Saving the Kelp in Puget Sound

Flymph said:
"Seems like the simplest answer is to remove the humans, and that isn't happening." I take it, you don't watch the news?
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Human life removal happens every day in the Portland metro area, Oregon.
 
In California the purple sea urchin population began growing exponentially, diminishing the kelp beds they feed on, when their primary predator the sunflower sea star was decimated by a bacteria that is being nourished by rising sea temperatures. When the sea star population was vibrant, the urchins would hide in crevices and dart out to eat. Now they hang on stalks of kelp like apples on a tree.
8 billion folks on a shrinking rock tends to really f'up any balance in nature that existed before.
 
JudyM said:
Human life removal happens every day in the Portland metro area, Oregon.
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Jackson, Mississippi, Burmingham, Ala, St. Louis, Mo, and Memphis, TN remove considerably more. It's hard to blame Otters when behavior like this comes from the so-called highest form of life on the planet.
 
SurfnFish I agree with you completely. And I would like to add.... Long before the Sea Star Wasting Disease,,, Purple urchins were part of the "equation". "Urchin barrens" are mostly (but not always) comprised of "purps". The "roe" or gonads of a purp is an extreme delicacy. Unfortunately the purps in the barrens have almost no roe, due to lack of food. Even the well fed purps, with lots of roe, are too labor intensive to compete with the "reds" and "greens".
 
I would like to add.....Apparently, a starfish eats very small critters. Instead of thinking about a starfish eating an urchin 2 inches in diameter, think about him eating thousands of tiny Purple Urchins constantly. That line of thought gives a perspective worthy of consideration, IMHO.
 
I'd like to address the little known "White Urchin" in this thread . About four decades ago, some of the sea floor in California was covered by these creatures,,, making many of the reefs appear as if they were covered in snow. And then, for some reason, they simply vanished. Very few people have seen this...none of them have been "peer reviewed".
 
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