Researchers Call for 14 Billion Dollar Investment to Protect Kelp Forests

Kelp forests play a vital role in maintaining the ocean environment, providing food and safety for creatures that live in their depths. But despite taking up 1/3 of the world’s coastlines, these important ecosystems are in danger. Researchers are now calling for a US $14 billion investment to protect and restore four million hectares of kelp forest by 2040.

Dr Aaron Eger with Crayweed. Provided, Aaron Eger.

Founder and program director for the Kelp Forest Alliance and University of New South Wales postdoctoral research fellow, Dr Aaron Eger, joins us on the program to talk all things kelp. To him, kelp is “the fabric of our cold-water oceans.” Unfortunately, Dr Eger says, there’s a lack of policy around helping kelp – which is how the Kelp Forest Alliance was born.

Kelp forests primary grow in cold water oceans, where they act not just as a source of food, but also as a carbon sink and oxygen producer. Warming oceans threaten their livelihood, which in turn impacts not just underwater environments, but also marine-based industries that rely on kelp, either through sourcing the seaweed directly or through fishing for marine life that lives in the dense kelp forests.

“Two thirds of Australians live next to a kelp forest and some of our biggest, most important fisheries are very dependent on kelp,” Dr Eger says. “So there’s a strong business case to be made for reaching not just the financial target, but the area-based target.”

For anyone interested in learning more, visit the Kelp Forest Alliance.

Images provided by Aaron Eger and used with permission.