Kelp Forests Around The World

A kelp forest is a dense underwater habitat or ecosystem, primarily made up of large brown seaweeds known as kelps. These majestic underwater forests can be found in cold, nutrient-rich waters and are truly the forests of the sea, always teeming with marine life.

More than 750 million people live within 50 km of a kelp forest - and many don't even know they are there.

Let's take a look at some kelp forest locations around the world.

Kelp forests helped enable people to move from Asia to the Americas some 16,000 years ago - the floating kelp dampening waves, creating safe canoe passageways and fueling the long journey.

But with colonization came the relentless hunting of top predators causing an ecosystem imbalance - now amplified by rising water temperatures and ocean viruses.

Still, these resilient forests persist in colder ocean zones. California is the birthplace of modern kelp restoration in the English-speaking world and now hosts more kelp scientists than anywhere else in the world.

In a land of fire, icy seas boast the largest kelp forests on our planet. The Giant Kelp forests along the southern coasts of Chile and Argentina can easily be seen from space!

The cold oceans at Tierra del Fuego have left these kelp forests relatively untouched by time and despite some loss of knowledge, many people still use these forests as they did hundreds of years ago.

Four times larger than its coral reef counterpart, the Great Southern Reef (GSR) is the world's largest continuous kelp forest and boasts more species of seaweed than anywhere on Earth. Dominated by Golden Kelp, the GSR spans the bottom half of the continent - and 5 states!

Home to sea dragons, fur seals, and prized abalone, people have relied on Australian kelp forests for tens of thousands of years. 

Despite declining kelp forest numbers, generations of fishing practices are helping researchers manage healthy kelp. Even new genetic testing techniques are underway to help identify kelp which can thrive in warmer waters, in order to restore these ocean forests.

Japan and Korea are home to "seafood lovers". In Korea, kelp (Undaria) soup is eaten on your first birthday! Kelp forests have played integral roles in their societies for millennia. From food, fisheries, medicine, legends and culture, kelp is both known and respected. 

It therefore comes at no surprise that the world's largest and most ambitious kelp restoration projects are located in Japan and Korea.

The Great African Seaforest is home to the "sequoias of the sea". Ecklonia stipes create a thick forest home to sharks, abalone, lobsters, and of course, the now famous academy award-winning octopus.

From monitoring free-divers to abalone poachers, park rangers work hard to keep the still healthy forests teeming with life. It's one of the few locations on the planet that don't need our restoration help.

These are just a few examples of how kelp forests support life around our planet. With their incredible diversity and sea life, they truly are wonders of our undersea world. Learn more about kelp forests and the work to save them with the Kelp Forest Alliance.