As discussed in my 11/20/19 blog, northern california kelp forests are in serious decline due to an unchecked overproliferation of purple sea urchins. One of the possible solutions would be to allow urchins to be thinned by divers, perhaps to get fattened up elsewhere on urchin ranches and to end up on someone's plate. Today, the California Fish and Game Commission published a proposal that, once enacted, could allow just that - opening up the season for purple urchins, in specific regions, from 35 individuals a day to to an unlimited take each day. This is an unusual step for the Commission - normally they are seen closing off the harvesting of specific sealife, for health reasons or to protect a species from getting overfished. Kudos to the Commission to get this started - our kelp forests are needing the speedy help. see more at: https://fgc.ca.gov/Regulations/2020-New-and-Proposed#29_06E
Comments