Searchin’ for urchin: SoCal divers face warming waters that drive urchins to deep waters | USA TODAY

For more than 30 years, Matt Pressly has been diving off the coast of California for sea urchins, sold in sushi restaurants as a delicacy called “uni.”

In that time, he’s seen urchins move to deeper water in search of the kelp they feed off ‒ kelp that, in many cases, no longer grows as it used to. Scientists say hotter water is rapidly changing the ecosystems of California coastal areas. Among the changes: less kelp in shallower areas.

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USA TODAY has partnered with the Pulitzer Center to document how warmer oceans, heavier rains and shifting deep-sea currents affect all four corners of the nation: Maine, Florida, Southern California and Alaska. Journalists traveled aboard fishing boats and talked with the people who depend on the sea for their livelihood — people familiar with the ocean’s rhythms, now confronted with rapid, confounding and at times catastrophic changes.

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