Helping the kelp return

Deirdre Newman

Newport Harbor High School freshman Natalie Draganza held the

skinny, slimy piece of kelp delicately as she dunked it in salt

water, cold fresh water and then salt water again. Then she wrapped

it in a paper towel to make a “kelp burrito” and plopped it in the

refrigerator, where it would stay for the next 24 hours.

This process is designed to make kelp reproduce. Draganza and 20

other freshmen in Scott Smith’s biology class are part of a larger,

community-wide effort to replenish the kelp forest in Crystal Cove

State Park.

“I think that, especially for our local population, who lives at

the beach, this is a real buy-in,” Smith said. “We did this last

spring, as well, and some students went to Crystal Cove and said, ‘I

saw our kelp growing.’ That’s pretty cool.”

Orange County has lost about 90% of its kelp, said Nancy Caruso of

Orange County Coastkeeper.

On Wednesday, Caruso came to Newport Harbor to lead students

through the kelp reproduction experience.

The process of dipping the kelp in saltwater, freshwater and then

saltwater helps clean off the parasites, called bryozoans, that live

and feed on the kelp. Putting the kelp in the cold of a refrigerator

overnight is designed to stress the kelp out, so when they are put

back in salt water the next day, they will release their spores.

“[Kelp] mate when they get stressed out because they think they’re

going to die,” Caruso said.

Then, the students poured the spores on tiles and put them in a

tank so they can grow. In about six weeks, the kelp will have grown

enough for the tiles to be deposited in the ocean, Caruso said.

Smith kept the atmosphere lighthearted as the students immersed

themselves in the kelp-cleaning process, referring to some of the

students as the “Duke and Duchess of Kelpington.”

Many of the students said they thought participating in the

process was educational and fun.

“It’s like nothing I’ve ever done before,” Kelly Kaban, 14, said.

“It’s a good learning experience too because how many times do you

get to reproduce kelp?”

* IN THE CLASSROOM is a weekly feature in which Daily Pilot

education writer Deirdre Newman visits a campus in the Newport-Mesa

area and writes about her experience.