Adriana Vergés1,2, David Aguirre3, Scott Bennett4, Stephen Bunney5, Alexandra Campbell6, Melinda Coleman7, Sean Connell8, Christopher E. Cornwall9, Roberta D’Archino10, Matthew Desmond11, Karen Filbee-Dexter12, John Keane4, Cayne Layton4, Scott Ling4, Ezequiel M. Marzinelli13,2, Dominic McAfee8, John Minehan14, Elisabeth M.A. Strain4, Stephen E. Swearer15, Thomas Wernberg12, Georgina Wood12
1UNSW Sydney, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Sydney NSW 2052, Australia, 2Sydney Institute of Marine Science, Mosman NSW 2088, Australia, 3School of Natural Sciences, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand, 4Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), University of Tasmania, 5Abalone Association of NSW, Millingandi, NSW 2549, Australia, 6School of Science, Technology and Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore DC, QLD 4558, Australia, 7Department of Primary Industries, NSW Fisheries, National Marine Science Centre, Coffs Harbour, NSW 2450, Australia, 8School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia, 9School of Biological Sciences and Coastal People Southern Skies Centre for Research Excellence, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, 10NIWA, Wellington, New Zealand, 11Department of Marine Sciences and Coastal People Southern Skies Centre for Research Excellence, University of Otago, New Zealand, 12UWA Oceans Institute and School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia , 13The University of Sydney, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia, 14Eastern Zone Abalone Industry Association, Mallacoota, VIC 3892, Australia, 15National Centre for Coasts and Climate, School of BioSciences, University of Melbourne, VIC 3010
Although kelp restoration has a relatively short history in Australasia, there has been a surge of interest and investment in the last decade. This talk aims to summarise current projects underway across Australia and New Zealand, focusing on highly innovative approaches to restore multiple Fucales and Laminariales species. Large-scale Ecklonia radiata restoration efforts along the east coast of Australia have mostly focused on the removal of sea urchins, via a combination of extensive targeted removals, culling, fisheries harvesting, and urchin roe conditioning. In Western Australia, a new restoration method – Green Gravel – is being developed to seed lab-cultured E. radiata over large areas affected by a major heatwave in 2011 without expensive scuba diving operations. In southern Australia, pioneering multi-habitat restoration efforts have identified important ecological synergies, whereby transplanted E. radiata forests increase oyster recruitment and facilitate seagrass recruitment. In Sydney, innovative art-meets-science approaches combine the restoration of the fucoid Phyllospora comosa with high profile community engagement activities, thereby raising awareness about kelp forests more broadly. In New Zealand, restoration with multiple species focuses on responses to future stressors and developing selective breeding strategies. This includes extensive work with giant kelp Macrocystis pyrifera, which is also a major restoration target in Tasmania. Multiple groups throughout Australasia are combining genomic tools and experiments to map genetic differentiation within species, to identify genotypes that may be included in restoration efforts to enhance resilience to future conditions.