KZYX: Purple Urchins Unloved...By Most

Purple urchins were not getting a lot of love at the cove across Highway 1 from Van Damme State Park on Saturday morning. Urchins have an insatiable appetite for kelp and very few predators, which leads to a near-barren underwater landscape.

In the latest effort to reduce their population, 46 volunteer divers, from first-timers to pros, pried about half a ton of the ravenous herbivores off the ocean floor and sent them to a compost pile.