Help Kelp! Report Locations of Remnant Giant Kelp

Webpage – Kelp Tracker 2.0, retrieved 4 July 2023

Kelp Tracker 2.0

Kelp Tracker 2.0 invites ocean users to share their recent and historical sightings of the endangered and disappearing giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) across Tasmania, Victoria, and South Australia.

Sightings will then be checked by kelp scientists and will help to create a map and timeseries of how our giant kelp forests have changed over the past several decades. This crucial information will ultimately help inform conservation and restoration efforts.

Project description

The Nature Conservancy and Victorian National Parks Association have partnered with the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) at the University of Tasmania, OzFish Unlimited and TARFish, to harness the local knowledge and expertise of fishers, boaters, divers, and paddlers to help monitor Australia’s disappearing and endangered giant kelp forests.

For example, dense giant kelp forests were previously a conspicuous and iconic feature of the Tasmanian coast, but the loss of 95% of these giant underwater forests over the past several decades has seen them nationally listed as an endangered marine community. The decline of giant kelp forests in eastern Tasmania is associated with increased influence of warm and nutrient-poor East Australian Current water.

Despite the losses of giant kelp forests in Tasmania and elsewhere, scattered individuals and patches of giant kelp forest still remain, but there are few records of the locations of these remaining giants. This lack of data makes it difficult to sample the remaining forests, and also makes it challenging to track their decline or growth over time.

By harnessing local knowledge and observations from fishers and other waterway users in Tasmania, and also Victoria and South Australia where some giant kelp also still remains, this app will generate data to start mapping the distribution and health of these endangered underwater giants.

Identifying Giant Kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera)

Giant kelp is a large seaweed species, that grows upwards from the seafloor and is held upright by gas-filled bladders at the base of the wide leaf-like blades. These strands or fronds of giant kelp can grow up to 30 meters tall, stretching up towards the sun lit surface, appearing as an underwater forest.

Giant kelp can grow at water depths ranging between 0-30m deep and can either be identified underwater by looking at their physical characteristics, the frond length or recognised by their canopies floating on the water surface – which may be observed from boats or even the shoreline.

For more information on the project and/or to complete a survey, please see here: https://survey123.arcgis.com/share/43e1ec88fd154b7ab21d67bc3f9e38f6.