noaa's greater farallon's national
marine sanctuary protects one of the
world's most diverse and bountiful
marine ecosystems
along the sanctuary's coast bull kelp
creates vast underwater forests
sustaining an incredible abundance and
variety of marine life
this vibrant ecosystem fuels coastal
economies
and activities like fishing wildlife
viewing and recreation
as well as culturally important
practices and resources
but in just a few short years more than
90 percent of the kelp forests in
northern california have disappeared
causing devastating ecological and
economic impacts
what we've seen over the years
particularly in 2014-15 and 16
was a massive marine heat wave
the heat wave was happening
after we had a die off of all of our sea
stars which are important predators
so we had these multiple stressors in
the kelp forest
it'd be like if i went and i walked out
in the forest and there weren't trees
so instead of looking around and seeing
happy deer and hearing birds
it's just gone so it's the same as
underwater instead of seeing the fish in
every hole
and the schools of blues up in the top
of the kelp
it's just purple urchins everywhere
in 2018 a team of scientists managers
and resource users teamed up to create a
bulk help recovery plan that outlines
specific
research monitoring restoration and
community engagement strategies
to address the severe kelp loss off
california's sonoma and mendocino
counties
because we knew it's vitally important
if we're going to create a solution
that everyone has to come together and
be involved both from an agency
perspective
at the state and federal level but also
from local businesses
and local tribes people who know so much
about our coast
and who offer valuable perspective so
that we make sure
we're finding the right solutions now
we're working together to better
understand kelp loss
and reduce stressors to help kelp
forests recover more quickly
and endure long-term threats like
climate change
we have a network of partners called
the kelp ecosystem and landscape
partnership
for research on resilience or helper
for short and it includes
folks that are stakeholders we have
researchers
we have members of the community we have
non-profits we have for-profits
and really it's a way of looking at the
comprehensive picture
and how we can bring together different
groups to address kelp loss
the kelp recovery program is working
with partners to restore kelp forest
we're mapping kelp canopy with drones to
monitor the health and recovery of bulk
kelp forests
we're working with business ventures
that are developing markets for purple
urchins
an industry that would employ commercial
divers to collect urchins from barrens
and culture them as a quality seafood
product
we're also actively investigating other
restoration methods
such as out planning we're all
underfunded we're all undermanned
and so one of the things that we
recognize early on
to manage and monitor such a large ocean
area as partnerships and collaborations
are key
there's no single path to recovery but
through a foundation of partnerships
we've identified multiple actions to
protect and restore kelp forests
so they continue to sustain marine
ecosystems and coastal economies
for years to come i'm a second
generation california urchin diver my
dad's been doing it since 1980.
he left southern california to come up
here for the whole gold rush of urchins
and
you know it's been a great life growing
up and i'm raising my kids now and
buying a home in the area and
i'd like to be able to stay here and
keep doing that i find that really
amazing and inspiring
just to see everyone working together
and really
you know having that level of commitment
is awesome
so i have a lot of hope for kelp
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recovery
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