Since I’ve featured episodes about abalone for the past two weeks, I thought it was about time to look at another edible marine creature living off the coast of California! It’s actually quite interesting to compare the recent histories of the abalone and the sea urchin; while the public’s taste for abalone exploded decades ago and led to its near exinction, the sea urchin population has threatened to overwhelm the ocean’s kelp forests. The answer may be that we need to eat more sea urchin (uni).

Sea urchin fragments on the bluffs, Point Arena

Huell goes to sea on an urchin diving adventure off the Channel Islands.
Huell joins the crew of the fishing boat “Janice Anne” as they travel to the waters off the Channel Islands to go Urchin diving. Urchins are big business in California and some call them “Blue Water Gold”. We finish the show at Piranha, a popular sushi restaurant in Santa Barbara, for an urchin feast.

(Click on the linked image below to see the video.)