Small sections of the kelp forests off the Mendocino coast are starting to recover with improved environmental conditions, thanks to a conservation program which sent divers to remove 45,000 pounds of purple sea urchins.

The urchins have devastated the once massive bull kelp forests, leaving a lifeless barren behind.

Dan Abbott, kelp forest program director for the Reef Check Foundation, said it is the first large-scale kelp-restoration project of its kind in northern California.

"It's not back to where it was, say pre-2015," Abbott acknowledged. "It's still only about 20% of the historical average. But again, it's only like a year and a half in. And it's a very encouraging result."

The purple sea-urchin population has exploded in the last eight years or so, partially because a wasting disease has decimated their chief predator, the sea star. In addition, the area has no sea otters to keep the urchins in check, because the otters were hunted to extinction in the early 1900s.

Sheila Semans, director of the Noyo Center for Marine Science in Fort Bragg, said the kelp forests there have recovered 5 to 10 percent - and serve as crucial habitat for hundreds of species.

"The sea lions hunt in it, the abalone eat it, the rockfish hide in it," Semans outlined. "There's just so many ecosystem services that it provides. On top of that, it sequesters carbon, and it buffers wave action along the coast."

The Noyo Center also is working to create a new fishery for purple urchins, which can be fattened up in an aquaculture facility and sold. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife said it plans to develop a comprehensive statewide Kelp Recovery and Management Plan over the next five to 10 years.

Support for this reporting was provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Massive mile-long gillnets weighted to the seafloor three miles off the California coast are set to catch halibut or sea bass - but end up entangling more than 125 species of marine life - according to a new report from Oceana and the Turtle Island Restoration Network. The California Fish and Game Commission meets tomorrow and Thursday to discuss whether the bycatch is at acceptable levels.

Caitlynn Birch, Pacific marine scientist for Oceana, said 64% of the animals caught in this are thrown back to sea.

"This high rate of bycatch raises concerns over the fishery's wastefulness and impacts on California's marine biodiversity," she said. "However, fishery managers have not been tracking how much fishing effort is occurring in the set gillnet fishery, so we don't actually know the true toll on wildlife."

The analysis found that the set gillnets are ensnaring sharks, skates, rays, endangered whales, sea lions and many species of commercial and recreational fish, including damaged and undersized California halibut, rock crab, sand bass and lingcod.

29 fishing boats currently hold permits to fish three miles offshore, and reducing the number of fishing permits would be one sure way to reduce gillnet bycatch, she said.

"California voters and fishery managers have taken action in the past to ban this non-selective gear in near-shore waters, which has resulted in major rebounds of vulnerable fish and marine mammal populations," Birch said. "So, we do know that removing these nets has a positive impact on many vulnerable species in California."

The Fish and Game Commission has a toolkit of options to reduce bycatch - but is still deciding whether action is warranted in this fishery.


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Florida's newest aquatic preserve is officially set to move forward, with a management plan aimed at protecting some 350,000 acres of sea grass.

The Nature Coast Aquatic Preserve off Florida's west coast is the first new preserve to be designated in more than 30 years, and part of the largest sea grass bed in the Gulf of Mexico. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has approved a plan to protect the 700 square miles of coastal habitat along Citrus, Hernando and Pasco counties.

William Toney, a fishing guide in Homosassa, said he is not a political person, but spent years attending meetings to fight for his livelihood, and the health of the Gulf.

"It really meant a lot to me, and to the people in our communities here," Toney emphasized. "Especially us that make a living on the water, you know, we need that protection of our sea grass, for all our fish and crabs and shrimp."

Toney pointed out economies of the towns connected to the preserve are mostly driven by tourism and fishing. The state management plan calls for routine water quality testing, restoring damaged sea grass and encouraging community groups to work together. The preserve is now the 42nd in the Florida system.

The areas encompassing the preserve are home to mangrove islands, salt marshes, oysters, sponges, corals and more, and the plan still allows for recreational activities, like boating, fishing and scalloping.

Joy Hazell, extension agent for the University of Florida/IFAS Extension, said locals saw the need to protect their own.

"The community went to the state government and said, 'We want to protect this,' " Hazell explained. "When you have those community-driven resource protections, you just have a stronger agreement between the people who use the resource and the people who are in charge of managing the resource."

Community members cited increasing threats from pollution as part of their concerns. Recent bouts of red tide and other harmful algae blooms, fueled by farm and fertilizer runoff, dominated headlines, taking a toll on marine life and tourism businesses.


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Marine-conservation groups are celebrating after the U.S. House passed the America COMPETES Act on Friday.

The bill primarily boosts semiconductor production in the U.S. but a lesser-known provision would phase out an older type of fishing gear called drift gill nets in federal waters, something environmental groups have sought for decades.

Ben Enticknap is Pacific campaign manager and senior scientist at the nonprofit Oceana. He said the mile-long, nearly invisible gill nets are incredibly dangerous for marine life.

"They are set at night in the epicenter of ocean wildlife off the coast of southern California to catch swordfish," said Enticknap. "But they also catch whales, dolphins, sea turtles, sharks and many, many other animals."

The state of California already is phasing out its state drift gillnet permit program, which offers fishing crews cash to turn in their nets and permits, and helps them buy a new, safer type of gear called deep-set buoy gear.

All but four fishing boat captains in Southern California have begun the transition - and those four will have to follow if the bill becomes law.

Opponents of the bill, referring primarily to its provisions on manufacturing, say it is not tough enough on China.

Enticknap noted that it also would ban the sale of shark fins in the United States.

"We've already prohibited shark fins in California and Oregon and Washington," said Enticknap. "And this kind of takes that same approach that's already been passed by a number of states and makes it national."

A version of the COMPETES Act already has passed the U.S. Senate. Now the two have to be reconciled and passed again in both chambers before the final version can go to President Joe Biden's desk.