I spent Sunday diving in the northern Channel Islands, specifically Anacapa and Santa Cruz. The weather didn’t cooperate: air temp in low 70’s, strong current, 5-6 foot surge, and one foot swells. Viz wasn’t too bad all things considered.

Most of my local diving is on Catalina and some of Santa Barbara Island - this was my first time on Anacapa and Cruz. It may be my last.

On Dive One I reached the reef at 25 feet and was greeted by thousands upon thousands of sea urchin with sea cucumber a moderate second. The number of urchin was so vast I was surprised to see any kelp growing. Staying off the reef became a concern with the surge and there was nary an empty space - urchin spines stuck out in every direction. Dives Two and Three were similar with a large crab, Spanish Shawl, sea hare, and treefish to make it slightly interesting. I could count the number of Garibaldi on two hands. No rays, no sharks. Not much else really.

I encountered similar urchin barrens while restoring kelp at Crystal Cove in Orange County. The lack of predatory species such as otter and Sheephead lets the urchin population grow unchecked. Contrary to what you’d think, this isn’t an urchin farmer’s jackpot because urchin aren’t tasty unless they’ve been feeding on kelp. It’s a Catch 22: too many urchin wipe out kelp; no kelp results in bland urchin and a disinterested urchin farmer. It gets worse. Without an adequate kelp forest about 900 species of fish and other critters lose their habitat; maybe they go elsewhere or get picked-off by other predators.

It was a disappointing day. If this is what the future holds as humans over-harvest the ocean, scuba diving in areas like this will only live in oral tradition.

Related posts:

• Reef Safe fish for your aquarium
• The truth behind sea otters in California
• Fight overfishing by eating the right fish
• Let’s see how the fishing industry gets out of this one
• LA Times reports kelp restoration project has mixed results

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