Macrocystis! This episode is for you if you’ve always dreamt of diving through the iconic giant kelp forests in Tasmania, and if you’ve heard that they’ve completely disappeared, but also and if you want to hear about divers and scientists coming together to revive them 🏥🌱
Mick Baron is an avid diver, storyteller, underwater videographer and co-owner of the Eaglehawk Dive Centre. He’s spent 20 years as a scientific observer on fishing vessels in sub-Antarctic to tropical waters, and is an active campaigner for local marine conservation.
You can find Mick at the Eaglehawk Diver Centre. You can find and contact me @seaweed.people.
Links to research, projects and stories touched on in this ep:
The Dead Sea - interactive feature/video by Guardian Australia
Satellite images track Tasmania’s declining kelp forests
Multi-decadal decline in cover of giant kelp Macrocystis pyrifera at the southern limit of its Australian range (research paper)
Sea urchins are wreaking havoc on Tasmania's kelp forests
Restoring Tasmania’s Giant Kelp forests
Assessing the feasibility of restoring giant kelp forests in Tasmania (Report)
Kelp forest restoration in Australia (review paper)
Giant kelp forests on Tasman Peninsula survive marine heatwave (ABC)
A field guide to the marine invertebrates of South Australia - Karen Gowlett-Holmes (book)
Reviving Giants - short film by the Great Southern Reef Foundation
KelpTracker 2.0 - record sightings in TAS, VIC & SA
This episode was recorded in teralina in lutruwita, aka Tasmania, and produced on Gadigal/Wangal land in Eora. I acknowledge and pay respects to First Nations people and their elders past and present as the ongoing custodians of Sea, Land and Sky Country.
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