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KELP RESTORATION

The Blue Carbon Lab houses kelp ecologists, working to effectively restore these invaluable marine ecosystems. Below some of the current projects we are undertaking.

Kelping the Bay: restoring the Golden Kelp Forests of Port Phillip Bay

Focal region: Port Phillip Bay, Victoria, Australia
Focal ecosystem: Rocky reefs/kelp forests

Deakin University, in partnership with The Nature Conservancy, The University of Melbourne, and Parks Victoria are piloting innovative techniques to recover kelp forest habitats in Port Phillip Bay with funding from DEECA. Based at the Deakin Centre for Marine Science, Dr Paul Carnell and Dr Prue Francis, along with their research teams (Dr Jacqui Pocklington, Jasmine Bursic, Kaylah Gawne), head the kelp cultivation component of the project, which is the first on this species to be trialled in Victoria. Using best-practice methods, trials optimising growth in lab aquaria will allow kelplings with the best chance of survival to be outplanted at sites in Northern Port Phillip Bay. At these sites trials on restoration methods will also be conducted to inform larger scale restoration works in year two. Sites for planting will have their urchin populations managed to ease overgrazing pressure on these kelp habitats.

Selected Media

  • Millions of baby kelp to restore bay habitats ravaged by sea urchins The Age (March 2023)

Project Partners

This work is a collaboration between Deakin University’s Blue Carbon Lab & SEA.Ed research groups, The University of Melbourne (National Centre for Coasts and Climate), The Nature Conservancy and Parks Victoria.

Funding sources

This project is funded by the Victorian Government’s Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action.

 

Resilience of kelp beds of Port Phillip Bay and Historical decline

Focal region: Port Phillip Bay, Victoria, Australia
Focal ecosystem: Rocky reefs/kelp forests

New Deakin and University of Melbourne research has put a spotlight on the health of Port Phillip Bay, showing the effects of the millennium drought has almost wiped out kelp forests in the bay’s north. Lead author Dr Paul Carnell, an associate research fellow in Deakin’s Blue Carbon Lab, said the drought’s decline in rainfall coupled with an increase in temperatures had coincided with an explosion in the numbers of destructive sea urchins in Port Phillip. The urchins had effectively marched across sections of the bay, eating everything in their path. The study, published in the journal Estuaries and Coasts, documents for the first time the loss of kelp forests in Port Phillip Bay over the past 60 years, using historical information and aerial photographs, along with new data collected by SCUBA divers. Dr Carnell said the data showed the health of Port Phillip Bay had declined dramatically over that time, with 90 per cent of kelp forests around Williamstown, Point Cooke and Beaumaris wiped out.

Selected Media & Publications

  • These devastating pests are delicious. CBS News, 2021.
  • Victorians urged to feast on sea urchins to help control population in Port Philip Bay. ABC News, 2021.
  • Overgrazing of seagrass by sea urchins diminish blue carbon stocks. Carnell PC, Ierodiaconou D, Atwood T, Macreadie PI (2020) Ecosystems, 1-12.
  • Reconstructing historical marine populations reveals major decline of a kelp forest ecosystem in Australia. Carnell PC and Keough M (2019) Estuaries and Coasts 42: 765-778.
  • Scientists find historical declines in Kelp forest of southeast Australia. Media release (2019).

Restoring healthy ecosystems on subtidal reefs: an integrated approach

Focal region: Port Phillip Bay, Victoria, Australia
Focal ecosystem: Rocky reefs/kelp forests

The objective of this project is to work with land managers and the community to develop effective solutions for the rehabilitation of reefs in Port Phillip Bay, and to mitigate future threats to kelp habitat and associated reef organisms. Over 90% loss of macroalgal cover at reefs in northern and western PPB has been caused by a changing climate and the overabundance of the native purple sea urchin. Deforestation of macroalgal beds can severely limit how temperate reefs perform ecologically important functions. This has flow on effects for the provision of services valued by humans, such as coastal protection and recreation. Utilising volunteer community groups, we have undertaken the first, reefscale experimental management program of urchins in Port Phillip Bay to reduce densities and to allow for restoration of habitat-forming seaweeds.

In collaboration with The University of Melbourne (National Centre for Coasts and Climate) and Parks Victoria, we have engaged with the Jawbone Marine Sanctuary Care Group, Marine Care Point Cook and other volunteers. Parks Victoria organized and ran a number of volunteer dive days each year in each of the two Marine Sanctuaries.

