P.U.R.P. South

A Purple Urchin Removal Pilot Project

Led by

Commercial Fishermen of Santa Barbara (CFSB)

Updated February 2026

Kim Selkoe, Ph.D.

Executive Director, CFSB

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Data Analysis and Plots by:

Conner Jainese, UCSB

Our Team

CFSB – Kim Selkoe, Chris Voss & Ava Schulenberg

Urchin Divers - Jonny Woodcock, Trent Petersen, Jeff Maassen, Harry Liquornik + support from Grant Downie

TNC – Tristin McHugh, Nora Eddy & Ben Grimes

Bay Foundation – Tom Ford & Heather Burdick

UCSB – Jenn Caselle, Ph.D., Conner Jainese & PISCO divers

Get Hooked Seafood / Marino Soil Foods – Kim Selkoe & Victoria Voss

The Cultured Abalone - Devin Spencer & Sadie Calhoun

SB City College – Michelle Paddack, Ph.D. & Interns Elliot Murray, Tim Wardlaw & Ana Sanchez, SBCC

Blue Oceans Productions - Jim Knowlton

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Our Objectives for this 1-acre pilot project

Funded by Eric and Wendy Schmidt for 24 months, 2025 – 2026

Our Approach & Permits

Our Purple Urchin Removal Project Goals

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Our site: �Tyler Bight, San Miguel Island

A consensus-based choice by the team

• Highly-valued fishing grounds
• Ranked high in Giraldo-Ospina et al. (2025). A site selection decision framework for effective kelp restoration ->
• Sheltered, shallow
• Existing kelp beds nearby
• If we can do it here, we can do it anywhere!

Reasons for kelp decline

• Warm Blob + Seastar die off
• Fewer sheephead & lobsters at San Miguel generally due to lower temps

Near zero kelp from 2018-2023

Study Site

Q2 2025

Q2 2013

Control Site

KelpWatch imagery

Underwater Survey Design

• All quads (N = 40)
• Purple urchin abundance (adult, recruit)
• Red urchin abundance (adult, recruit)
• Macrocystis abundance (adult, juv)
• Understory algae abundance
• Relief measurement (to 5 cm)

• Subset (N = 16)
• Size purple urchin (nearest cm)
• Size red urchin (nearest cm)

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Leg length = 25m (x4)

Urchin and Algae counted and sized in quadrats

1-acre study site

Harvest �Stats: 

• COST –
• $1500 per day
• $0.75 per urchin
• $9.25 per pound
• TIME – 21 diver days (4 hr/day) 
• MEAN SIZE – 13 grams

& 37 mm diameter

• RATE –
• 48 lb per hr
• 587 urchin per hr

3,000 lbs

of purples

Divers made multi-day trips, often combined with red harvest days, to maximize their gain.

June: 1,100 lbs (37%)

Sept: 1,900 lbs (63%)

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Divers mapped their daily harvest area

Supply Chain �R&D

• Great amino acid profile, high in Calcium
• In farm trials now (mixed with wool)
• Research on marketing and scaling in progress

Mean size at our site

Ranch-able sizes

All harvested urchin dried and powdered

Results: Urchin Response

Results: Algal Response

Drone Flight Data, Oct. 2025

Updated Results, as of late January

Purple Urchin Harvest

Purple Urchin Harvest

Purple Urchin Harvest

May Sept. Oct. Jan. Jan.

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May Sept. Oct. Jan. Jan.

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May Sept. Oct. Jan. Jan.

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1-acre Control Site

Purple Urchin Density

Total Algae Count

Red Urchin Density

1-acre Study Site

2025

2026

2025

2026

2025

2026

Urchin and Kelp Counts

Control Site (After) Study Site (Before) Study Site (After)

Purple Urchin

Kelp

A few challenges

• Took 3 trips out to find a good 1-acre study site, which was slow and costly
• Installing site markers (required a permit) would speed up the harvest work
• CDFW reg changes mid-summer made underwater filming of harvesting difficult
• Unsure if kelp response was caused by urchin removals or just dumb luck!

Three harvesters at the study site in June

Next Steps

• Continue monitoring our 2 sites
• Continue supply chain R&D
• Finish our short film
• Design larger scale program
• Incorporate defensive harvest strategy?
• Continue fundraising

Next Steps

Thank You!

Kim@CFSB.info

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More photos

Harvesting

Starting densities

Restored Kelp in front of existing kelp bed

Restored Kelp at our site

Baby Kelps

Abalones

Ready for haul out

Ready for offload