Laugan Miller
Jim Spickard
Research Methods
2/10/19
A Plague Of Delicious Purple Urchins Is Taking Over The California Coast And It’s Our Duty To Eat Them
A newer solution to the increased sea urchin populations is to use the often looked down upon even larger hungry population of humans ready to jump on new trends. In just the past four years 90 percent of the coastal kelp in San Francisco to Oregon has been removed mainly due to the 6,000 percent increase in purple sea urchins. Last year the CDFW stopped recreational abalone fishing due to the lack of kelp forests leaving no food for the abalone and causing a dive in population number. This method of using the sea urchins as a source of food for humans was able to reduce many sea urchin barrens that had been around for a long time in the late 19th century. Purple urchins are small and only get to around 3 or 4 inches but what they hold on the inside can be used in many different ways. I think this article is amazing because it really shows that more people than just scientists can combat environmental problems and in so many unique ways. In addition, the demand for hunting and collecting will hopefully result in availability of jobs. To take this farther I would look at how many restaurants are putting sea urchins into their menus and people’s responses.
Bouzari, Ali. “A Plague of Delicious Purple Urchins Is Taking Over the California Coast and It’s Our Duty to Eat Them.” SAVEUR, www.saveur.com/sea-urchins-in-mendocino#page-8.