Hello Lovely Peeps! 
Just popping in to make sure you knew about the #kelp forest #LiveCam at the #MontereyBayAquarium !
The camera shifts position occasionally; sometimes you get the 'big picture', sometimes a closeup of a relatively small section, but it's all quite relaxing. 
Enjoy!
Monterey Bay FC was brave to launch a new mascot, call it Kelpie, which looks like an off brand Gritty, and nothing like kelp.
I know a bunch of marine scientists who are annoyed about this
Sea otters help kelp forests recover—but how fast depends on where they are
https://phys.org/news/2025-03-sea-otters-kelp-forests-recover.html
"When sea otters were reintroduced along the coastlines of islands in Southern California and British Columbia, researchers saw kelp forests return to areas that were destroyed by sea urchins. But how slow or fast they grew back depended on the location—and until now, scientists didn't understand why".
#seaurchins #otters #kelp #forests
https://phys.org/news/2025-03-sea-otters-kelp-forests-recover.html
The world’s kelp needs help — less than 2% is highly protected https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/the-worlds-kelp-needs-help-less-than-2-is-highly-protected/
A new project is underway to restore #kelp #forests in the #Santa #Barbara #Channel -- by removing sea urchins and selling them to restaurants or turning them into agricultural products.
“It’s really been decades in the making,” said Kim Selkoe, executive director of Commercial Fishermen of Santa Barbara,
co-founder of Get Hooked Seafood, and research scientist at UCSB.
“It’s really been the commercial sea urchin diving community that has noticed so much kelp decline out of the Channel Islands.”
Selkoe said that there used to be a vibrant kelp forest on the backside of San Miguel Island,
but starting in the 1980s warmer waters from El Niño storms caused the kelp to die off.
Purple urchins then started taking over and feeding on the remaining kelp.
“We’ve gone from like this rich three-dimensional forest filled with fish and snails and invertebrates and other algae, down to this carpeted urchin where nothing can grow;
and as soon as the little spores land and start to try to grow again, they just mow them down,” Selkoe said.
However, when urchins are removed, kelp is able to grow back fairly easily, according to Selkoe
https://www.noozhawk.com/kelp-restoration-project-to-begin-in-santa-barbara-this-spring/
