Several years ago a an elementary school teacher invited me to talk about diving and its relation to some of the content standards for the course. The loss of kelp due to the loss of predators like the sea otter was a major lesson in the class. Loss of kelp is a massive problem destroying the environment, no doubt about it.Yes.
No kelp means no fish, no abalone, a drastic reduction in cover both in surface kelp and bottom dwelling kelp AKA false bottom, and all the other sea life that depends on kelp forests to exist. Kelp is also a CO2 sink very necessary for removal of CO2 from the atmosphere. It’s a disaster on epic proportions that nobody is paying attention to! We need divers!!!
Divers are the new giant sea stars and sea otters. We are the new predators of purple sea urchins.
Sorry for the hijack but you asked.
Meanwhile, on the east coast of the Americas, kelp's cousin, sargassum, is reproducing at a rate so great it is destroying the environment there.
Balance.