Getting by With a Little Kelp From Their Friends

The giant kelp barely skimmed the centimeter mark.

But just give it time. Kelp can grow as much as 2 feet a day, said biologist Nancy Caruso, and its sinuous fronds could eventually top 100 feet.

Volunteers with the nonprofit group Orange County Coastkeeper had nurtured the fledgling algae for four months atop unglazed ceramic tiles the size of dominos as part of an effort to reintroduce seaweed forests off Newport Beach and Laguna Beach.

Tuesday morning, however, the topaz-colored seaweed more closely resembled patches of baby fuzz lightly floating in a water-cooler bath.

Four Coastkeeper volunteer divers in shorts and flip-flops or half-donned wetsuits hunkered around the cooler as Caruso explained how they would use biodegradable rubber bands to anchor the kelp tiles to any available surface 1 to 3 feet off the ocean floor and just a quick paddle out from Laguna Beach’s Heisler Park.

The algae must be handled carefully, Caruso said, because one finger swipe can wipe out the 80 to 100 kelp strands on each tile. She said that if one strand on each tile survived water surges, curious fish and kelp-munchers, a huge forest would bloom.

Kelp beds once thrived from Newport Beach to San Clemente, Caruso said. But over the last 30 years, contaminated runoff and overfishing of sheepshead, lobster and other species that feed on kelp-eating sea urchins have all but obliterated seaweed forests.

Over the last three years, Coastkeeper staff and volunteers, with the help of grants from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, have planted giant kelp on six reefs in Crystal Cove State Park. All are thriving.

Tuesday was the group’s first venture into Laguna Beach. They plant kelp five or six times a year, Caruso said, and stage other two- or three-day dives to monitor growth or scope out and prepare planting sites.

Harvey Brion joined Coastkeepers about two years ago, after hearing Caruso give a presentation to his dive club. “It sounded like a good way to get in the boat, get wet, have fun and do something practical,” he said.

Others were lured by memories of diving and surfing trips near waving kelp beds.

“The surfers are all stoked that you’re replanting kelp,” said Marielle Leeds, who does legal research and advocacy for Coastkeepers. The native Laguna Beach surfer, who remembers the kelp beds from the ‘70s, had paddled out from the beach to join the volunteers.

“What do surfers care?” asked volunteer Gary Troyer.

“Well, with a big swell, [kelp] helps smooth it out,” Leeds answered.

In addition to water breaks, kelp forests support more than 800 marine species, Caruso said, including sardines and pelicans. And restored forests bring back fish populations that have been seen in lower numbers in recent years, she said.

Fish and pelicans aren’t the only ones that use kelp. The algae is an ingredient of numerous food products: Eclipse breath strips, Arizona brand drinks, McDonald’s apple pies and Velveeta cheese.

But as the divers took long strides off the stern of the blue-hulled Coastkeeper boat and splashed into the water, it was difficult to imagine Caruso’s tray of tiny, brown algae as a marine forest or an ingredient in a raspberry-flavored iced tea.

In a few months’ time, Caruso said, the kelp could be fully grown and gracing the dinner tables of humans and fish alike.