A number of divers are currently being trained to reduce the population of Purple Urchins that are decimating the Kelp Forests off the coast of California. Since 2013, when the Sunflower Sea Stars (that feed on the Purple Urchins), started suffering a wasting disease that ‘s been killing them, the number of purple urchins has bloomed. In fact, the number of those urchins has doubled since 2019. That’s not only bad for the Kelp Forests, but for all the marine life that live in and around the Kelp Forests….such as the endangered Southern Sea Otter.
The kelp, which can remove sever al times more carbon greenhouse gas than trees can, is like an underwater rainforest (which has several tiers and a canopy, providing food and shelter for the animals of the coastline ecosystem).
Kelp also dampens wave action, which then decreases coastal erosion.
