The Seattle Times has a good overview of the collapse of Bull Kelp, a fundamental plant to the health of Puget Sound. The article, found here, (behind the Times paywall) discusses the issues of the falling numbers of acres of Bull Kelp and its meaning to the Sound. Kelp is another indicator species, since kelp beds are nurseries for many fish and crab. We should be extremely concerned about what vanishing kelp beds mean to the entire web of life in Puget Sound. Locally, in the North Sound and Strait, the Marine Resources Committees (MRC) have been actively involved in monitoring the kelp beds. If you want to get involved, contact your county MRC.
Kelp has vanished from about 80% of the shorelines around which it once grew in Puget Sound, according to a 2023 report from Washington’s Kelp Forest Monitoring Alliance. South of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, the bull kelp beds are down some 90%. Around Bainbridge Island, they’ve all but disappeared entirely.
Filed under: Around the Salish Sea, Climate Change, Environmental Science, Sea Life | Tagged: bull kelp |
Thanks again for sharing these really important articles!
I would like to do a KPTZ Nature Now program on the issue. Who would you recommend interviewing? Someone through the MRC? Or?
Nan Evans
the MRC