Divers for the Environment June 2021

Page 20

REEF CHECK

BRINGING BACK KELP FORESTS IN THE MONTEREY PENINSULA BY MAXWELL SEALE & DILLON DOLINAR – REEF CHECK CALIFORNIA VOLUNTEER COORDINATORS

Kelp forest restoration along the Central Coast of California is underway with rapidly developing progress! Last year, our North Coast Reef Check Team made major headway coordinating commercial urchin fishers in restoring lost kelp forest habitat at Noyo Harbor. This year, our Central Coast Reef Check Team is leading the charge on restoration at two sites along the Monterey Peninsula: Tankers Reef and Lovers Point. In a landmark regulation change issued by the California Fish and Game Commission (FGC), urchin fishing regulations have been amended within a 685-acre reef area in Monterey known as Tankers Reef. This regulation change follows a petition submitted by a local stakeholder group known as the Giant Giant Kelp Restoration Project (G2KR). The amendment now allows divers with valid California sport fishing licenses to take unlimited numbers of purple sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus) and red sea urchin (Mesocentrotus franciscanus) via in-water culling within the confines of the restoration area, a shale reef historically dominated by giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera). Over the next three years, Reef Check California will be responsible for ecological monitoring within the restoration area to document the effects of these restoration efforts. Removal efforts will be coordinated by the G2KR team.To see this project through, we will be working with our partners at the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the Ocean Protection Council. The main goals of this restoration effort are: 1) To reduce purple and red sea urchin densities to levels that facilitate kelp regrowth via inwater urchin culling and then to maintain those densities while the regulatory amendment is in place, 2) To conduct robust monitoring to evaluate the ecological effects of urchin removal, 3) To evaluate any direct or indirect impacts of this restoration approach on nontarget organisms such as bycatch, damage to underlying reef structure, or disturbance of marine mammal populations and 4) To communicate results and lessons learned in a way that is both scientifically sound and informative to resource managers. The G2KR team will collaborate with local dive shops whose business has been negatively affected by the rapid expansion of urchin barrens. They will be offering a PADI and NAUI Kelp Restoration Specialist Course to train recreational divers on how to work safely and effectively towards restoration. The hope 20

DIVERS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT | JUNE 2021

is that the local dive community will adopt a standardised and scientifically guided approach to restoration and that these trainings will generate some economic benefit to the local dive shops. In addition to the project at Tankers Reef, Reef Check California is in its third year coordinating experimental restoration efforts at Lovers Point in Pacific Grove. This experiment will be used to determine best practices for current and future restoration programmes in both California and at restoration sites across the globe. Restoration work here is being run by our very own Reef Check California Volunteers! If you are interested in joining any of our Central Coast kelp restoration efforts, email Maxwell Seale, the Central Coast Volunteer Coordinator, at mseale@reefcheck.org to learn how you can help restore our changing coastline!


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook

Articles inside

DAN Europe Physician's Field Experience Regarding Diving After COVID-19

10min
pages 104-106

What you Should Know About Diving After COVID-19

6min
pages 102-103

Diver Propulsion Vehicle Review: SUEX VRT

3min
pages 78-81

How Eight Pacific Island States Are Saving the World's Tuna

10min
pages 34-39

Diving & COVID-19: A Focus in the MENA Region

12min
pages 48-53

Ria Deseado and the Majestic Penguin Island

9min
pages 94-101

Digital Online’s Results

8min
pages 82-93

Star International School Mirdif’s Quest to Becoming Ocean Ambassadors

4min
pages 70-73

My Buddy The Freediving Instructor

6min
pages 74-77

Green Fingered Divers

13min
pages 64-69

The SSI Service Centre’s Revamp in the UAE

13min
pages 58-63

UAE Dolphin Project Update Relaunching the Report a Sighting Campaign

3min
pages 54-57

Entangled – www.entangled-film.com

10min
pages 28-33

Masbango (Bigeye Mackerel)

6min
pages 40-47

Feature Creature

22min
pages 24-27

In Memoriam: Carina Escudero

3min
page 21

From the Start, to Fred’s Stride

3min
pages 18-19

Bringing Back Kelp Forests in the Monterey Peninsula

2min
page 20

PADI Meets with Maldivian Ministry to Confirm Protection of Sharks

2min
page 17

Diveheart & Tourism Malaysia Attend the Moscow International Dive Show 2021

1min
page 15

Introducing the All-New PADI Dive Guides

2min
page 16

Safety First: Know Your Equipment

1min
page 14

EAD Records a Remarkable Increase in the Sustainable Fishing Index

4min
page 11

EAD & The National Aquarium Team up to Rescue Endangered Loggerhead Turtle

2min
page 9

EAD & The National Aquarium Start Receiving & Rehabilitating Rescued Animals

3min
page 8

The National Aquarium

2min
page 10

Be Resilient and Agile

2min
page 5

Abu Dhabi Media to Air EAD’s New Documentary: Our Sea, Our Future

5min
pages 12-13

EAD Joins Forces with the National Aquarium to Protect the Wildlife in Abu Dhabi

3min
page 7

Nemo Diving Center Introduce Their New Location with a Clean-up Event

2min
page 6
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.