by CASPAR BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Joy Hollenback, with a welding hammer strapped to her wrist, donned blue flippers and swam in the choppy, cold waves of the Pacific on a fall morning to do her part to save kelp forests. marinas that are disappearing in Northern California.
Hollenback floated on the rocking surface to regulate his breathing before diving freely into the murky depths toward the seafloor. There, he saw his target: voracious purple algae-eating urchins.
In a matter of seconds, he shattered 20. “If you’re angry, it’s a cathartic way to get it all out,” Hollenback joked. “It’s ecologically sanctioned chaos.”
The Berkeley, California-based veterinarian is part of a team of volunteers who swim, snorkel and dive armed with pickaxes and hammers with a single mission: crush the purple urchins that have largely destroyed 96% of the iconic forests. of California seaweed between 2014 and 2020, thereby harming the red abalone and other marine species they supported.
The pilot project off the coast of Mendocino County is one of many initiatives California is testing to save these lush marine ecosystems, which are declining around the world due to climate change.
Kelp forests play an integral role in the health of the world’s oceans, one of the topics being discussed at the United Nations climate summit in Dubai.
Based on early observations, efforts such as culling hedgehogs appear to be helping.
Biologists say they have begun to see small successes with experiments begun several years ago, offering hope of reversing destruction comparable to the clearing of a rainforest.
Healthy patches of kelp and schools of fish returned this summer to small sections where urchins were crushed in Caspar Cove, 200 kilometers (160 miles) north of San Francisco.
Near Albion Bay, where commercial divers removed many of the urchins in 2021, biologists placed small lab-grown algae in 30-meter (98-foot) lines. In August, they discovered that the algae had not only reached the surface, but were reproducing.
“This is the first time we know of this happening in an open coastal environment,” said Norah Eddy of The Nature Conservancy, one of several organizations participating in the experiment. “What we want is for the algae to start having babies. “This shows that these methods can be applied in these types of hostile environments.”
There are still enormous challenges to overcome before California seaweed is on the road to recovery. But scientists say progress has eased fears that the forests have been lost forever.
“This is really priming the system to hold on to the algae that we have until we’re in a better place,” said Kristen Elsmore, senior scientist at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Scientists will collect data over the next three years to determine which methods are most effective as California develops its first plan to restore and manage the seaweed.
The algae were so abundant that the state managed it solely as a fishery, overseeing commercial and recreational harvests. Under the plan, algae will now be managed as an ecosystem, reflecting a greater understanding of the importance of algae.
“The algae form entire forests that support many other species, so they have this cascading effect on the nearshore ecosystem when the algae are lost,” Elsmore said. “You’re losing an entire forest, not just one species.”
The plan could inform restoration efforts from Australia to Chile, where the algae face similar threats.
“The ultimate goal is for these systems to be truly self-sustaining and for the restoration part to really give them a gentle nudge in the right direction,” the scientist said.
Algae have been disappearing as global warming raises ocean temperatures.
Along the West Coast, the problem began after 2013, when a mass of warm water dubbed “the mass” developed off Alaska and spread southward, persisting for four years while wreaking havoc on marine ecosystems until the Baja California peninsula in Mexico.
At the same time, a mysterious disease decimated the sunflower starfish, causing their arms to fall off and turning them into sticky masses, killing 90% of the population.
The starfish is the main predator of the purple urchin. After the disease killed more than 5 billion starfish, the urchin population exploded, devouring seaweed and leaving seascapes with almost nothing but globular, spiny echinoderms.
The loss of algae led the California Fish and Game Commission to close its recreational red abalone fishery in 2018. Commercial catches of red urchins have also been affected. Red urchins are preferred over purple ones because they contain more uni, or edible eggs, inside, but commercial divers say the number has been reduced with less algae.
Kelp, an annual algae, begins as a microscopic spore that grows up to two feet (0.6 meters) per day until reaching up to 98 feet (30 meters) before dying in the colder months. It flourishes in cool, nutrient-rich waters.
The California coast has kelp and giant kelp, the largest in the world. Urchins have harmed both species, although giant kelp forests have fared better.
Some believe the only way to restore algae is to reduce purple urchins, which can remain dormant for years only to reemerge and eat new algae growths. Chefs have started serving purple urchins to create a market.
“Sometimes it feels strange, like you’re killing this animal that’s a native species, but it’s for the greater good,” said Morgan Murphy-Cannella of the Reef Check Foundation, the seaweed restoration coordinator involved in the seaweed planting. in Albion Bay. His volunteers monitor kelp forests from Canada to Mexico.
Josh Russo, a former abalone fisherman and founder of the Watermen’s Alliance, a coalition of spearfishing clubs, helped start swatting the urchin.
The first group was mostly local divers armed with sledgehammers, Russo said, laughing. After struggling to move them underwater, they resorted to small welding hammers and furniture and ice picks.
Volunteers have removed 80% of the purple urchins from one section in Caspar’s Cove, Russo said. It is one of two places where California allows licensed recreational fishermen to catch an unlimited number of purple urchins.
But the crushing of urchins is not without controversy. Some fear it could spread hedgehog eggs, exacerbating the problem.
Russo has seen no evidence of that. Instead, he said, urchin density has decreased in the 100-by-100-yard (91-by-91-meter) section, where schools of juvenile rockfish churned this summer amid the towering kelp.
“This went from being a barren wasteland to being full of life again,” Russo said.
Scientists say nothing can replace natural predators, like the sunflower starfish.
After learning how to breed it in captivity, biologists are creating a population to reintroduce it. Sunflower starfish are found in four California aquariums, including the Birch Aquarium in San Diego, which spawned three in October.
At least four sunflower starfish were also spotted off the coast of Mendocino this year, which Elsmore said “is super exciting” since none have been seen there for years.
There is still a lot to learn. The algae have not returned in all urchin-free places and scientists don’t know why.
But the crush is helping to buy time to find permanent solutions.
Events run from April to September and attract people from all over Northern California.
On a Saturday in September, the volunteers included a paralegal, a factory worker, college students and a landscape contractor whose two Australian shepherds, “Swimmer” and “Breaker,” watched patiently from the beach. An artist collected the urchins to make purple dye for clothing.
Hollenback, the veterinarian, began participating in May 2022 after seeing the events on Facebook. He has beaten up to 82 urchins in the 50 seconds he can hold his breath. That day, the sea was too rough in Caspar Cove, so the group diverted to a neighboring bay in search of urchins.
“It may seem contradictory to kill animals when my job is to save them,” he said. “But this is helping to save the entire ecosystem.”
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