Kelp Restoration Project

Giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) is a type of brown algae that grows on rocky reefs in ocean waters less than eighty feet deep. The giant kelp beds off of Southern California are one of the most diverse biological communities known to exist in our world's oceans. Approximately 800 species of marine organisms depend on the kelp forests at some point in their life history.

Giant kelp was once more abundant along the California coast, but historic kelp beds in Southern California have been reduced by over 80 percent over the past 100 years. Though natural disturbances, such as heavy storms and El Nino events, have taken their toll, the kelp beds have not been able to recover due to human impacts from stormwater and other pollution, sedimentation from coastal development, and over-fishing of the predators that balance out kelp-grazing sea urchins.

 

CCKA launched the Southern California Kelp Restoration Project in September 2001 in partnership with five of the Southern California Waterkeepers (Santa Barbara Channelkeeper, Santa Monica Baykeeper, Orange County Coastkeeper (2001-2005) and San Diego Coastkeeper and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Additional support came from government agencies including the California Coastal Conservancy, private foundations, businesses and individuals. The Kelp Project had two main goals: to re-establish historic kelp beds along the Southern California coast and to educate the public about the importance of kelp forests to California's marine ecosystems. CCKA finished the Kelp Project in 2007 click here to download the final report. The Kelp Project demonstrates that success can be achieved through cooperative marine management. CCKA and its member Waterkeepers will continue to share our expertise in marine habitat restoration with other efforts to protect California’s magnificent ocean and coastal ecosystems including the Marine Life Protection Act.

Re-Establishing Kelp Beds

CCKA and participating Waterkeepers leveraged our experience with that of hundreds of volunteers in the community to restore California’s historic kelp forests and educate the next generation of ocean stewards. Project biologists and volunteer divers from local communities researched the sites of historic kelp beds, identified restoration methods and sites that hold the highest promise of success, grew and planted kelp at identified sites, and monitored the results. A Technical Advisory Committee comprised of experts in marine biology and kelp ecology assisted in developing a monitoring and restoration plan for the Project.

Through the Kelp Project we restored 18,500 square meters of kelp and trained and involved hundreds of volunteer divers. Volunteers and project biologists saw up to 100-fold increases in fish density and as much as a 20% increase in fish diversity in the restored areas within just a few years.

Education & Public Outreach

Education was vital to the success of the Kelp Project. Project biologists conducted “Kelp in the Classroom” education programs, which gave students hands-on experience of growing kelp in their classroom while learning about the marine environment. We directly educated over 14,000 students in hundreds of Southern California classrooms, and reached an additional 700,000 students through educational posters and kelp science curriculum.

Throughout Southern California we conducted outreach to over one million community members through public events, beach clean-ups, educational tv programs, local aquariums, and articles in magazines and newspapers.

The Work Continues

Although CCKA's Southern California Giant Kelp Restoration Project activities ended in 2007, Santa Monica Baykeeper and the Aquarium of the Pacific will continue kelp restoration efforts.

 

 

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