“The need to meet this reforestation challenge is urgent,” said Karen Filbee-Dexter, a research fellow in marine ecology at the University of Western Australia.
“Instead of kelp forests we now have turf reefs – mats of algae that change the whole habitat structure of the reef.
Small-scale pilot tests have been successful but important scientific questions remain unanswered: “We still don’t know at what stage it’s most efficient to put out this gravel, how long to keep it in the lab, what season to distribute the gravel or the arrangement of density and the size of the stones,” Norderhaug said.
Chris Neufeld, associate researcher at the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre on Vancouver Island, noted that sunflower sea stars, which were predators of sea urchins, decreased in an outbreak of Sea Star Wasting Syndrome, a situation exacerbated by the marine heatwave.
Neufeld and his team are collaborating with Canadian Kelp Resources, a company that produces seaweed kelp vegetables, to grow and distribute kelp on green gravel.
“There’s no point trying to restore lost kelp forests in places where they won’t survive, so understanding which locations are good for successful restoration is crucial.
“This is a big environmental issue, and it’s overlooked,” he noted.
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Virtual Event Session 2, “Want To Sell More Seafood In A COVID-19 World? Retail And Foodservice Buyers Share Their Success Stories,” is scheduled for Thursday, May 13.