SeaTrees Is Making Waves This Fall
Restoring California’s Underwater Forest
As you know, our mission at SeaTrees is to turn the time on climate change by planting, protecting, and restoring blue carbon coastal ecosystems around the world. The way we make this vision a reality is by ensuring that each and every one of our projects has the means and support to be as successful as possible. This is why we partner with incredible organizations that specialize in bringing back these critical ecosystems - all integral to keeping our ocean planet healthy.
One example of a project that has taken leaps and bounds in turning the tide on climate change is our kelp restoration project at Tankers Reef in Monterey, CA, in partnership with Reef Check Foundation and Giant Giant Kelp Restoration Project. This project supports local “citizen scientists” to restore a one-hectare plot of Giant Kelp forest.
“At a site called Tankers Reef in Monterey, right near to the tourist shops and restaurants at the Old Fisherman’s Wharf, the kelp forest rebounded after volunteer divers culled over a half million sea urchins since the spring of 2021. The underwater zone slowly transformed from a so-called urchin barren, areas where the spiky purple creatures eat any remaining kelp, back to a leafy forest full of life.”
So it's great to see the monumental strides this kelp forest restoration project has taken in bringing back the sequoias of the sea. However, the success of this project doesn't come without long hours, hard work, and amazing volunteers.
Reef Check and Giant Giant Kelp Restoration Project have taken volunteers on over 1,070 dives and spent 800 hours culling urchins to allow for the kelp forest to grow back stronger and healthier than ever.
“I couldn’t be prouder of all the work we’ve done,” said [Keith Rootsaert, founder of Giant Giant Kelp Restoration]. “It’s about ocean stewardship. It’s about bringing volunteers that love the ocean, that want to protect the ocean and giving them a way to do what they can, before they can’t.”
Safe to say we’re #kelpstatic about the progress of this project and grateful for all your support in helping the kelp!
If you want to get involved in supporting this project too, surf over to our website to score yourself a handy mug (with art from The Single Fin Theory) that supports the required monitoring and reporting for the #TankersReef project.
Get Inked to Save California's Kelp Forests
We hope these kelp tattoos help raise awareness for kelp forests everywhere. We’ve lost on average 90% of our kelp in northern and southern CA, but kelp forests around the world are in jeopardy too.
