Roughly two thirds of Oregon kelp forests have disappeared

A report hot off the presses from the Oregon Kelp Alliance (ORKA) found that roughly 70% of the Beaver States kelp forests, or about 900 acres, have disappeared in about a ten year period.

Kelp forests are an incredibly important component of nearshore ecosystems in the Pacific Northwest. They serve as the habitat and hunting ground for countless marine species all the way from tiny Dungeness crabs to large-feeding gray whales. They help stabilize shorelines from the effects of erosion by absorbing wave energy and they sequester immense amounts of carbon (some studies suggest 20x per acre more than terrestrial forests) and are important now more than ever in a warming world.

ORKA attributes the die-off primarily to an overgrowth of purple sea urchins, which have abounded by 10,000% in some places in Oregon. A purple sea urchin’s favorite food is kelp and as a result they’ve overgrazed our underwater forests up and down the coast. The primary predators of purple sea urchins, sunflower sea stars and sea otters, both are absent in Oregon and the effect their absence has caused is clear.

We need to do all we can to protect what kelp forests remain and work to restore what’s been lost. Fortunately, ORKA is developing the Oregon Kelp Forest Stewardship Action Plan which will be released sometime in early 2025 and it will outline potential next steps for how to get these ecosystems back on track. In the meantime, we must work to bring back native species, like sea otters and sunflower sea stars, to Oregon’s waters to help manage the urchin’s overabundance.

If you want to save our kelp forests, join us in working to bring sea otters back to the Oregon coast.

You can read more about ORKA and their recent kelp status report here.