Restoration is bringing back the kelp

Andrew Edwards

Kelp, also known as seaweed, is in McDonald’s apple pies, Sara Lee

frozen desserts and Corona beer. The trouble is, environmentalists

said, is that it’s not in the ocean.

“Over the last couple of decades [kelp has] kind of disappeared,”

diver Pat Welch said. “Because of El Nino and a lot of the building

that’s gone on inland, and pollution that comes down.”

Urban runoff and storms aren’t the only problems for kelp. Sea

urchins are also to blame, said marine biologist Nancy Caruso of the

Orange County Coastkeeper. The spiny invertebrates love to munch on

kelp, and the predators that feast on urchins, lobsters and

sheepshead fish, often end up on dinner plates, leaving a high number

of urchins on the ocean floor near Laguna.

“You have a huge population of purple sea urchins,” Caruso said.

A team of volunteer divers working with the Orange County

Coastkeeper under Caruso has spent three years working to reforest

California’s coast from San Diego to Santa Barbara in hopes that

California’s underwater realms will teem with healthy marine life.

“Over 800 different species live in kelp forests, it’s one of the

most important ecosystems in the world,” Caruso said.

This is the first year reforesting efforts will target the waters

off Laguna Beach, Caruso said. On July 30, divers worked in the

waters near the Surf and Sand Hotel, after a busy day spent under the

sea around Heisler Park on July 27.

The divers started out on Friday by loading a large icebox full of

kelp spores onto a donated patrol boat in Newport Bay. The brown,

mossy-looking spores are attached to small tiles that the divers

attach to rocky reefs using biodegradable rubber bands. Preparation

work includes making sure the reef offers good potential for growth

and relocating any hungry sea urchins.

“You put your urchins in a big burlap bag ... and take the urchins

away from the reef,” diver Ron Pedley said.

Kelp is the fastest growing marine plant Caruso said and can grow

two feet in one day. Volunteers have already seen the fruits of their

labor growing near Crystal Cove and other coastal areas.

“They’re all up to the surf, they’re 30-feet tall and they’re

reproducing on their own now,” Caruso said.

Volunteer diver David Stewart said he has ventured under the sea

when Laguna’s waters were thick with kelp forests and is glad to see

the plants return.

“It’s kind of nice to see the kelp come back, because I’ve been

diving in Laguna Beach since 1974 and I can remember the kelp,” he

said.