Tanker's Reef Kelp Restoration Project

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>

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.

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