to scuba dive in southern California in the early 90s. Kelp was ubiquitous back then, and it harbored all manner of marine life. Swimming through a kelp forest was a magical experience.<p>No more. :-(
The same thing has happened to giant kelp off the coast of Tasmania<p><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2021-02-27/tasmania-giant-kelp-forests-disappearing-global-ocean-warming/11209188?nw=0" rel="nofollow">https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2021-02-27/tasmania-gian...</a>
five years ago half the coast of australia suffered massive dieback of mangroves, coral and sea grass.<p>The worst I saw was mangroves around the Gulf of Carpentaria, and my immediate assumption was the dirty lead mine nearby, but then people around the country started connecting dots to other intertidal and coastal failures that started to all line up until the entire northern coast was implicated.<p>The broad impact, coupled with records, suggested that this was a response to a season of low rainfall in the context of sustained elevated sea temperatures. recovery has been very gradual, as predicted.
It wouldn't be helpful in this case, but I've long thought that the US should create marine "national parks" in the coastal waters. Within those parks, no fishing would be allowed, and no motorized boats.
I spent a lot of time kayaking around Monterey in 2016.<p>A couple of observations.<p>We were constantly reminded to maintain distance from endangered Sea Otters.<p>The Sea Otters were pretty cool, but it quickly became annoying at trying to avoid and maintain distance from them as they seemed to be as common as cockroaches.<p>And the kelp.<p>Trying to avoid the aforementioned Sea Otters required kayaking thru massive kelp beds, which was like kayaking thru spaghetti.<p>This was along Cannery Row and the local Marine Reserve.<p>I certainly hope it’s as frustratingly awesome full of sea otters and kelp like it was 5 years ago.<p>Super cool, and long may it continue.<p>I only wish I could have dived it.
I mean you can't have 8 billion needy, constantly consuming humans for 60/70 years and somehow have a sustainable, vibrant and healthy ecosystem.<p>You can't have all the modern day luxuries (cars, airplanes, electricity 24/7) and somehow expect everything to just "hum" along.<p>I think news reports like these will become more common, more frequent and a natural byproduct of how things are now, regardless as to whether human activity/climate change is the cause.<p>I am uncertain about this whole "2030" neutrality thing, why not 2025? Why not next year? We're not very good at setting ambitious targets nor making people suffer for the benefit of nature (I'm sure somewhere there is a "link" between this event and the devastating impact humans are having on the natural world as we know it)<p>Even a pandemic didn't have much effect whereas in previous times tens of millions would've been expected to die.<p>Cue another attenborough documentary telling us how everything is basically screwed...Somehow he would convince us about how fossil fuels is directly responsible for this activity taking place...
The oceans have been dying for decades, no one cares enough to take a loss this quarter.<p>Our children will never forgive us for destroying their inheritance.
It seems the parameters for healthy ocean ecosystems is much tighter than on land and much more sensitive to change. The UK has similar issues (<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/mar/04/catastrophic-uk-has-lost-90-of-seagrass-meadows-study-finds" rel="nofollow">https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/mar/04/catastro...</a>) and Australia is well documented.<p>Outside of mechanical damage and over fishing, it's hard to know what could help, you can't really adjust ocean conditions, it's just too vast - for example something fundamental in relation to temperature and water acidity has changed meaning you can't just replant, it'd just suffer the same fate. It kind of implies to save the oceans climate change needs to be improved globally.
We have similar problems in places here in New Zealand urchin barrens are taking over from kelp - here it's thought to be caused by over fishing taking out the larger/older fish that previously kept the urchins (kina) under control.<p>Kina are considered a delicacy here, but as mentioned here the kina in the barrens are underfed and not worth eating
Would sea farming like this organization does help the situation?<p><a href="https://www.greenwave.org/" rel="nofollow">https://www.greenwave.org/</a>
the systematic ecodestruction of climate change is so much easier to ignore but it feels just so scary. humans can adapt but new homes & redevelop. at a cost. but who will help the planet?
A bit tangentially off topic. Today I encountered this book titled "False Alarm". It is supposed to be the book that is quite balanced in perspective in terms of environmental crisis. I'm going to get it. But first I'm curious of HN readers who have read the book, what do you think of it?