How to Help

The Tanker's Reef Kelp Restoration project begins in May!

The Fish & Game Commission amended regulations to allow recreational divers to cull an unlimited amount of purple and red urchins at Tanker's Reef in Monterey. This amendment became effective April 1, 2021 and will sunset in 3 years. 

The Lovers Point, Pacific Grove Urchin Experiment continues into a third year and divers are needed to help Moss Landing masters student Mina Satari further determine limitations in kelp recovery. If you are interested in helping with the experiment please contactmsattari@mlml.calstate.edu or dabbott@reefcheck.org to see how you can help with in-water or out-of-water efforts. Find out more about the Reef Check Urchin Removal Experiment.

Monitoring by Reef Check trained divers helps scientists understand changes to our kelp forest ecosystems.  

Training for new Reef Check divers had to be canceled last year because of Covid 19. Reef Check registration usually begins in early February.  Learn more about this amazing opportunity at Reef Check California. 

You can also join the Reef Check community on facebook.

Because Reef Check California is a non-profit volunteer organization all of the data is available on the Reef Check Global tracker to the public for free.  The data from the Reef Check Urchin removal experiment is publicly available as well.  Students and educators who would like access to the experimental data please contact me.  

At right is a camera rig designed and built by 8th grade science fair student Faye Lin from Fremont California.  Faye wanted to study urchin movements in time lapse to see how they would behave when they are in contact with kelp and how they migrate over the sand to get to the kelp.  Faye's current version of her timelapse rig features 4 cameras and is able to run for up to 24 hours taking high resolution 4k images.