Sea Urchins

March 25, 2021

Question: Where can I legally go tide-pooling for sea urchins?

Answer: The take of invertebrate species in ocean waters is authorized in California Code of Regulations, Title 14, section 29.05 and 29.06. You may take any species of sea urchin in a tidepool as long as it’s not within a marine protected area that prohibits the recreational take of sea urchin. There’s a general bag limit of 35 sea urchin of each species, so for example you could take 35 red urchin and 35 purple urchin in a day. The most frequently harvested species are red and purple urchin, and there’s no minimum size limit for any sea urchin species. Section 29.06 covers special regulations for harvesting sea urchin in Mendocino, Sonoma, Monterey and Humboldt counties where CDFW has increased the bag limit to aid in kelp recovery.

it seems ridiculous to me that there's any regulation at all on these, much less 35

29.06. Purple Sea Urchin.

(a) Except as provided in this section, the daily bag limit for purple sea urchin is 35 individuals.

(b) The daily bag limit for purple sea urchin is forty (40) gallons when taken while skin or SCUBA diving in ocean waters of the following counties: Humboldt, Mendocino, and Sonoma.

(c) There is no possession limit for purple sea urchin.

(d) Notwithstanding subsection (b) of this Section, there is no bag limit for take of purple sea urchins in Caspar Cove, in Mendocino County in the area east of a straight line drawn between 39 o 22.045' N. lat. 123o 49.462' W. long. and 39o 21.695' N. lat. 123o 49.423' W. long. for the purpose of restoring kelp. The purple sea urchins may only be taken by hand or with manually operated hand-held tools.

Maybe someone can make sense of cdfw website I copied it still don’t understand it

Maybe someone can make sense of cdfw website I copied it still don’t understand it

Specifically letter c

Maybe someone can make sense of cdfw website I copied it still don’t understand it

The way I'm reading it, you can pull up to 40 gallons of purples in Sonoma Mendo and Humboldt.  So a big trash can full per person.  No limit for that specified section of Caspar cove.

I think letter c is saying it's ok for someone to possess as much urchin as they want to... say for instance if several people gift their bag limit (40 gal each person) at the end of a harvesting day, and you want a literal truckload of purples (like for fertilizer or something). 

So, in practice, you can pretty much pull as many purples as you want/need.

What Tez said.  Put another way... let's replace "purple sea urchin" with "fish".  possession limits are those in the freezer at home plus what's in your bag.  Bag limit is that day's catch.

See Title 14 CCR 1.17:

1.17. Bag and Possession Limit. No more than one daily bag limit of each kind of fish, amphibian, reptile, mollusk or crustacean named in these regulations may be taken or possessed by any one person unless otherwise authorized; regardless of whether they are fresh, frozen, or otherwise preserved. Exceptions: See Sections 7.00, 7.50(a), 27.60(c), and 195, Title 14, CCR.

Maybe someone can make sense of cdfw website I copied it still don’t understand it

The way I'm reading it, you can pull up to 40 gallons of purples in Sonoma Mendo and Humboldt.  So a big trash can full per person.  No limit for that specified section of Caspar cove.

I think letter c is saying it's ok for someone to possess as much urchin as they want to... say for instance if several people gift their bag limit (40 gal each person) at the end of a harvesting day, and you want a literal truckload of purples (like for fertilizer or something). 

That’s what I figured those pesky purples have taken over

So, in practice, you can pretty much pull as many purples as you want/need.