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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 26, 2019)
A6 THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2019 A destroyed kelp forest fi lled with an explosion of purple sea urchins is seen off the Oregon Coast near Port Orford. Scott Groth Sea urchins cause destruction on Oregon and California coasts ported a thriving commercial fi shery in both states. But 96% of red abalone have disap- peared from California’s northern coast as the number of purple sea urchins increased NEWPORT — Tens of millions of vora- six fold, according to a study released this cious purple sea urchins that have already week by the University of California, Davis. chomped their way through towering under- Last year, California closed its red aba- water kelp forests in California are spread- lone fi shery, which poured an estimated $44 ing north to Oregon, sending the delicate million into the coastal economy per year, marine ecosystem off the shore into such and Oregon suspended permits for its 300 disarray that other critical species are starv- abalone divers for three years. The commer- ing to death. cial harvest of red sea urchins in California A recent count found 350 million pur- and Oregon also has taken a massive hit. ple sea urchins on one Oregon reef alone — “That’s a huge economic loss for our more than a 10,000% increase since 2014. small coastal communities,” said Cynthia And in Northern California, 90% of the Catton, a research associate with the Uni- giant bull kelp forests have been devoured versity of California, Davis Bodega Marine by the urchins, perhaps never to return. Lab. “In California, there were 30,000 to Vast “urchin barrens” — stretches of 40,000 participants in (the abalone) fi shery denuded seafl oor dotted with nothing but every year for decades, and for the fi rst time hundreds of the spiny orbs — have spread ever that fi shery had to close.” to coastal Oregon, where kelp forests were And while the purple urchins have eaten once so thick it was impossible to navigate themselves into starvation as well, unlike some areas by boat. other kelp-dependent creatures, the species The underwater annihilation is killing can go into a dormant state, stop reproduc- off important fi sheries for red abalone and ing and live for years with no food. red sea urchins and creating such havoc that That means the only way to restore scientists in California are partnering with the kelp is to remove or destroy the pur- a private business to collect the over-abun- ple urchins. Scientists estimate that in Ore- dant purple urchins and “ranch” them in a gon alone, it would take 15 to 20 years to controlled environment for ultimate sale to remove all 100 million pounds of purple a global seafood market. urchins recently surveyed on just one large “We’re in uncharted territory,” said Scott reef. Groth, a shellfi sh scientist with the Ore- While urchins are in starvation mode, gon Department of Fish and Wildlife. “You the edible part — known as roe — shrivels, can’t just go out and smash them. There’s making them commercially worthless. too many. I don’t know what we can do.” Against this backdrop, conservationists, The explosion of pur- commercial urchin har- ple sea urchins is the lat- vesters, scientists and pri- THE EXPLOSION vate interests are com- est symptom of a Pacifi c Northwest marine ecosys- together with an OF PURPLE SEA ing tem that’s out of whack. unusual plan: Pay under- Kelp has been strug- employed red sea urchin URCHINS IS gling because of warm- divers to collect the shriv- THE LATEST er-than-usual waters in eled, but living, purple sea the Pacifi c Ocean. And, urchins and transfer them SYMPTOM OF in 2013, a mysterious dis- to carefully tended urchin ease began wiping out “ranches” to be fattened up A PACIFIC tens of millions of starfi sh, for sale to seafood markets NORTHWEST including a species called around the world. the sunfl ower sea star that One company, Urchi- MARINE is the only real predator nomics, is already work- ECOSYSTEM of the ultra-hardy purple ing on urchin ranching urchin. Around the same projects in Japan, Canada THAT’S OUT time, the purple urchins and California and sees had two excellent breeding a future where the over- OF WHACK. years — and with no pred- whelming demand for ators, those gametes grew wild urchin roe is replaced up and are now eating everything in sight. by a taste for human-raised purple urchins “You can imagine all of these small collected from the seafl oor, allowing kelp urchins growing up, each one of them look- forests to rebound. ing for food, desperate for food. They’re “We’re turning an ecological problem literally starving out there,” said Steven into an ecological opportunity and an eco- Rumrill, lead shellfi sh expert at Oregon’s nomic opportunity,” said Brian Takeda, the wildlife agency. “I’ve seen some big-scale Urchinomics CEO. “It’s the fi rst time we’ve fl uctuations in the populations of sea stars ever had an economic incentive to get these and urchins, but never on this magnitude.” destructive urchins out of the water.” Scientists are not yet sure if climate In Oregon, red urchin divers are a tiny change is responsible for the sea urchin artisanal collective, but they are also explor- explosion, but they suspect it plays a role ing ways to try to turn the glut of destruc- in the cascade of events that allowed the tive purple urchins to their advantage. Ore- purple urchins to boom. And kelp, already gon’s urchin fi shery had a boom year last under siege from warming waters, is not as year, when red urchins were scarce in Cal- resilient as it once was, said Norah Eddy, ifornia but before their purple cousins had an associate director at the Nature Conser- spread north. Now, they too are hurting. vancy in California’s oceans program. Rumrill, the shellfi sh expert from Ore- “We’re going to see climate change as a gon, supports efforts to harvest excess big driver of changes in kelp forest as we urchins but strikes a less optimistic note move forward, and we are already seeing when it comes to saving the kelp. that,” said Eddy, who is leading an effort “That’s a promising technique. But we to use drones to map and monitor Northern shouldn’t fool ourselves into thinking that California’s last remaining kelp forests. we’re going to solve this large-scale eco- The devastation is also economic: Until logical problem, this literal perfect storm now, red abalone and red sea urchins, a of events, by eating our way out,” he said. larger and meatier species of urchin, sup- “It’s just too big a problem.” By GILLIAN FLACCUS and TERENCE CHEA Associated Press Gillian Flaccus/AP Photo A purple sea urchin sits in a touch tank at the Hatfi eld Marine Science Center in Newport. Marine Corps Ball 2019 Saturday, November 9th, 2019 Daniel E. Crockett Detachment 1228 of the Marine Corps League Cordially invites you to the 244th Semi Formal Birthday Celebration of the United States Marine Corps to be held at: Astoria Golf and Country Club 33445 Sunset Beach Lane Warrenton, Oregon 1730 No host Cocktail hour 1830 LEO Ceremony 1900 Dinner served PLEASE RSVP NO LATER THAN NOVEMBER 2 ND NO TICKETS AT THE DOOR! Mike Allen 360-642-8947 Lou/Bev Neubeker 360-607-1349