Selected Media & Publications

  • Media release, July 2020. Port Phillip Bay reef health check completed!
  • ABC Hobart, Radio interview, March 2018. “Hungry urchins killing kelp forests”
  • The Age, March 2018. “Kelp needed as Port Phillip Bay seafloor cleared by march of urchins”
Kelp & Seagrass restoration VIC

Optimal management of overabundant sea urchins in Victoria

Focal region: Victoria, Australia
Focal ecosystem: Rocky reefs/kelp forests and seagrass meadows

Overabundant local and range-expanding native sea urchins present an ever-increasing threat to marine  biodiversity in Victoria. Overgrazing by purple sea urchins is a significant threat to reef and seagrass biodiversity in Port Phillip Bay and Nooramunga. Range expansion of the black-spined sea urchin invading from NSW into eastern Victoria is resulting in extensive kelp bed loss with growing concerns of further spread into central and western Victoria. Currently there is little understanding of the scale of the problem, what management actions are most appropriate and where they should be targeted. This project will collate information on urchin biomass hotspots and the scale of barrens state-wide, use this information to inform population dynamics models of both species to identify sources and dispersal/invasion pathways, develop standard methods for culling and monitoring and implement a state-wide culling program.

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) (Point Cooke, Jawbone, Ricketts Point, Nooramunga, Beware Reef and Cape Howe) have been prioritised over other locations for the culling program as these areas have already been identified as having significant natural value and have minimal disturbances from other sources. In addition, in many of these MPAs the barrens are only discrete patches, therefore natural recovery can be expected to be greater than in areas of extensive barrens. Moreover, immediate action is needed to prevent expansion or new barren formation. The data from this project will be used to develop a decision-support framework, including scenario testing and estimating the cost benefits of different urchin management approaches and their site-specific suitability for each location, to help inform an urchin management plan for the state of Victoria.

Seagrass & Kelp restoration

Project Partners

This work is a collaboration between The University of Melbourne, Deakin University’s Blue Carbon Lab and Parks Victoria.

Funding sources

This project is funded by the Victorian Government’s Biodiversity Response Planning program, with additional supporting contributions from the University of Melbourne and Deakin University.

@BlueCarbonLab

Follow the program on social media using @BlueCarbonLab

Contact

Dr Paul Carnell (paul.carnell@deakin.edu.au)

Dr Jacqui Pocklington (Jacqui.pocklington@deakin.edu.au)

Deakin University
  • Home
  • About
    • What we are about
    • Who we are
      • Professor Peter Macreadie
      • Dr Paul Carnell
      • Dr Stacey Trevathan-Tackett
      • Dr Maria M. Palacios
      • Dr Pawel Waryszak
      • Dr Melissa Wartman
      • Dr Micheli Duarte de Paula Costa
      • Dr Noyan Yilmaz
      • Dr Martino Malerba
      • Dr Lukas Schuster
      • Dr Tanveer Adyel
      • Dr Sabiha Marine
      • Dr Vincent Raoult
      • Dr Jacqui Pocklington
      • Interns and Volunteers
      • Alumni
  • Research
    • Blue Carbon
      • Seychelles Blue Carbon
      • Queensland Blue
      • Victoria’s Blue Carbon
      • Blue Carbon Management
      • Tea Composition H2O
    • Teal Carbon
      • Farm dams
      • Floating wetlands
      • Revitalising Australia’s Freshwater Wetlands
    • Valuing Ecosystem Services
      • Mapping Ocean Wealth
      • Guide to Valuing Coastal Wetlands
    • Ecosystem Restoration
      • Coastal Wetland Restoration
        • The Victorian Coastal Wetland Restoration Program
        • Regenerating Our Coasts
        • Towards Blue Carbon Australian Carbon Credit Units
      • Kelp restoration
      • Freshwater Wetland Restoration
    • Citizen Science
      • HSBC citizen science
      • GeelongPort citizen science
    • Microplastics
    • Marine Biosecurity
    • Decommissioning Infrastructure
  • Services
    • Wetland Carbon Assessments
    • Environmental Assessments
    • Environmental Restoration
    • Citizen Science
    • System of Environmental Economic Accounting (SEEA)
    • Feasibility Assessments
    • Remote Sensing
    • Microbial Analysis
    • Marine Biosecurity
  • Publications
  • Opportunities
  • News
  • Donate
  • Contact
Blue Carbon Lab