Meet the Mission Blue Kelp Initiative! This initiative focuses on the conservation and protection of kelp forests in Hope Spots worldwide 🌎 Over 30 Hope Spots are home to incredible kelp ecosystems, and, this year, we are highlighting projects in 4 particular regions: 🌊 Reviving Kelp Forests: Restoration and Sustainability in Chile’s Humboldt Archipelago Hope Spot 🌊 Education for Protection: Assessing the Kelp Forest within the Northeast Iceland Hope Spot 🌊 Kelp Roots: Residency of Coexistence in Patagonia, Argentina 🌊 Health of the Kelp Seed Bank in Northern California Sea Urchin Barrens: Developing Sampling Strategies Dive into the full Ocean Story here: https://missionblue.org/2025/05/the-mission-blue-kelp-initiative-a-hope-spot-partnership-for-kelp-protection/ 📸 Alejandro Perez Matus 📸 Marianne Rasmussen 📸 Mariano Rodriguez 📸 Abbey Dias (fb)

Why do kelp forests matter? Kelp forests provide several crucial ecosystem systems, including: 🌿 providing shelter for sea life - just like forests, these kelp ecosystems offer refuge to a variety of species by providing food, acting as a nursery ground, and even sheltering creatures from storms and adverse ocean conditions 🌿 protecting the coastline - kelp forests help protect the surrounding shoreline from erosion by reducing the size of waves 🌿 supporting the food web - by harboring such biodiversity, kelp forests are vital to many ocean food webs, with kelp even serving as a source of food itself 🌿 absorbing carbon dioxide - kelp forests act as carbon sinks, absorbing even more carbon dioxide per acre than forests on land 📸 Taylor Griffith (fb)