Hidden Beauty of the Kelp Forests

       In the 1940s, the kelp growing in the cold waters just off the California shore was so thick it appeared as if a person could walk on it. It formed a slick and shiny brown canopy that extended offshore from the shallows of the beach into a hundred feet of water where in most places the rocky bottom abruptly becomes sand. A formidable webbing of kelp floated on the surface inhibiting swimming for some. Others put on bone googles, an import from the Hawaiian Islands and the new Churchill swim-fins and taking the lead of the South Sea Islanders jumped in, started exploring, and began diving for fish, lobster and mollusk.

                                                                                                                                                      Google Image

     Indigenous natives had eaten and gathered kelp for hundreds of years before the Europeans arrived and began to collect it. Then, the advent of World War 1 created a need for pharmaceuticals, food and industrial applications that kelp supports, and commercial harvesting began. Large kelp cutter boats began cutting and collecting the floating canopy of the kelp beds along the coast of Southern California and the Channel Islands.

             Cold water of 40 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit is required to maintain a health domain for this giant kelp plant, macrocystis pyrifera, commonly known as Pee kelp. And as it is a floating plant, fresh oxygen is needed and supplied by the current and an active sea. It also requires a rocky bottom for the root to hold to during large swells and storms.

       Standing in the way of kelp’s environmental needs is Global Warming, which in this case is aided by El Nino, sewerage, detergents and other waste products dumped into the sea along the length of the California coast.

       The giant plants provide refuge, food and asylum for numerous species of fish, mollusks and other creatures. Although abalone and other small creatures eat the kelp leaf perhaps the biggest enemy is the pesky Sea Urchin which attacks the root where it holds fast, to the rocks, both loosening the grasp and killing the plant. Urchins also encroach on the abalone territory too.

   
         Numerous species of fish, mollusks and other creatures are provided with food and shelter by the kelp forest.

     

     Fronds of gas bladders grow along the length of the kelp stalk raising the extremities of the plant toward the surface to flourish in the sunlight.     

                                                            

                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Google Image                                

     Kelp Harvester “El Rey,” one hundred feet in length and built of steel worked the California coast for thirty-five years cropping only the floating tops. Having been retired it was sunk intentionally for use as artificial reef. Here it is seen from the stern.

                                                                                                                                         Google Image  

    This is a modern Kelp harvester. During the years that I dove abalone commercially we would often see the old kelp cutter, Elwood mowing the kelp tops like a barber of the sea. As the vessel, a veritable sea-going lawnmower moved slowly into the thickest part of the growth the cutting knives trimmed the top three or four feet of the floating mass while a conveyor belt dragged it aboard. The  Elwood labored the coast from Mexico to Point Conception. We saw her working at all of the Channel Islands, especially San Clemente Island, Santa Barbara Island, Catalina and as far north as Santa Rosa island. Whoever happened to be on the wheel would always give us a couple of warning toots on the whistle and a wave from the wheel house.

       It is known that Pee Kelp growth under ordinary conditions is up to two feet per day, and the harvesting of the first few feet of kelp, two or three times a year is not a threat to the plant and can be a sustainable industry. Its value is found in many applications such as, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, paint products, fertilizer for farming, emulsifiers, stabilizers, medicines, cooking products, potash and more. 


       The loss of kelp along our coast cannot be blamed on commercial harvesting, which in reality has moved on to other domains like Morocco and Scotland since 1989. 

                                                                    Palm Kelp

    Palm Kelp is a familiar species of shallow water kelp growing along the rocky edge of the California coast. It has a short thick stalk which allows it to live in the surging shore break. Always found in shallow water close to shore or clinging to an offshore rock with its head exposed, it is another kelp that prefers cold water and at low tide it is often completely high and dry.

                                                        The Battlefield

    Probably because of my background, I see a similarity between the military life and the life of Palm Kelp which faces two onslaughts a day from flood tides. It digs in and holds its ground or gets washed away, for that would be death, because it will never get upright again.    

                                                                   The Guarding Sentinels                                                     

                   Low tide and after the battle is over all the stalks line up for inspection.

                                              Parade Time….No more battle until flood tide.

                     I hope you have enjoyed the Hidden Beauty of the Kelp Forest and its ecosystem.

          For more information about Kelp and the magnificent efforts being made to preserve  and create new growth along the California coast follow this link to the "Kelp Lady" site.                      

         And also for more reading, both of my books are available at Amazon Books.

                                 

                               Spain and the Bulls

                                  Link to:  Spain and the Bulls

                      

                    Link to:  Cruise of the Gringo Vagabundos