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Tanker's Reef Kelp Restoration Project

The Fish and Game Commission unanimously granted permission to cull urchins at Tanker's Reef in Monterey!


To learn more about the Tanker's Reef Kelp Restoration Project, view this webinar from Mar. 8, 2021. 


Divers are needed for kelp restoration in Monterey!

  • Register as a volunteer diver
  • Donate to the project
  • Sign up for our newsletter to stay informed


180 divers have registered (as of 4/20)


Diver Portals:

Trained Diver Grid or Orange Buoy Assignment 

Data Reporting


Untrained Diver Gray Buoy Assignment Portal

Data Reporting

The Instruction of Instructors will be held April 25 and 26 in Monterey.  PADI and NAUI Dive Instructors are needed to teach divers how to do this activity safely, effectively, and in a way that minimizes by-catch and benthic disturbances.  If interested contact keith@g2kr.com


Reef Check and our Interagency partners will monitor  urchin suppression efforts to inform marine resource managers to determine if recreational divers can be a useful means of kelp restoration and be scaled up into other areas.


The G2KR Project is voluntary.  We ask that you cull urchins in cooperation with other volunteers and report data through an online portal.  The best way to do this work is to be properly trained by dive certification agencies.

Why do we have an Urchin Crisis in Monterey?

Stunning new video by Coriolis Films about G2KR

Stunning new video by Coriolis Films about G2KR

Sea urchins have already eaten much of the Kelp Forest of Monterey Peninsula and beyond. Why are there so many urchins? Sea stars are major predators of urchins. Beginning in 2013, Sea Star Wasting Disease caused a massive die-off of sea stars on the west coast. From 2014-16, an exceptionally warm water blob hugged the west coast, inhibiting kelp growth. Purple urchin populations exploded to up to five hundred times their normal numbers. They quickly ate all of their normal diet of seaweed scraps, and began to attack living kelp. 

Learn more about the urchin crisis>

Stunning new video by Coriolis Films about G2KR

Stunning new video by Coriolis Films about G2KR

Stunning new video by Coriolis Films about G2KR

This beautifully crafted, 12 minute video was generously created by Coriolis Films for the Giant Giant Kelp Restoration Project. It explains the root causes of the Monterey Bay sea urchin explosion and what our project is doing to remove urchins and restore kelp forests.

Watch for a feature-length documentary on the plight of kelp forests by Coriolis Films in the coming months.

Stunning new video by Coriolis Films about G2KR

Tanker's Reef Kelp Restoration Petition is law!


Sportfishing rules were amended April 1 to allow recreational divers with a California fishing license to cull with hammers an unlimited number of purple and red urchins at Tanker's Reef in Monterey.  


Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the California Ocean Protection Council, and Reef Check California have partnered with the diving community in a scientific/fishing project to determine if recreational divers culling urchins would be an effective means of suppressing urchins, restoring kelp forests, and providing habitat for the southern sea otter. 


Register as a volunteer diver

The Giant Giant Kelp Restoration Project

New video now trending on social media

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Resources

Urchin Crisis Videos

Help Save Kelp - New!

Underwater photographer and author Marc Shargel explains why keeping kelp forests healthy is important for Monterey's economy and environment. April 2020


Why are sea urchins destroying Monterey's Kelp Forest Ecosystem?

By Keith Rootsaert for the Monterey Shootout 2019

Keith Rootsaert Petition 2020-001 Presentations

Deep Discussion: Monterey Urchin Crisis with Keith Rootsaert - New! Presented on June 1, 2020 for Blue Endeavors, this 1:24 min. webinar includes details on the politics involved in  getting Petition 2020 passed by the California Fish and Game Commission. 

Keith Rootsaert Petition 2020-001 Presentations

Deep Discussion: Monterey Urchin Crisis with Keith Rootsaert - New! Presented on June 1, 2020 for Blue Endeavors, this 1:24 min. webinar in


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