“The customary thing to do when you open one of these is just to drink the juice, kind of do a shot,” says Portland, Oregon-based chef Jacob Harth, as he slurps the juice from a purple sea urchin that he just plucked out of the water. “Amazing. Just a total umami blast, so much flavor.”

As Harth wades into the waters of Port Orford right off the Oregon coast, he discusses the complex economical, environmental, and ecological issues around the