Starving Abalone? Another Closure?

That article about the guys clearing entire coves of urchins by themselves is pretty damn inspiring- unbelievable numbers! Guessing they must have been using some kind of hookah setup. Anyone seen them in action?

I've heard that's how Bill Ernst practices his bottom time.  He take s a little hammer and sees how many he can break on each breath. 

Not trying to beat a dead horse... But I found this brochure interesting.  Will be looking to pop more isolated abalone from now on.  I'm surprised DFG doesn't make this recommendation in the regs. 

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx%3FDocumentID%3D76527%26inline&ved=0ahUKEwivlbKYtOPOAhUSz2MKHVvxDwgQFggkMAE&usg=AFQjCNEzUxArWoMCRYbT8hhTrepF9II3Dg&sig2=SkptIOPCAsK2XdZWZsrMiw

We are going to have to be very selective when getting abalone from now on. I will have to stay down a little longer to inspect the ab I am going to pull. I did this before but not to the degree I will in the future. Lets hope the kelp comes back and so too fatter abalone.

Not trying to beat a dead horse... But I found this brochure interesting.  Will be looking to pop more isolated abalone from now on.  I'm surprised DFG doesn't make this recommendation in the regs. 

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx%3FDocumentID%3D76527%26inline&ved=0ahUKEwivlbKYtOPOAhUSz2MKHVvxDwgQFggkMAE&usg=AFQjCNEzUxArWoMCRYbT8hhTrepF9II3Dg&sig2=SkptIOPCAsK2XdZWZsrMiw

There's allot of good info packed into the brochure, thanks for posting it up.

Question on restoring habitat (killing urchins): (I'm still amazed how effective those guys in S Cal are). Does anyone know if urchins have to be smashed broken up completely? It occurred to me that if just poking a hole in them would kill them, that would enable us to be far more efficient, especially up in colder waters where we're not going to stay in all day.  Like would they die if you just had a sturdy Phillips head screwdriver and poked a hole and moved on? You could probably do a lot that way pretty efficiently compared to actually busting each one up completely.
Any knowledge out there?

I was thinking along those lines, but mine would prob shatter them. I am thinking on a low tide, bb guns and pellet rifles, kick back and enjoy a plinking gallery on the coast!  How much fun would that be if nobody else was around to pick up a ricochet! !? It is the gopher hunting of Atlantis!!! #itsbangtime

BigSur has a TON of very healthy Bull and Giant and Palm Kelp right now...

Should have taken some pics of the thick kelp beds...if there was less kelp we might have gotten a few more fish...but at least the ones we got were nice.

 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Nice fish Jim!!

Can see some of the thick ass kelp down here in this quick vid, especially after I shoot the Ling lol...



 

Sincerely,

Jim

Nice hunting guys.  Thanks for the cool video Jim.

Nice fish!  I hope to get big ones like that someday.  Need to work on bottom time first...

Poking around DFG website I found this video of a presentation made to the DFG Commission about declining kelp beds in the north coast.  So, I guess disappearing kelp and shrunken abs are indeed an observed phenomenon throughout the north coast and has been escalated to the highest state authority short of the governor.  It's a pretty grim report with unfortunately no countermeasures recommended.

But surely this isn't the first time in history that kelp has experienced regression? Maybe just the first time since they started doing the "Aerial surveys" (video doesn't state when those surveys started).

Looks like I need to get creative in purple urchin recipes!

I have an idea instead of spending millions on meetings and all the other BS give us a $1.00 a pound for urchins and it would not take long to clean this up. Use the dead urchins for fertilizer for the growers.
Just a thought.........

I think when I next dive a fave spot up in Mendo I'll pack a phillips head screwdriver and just try the idea of poking a hole in all the purples in just one hollow. Then I can check a few weeks later and see if that was sufficient to kill them.
Busting every small urchin up completely seems like an almost un-manageable task, but I could see a few divers making a big impact if just a poke will do the job.