Chuck Darwin<p>A new project is underway to restore <a href="https://c.im/tags/kelp" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>kelp</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/forests" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>forests</span></a> in the <a href="https://c.im/tags/Santa" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Santa</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Barbara" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Barbara</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Channel" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Channel</span></a> -- by removing sea urchins and selling them to restaurants or turning them into agricultural products. </p><p>“It’s really been decades in the making,” said Kim Selkoe, executive director of Commercial Fishermen of Santa Barbara, <br>co-founder of Get Hooked Seafood, and research scientist at UCSB.</p><p> “It’s really been the commercial sea urchin diving community that has noticed so much kelp decline out of the Channel Islands.”</p><p>Selkoe said that there used to be a vibrant kelp forest on the backside of San Miguel Island, <br>but starting in the 1980s warmer waters from El Niño storms caused the kelp to die off. <br>Purple urchins then started taking over and feeding on the remaining kelp.</p><p>“We’ve gone from like this rich three-dimensional forest filled with fish and snails and invertebrates and other algae, down to this carpeted urchin where nothing can grow; <br>and as soon as the little spores land and start to try to grow again, they just mow them down,” Selkoe said. </p><p>However, when urchins are removed, kelp is able to grow back fairly easily, according to Selkoe<br><a href="https://www.noozhawk.com/kelp-restoration-project-to-begin-in-santa-barbara-this-spring/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">noozhawk.com/kelp-restoration-</span><span class="invisible">project-to-begin-in-santa-barbara-this-spring/</span></a></p>