Giant Giant Kelp Restoration Project

Valentine’s Day Decision Halts Kelp Restoration

Press Release 2/20/24

In a unanimous decision on Valentine’s Day, the California Fish and Game Commission voted to terminate the Giant Giant Kelp Restoration Project (G2KR) at Tanker’s Reef in Monterey, despite its proven success. This resolution was influenced by recommendations from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the California Ocean Protection Council, the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, and The Nature Conservancy, following a significant loss of over 88% of the kelp canopy in Monterey Bay since 2014, primarily due to expansive urchin barrens. The G2KR restored 11 acres of kelp forest in the largest successful yet unfunded kelp restoration project in northern California and recommended a 5-year continuation of the Tanker’s Reef project.

The Giant Giant Kelp Restoration Project (G2KR), a non-profit organization, has been at the forefront of these restoration efforts, rallying a community of over 707 divers, with 236 achieving certification to meticulously cull urchins with hammers and without causing harm to the ecosystem. The certification, provided through PADI and NAUI accredited courses offered at local dive shops, equipped Kelp Restoration Specialty Divers to participate in 1,525 dives, removing approximately 749 thousand urchins, thereby reclaiming 11 acres of giant kelp forests.

The project's abrupt cessation as of April 1, 2024, prompted by the authorities, led divers to stop their urchin culling activities as of August 1, 2023. This decision was made to prevent feeding the urchins and thus averting an increase in their reproduction rates, which would further devastate the remaining kelp forests.

Keith Rootsaert, the founder of G2KR, expressed his frustration during a meeting of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council, stating, "Our project was hijacked and terminated." The volunteer divers met the government specified criteria for success in 2021 but were repeatedly denied permission to expand and cull urchins on granite substrate around the Monterey Peninsula. Government scientists want to see how quickly urchins eat the remnant kelp forest when divers are forced to stop culling urchins legally anywhere on the central coast.

Despite the onset of urchin barrens stretching from Monterey Bay to Morro Bay since 2017, kelp restoration activities remain restricted within Marine Protected Areas, where they are ostensibly permitted. On Wednesday, G2KR presented a petition to the Fish and Game Commission advocating for the allowance of kelp restoration at various sites, including Tanker’s Reef and Point Lobos, as part of a new adaptive management strategy for the Marine Protected Area Network starting April 2025. The project's goal is to restore 2,000 acres of giant kelp forest around the Monterey Peninsula by 2030. Rootsaert emphasizes, “The only way we can gain permission is by people who care about the ocean to raise their voices about this environmental injustice.”

For more information and updates on the project, visit G2KR.com.