Posted by DiverD on January 13, 2003 at 16:11:42:
In Reply to: Boring Subject "Sea Urchin" posted by Steve on January 13, 2003 at 13:22:18:
Many factors contribute to this. The small, bright purple urchins, I believe, are the worst offenders as they are not native and so after being introduced are harder to keep in check. This has been happening above the norm for a long time perhaps a hundred years, when trappers erradicated the otter population. There have been some heated debates about sea otters in this forum so I hesitate to mention them. I know that when I was young I freedove PV (Haggertys and flat rock) a lot and they were urchin deserts back then, they are much better now so kelp come backs are possible. Sheephead eat urchins, and now they can't taken, this may help some. I think PVs comback was by divers who actually carefully removed the non-native urchins for years. smashing them underwater only spreads their population.