Kelp forests support extraordinary biodiversity but are declining due to warming oceans, urchin overgrazing and pollution, harming the welfare of dependent marine life.
Kelp forest collapse transforms rich, complex ecosystems into impoverished urchin barrens where many species can no longer find food, shelter or refuge from predators. The welfare of fish, sea otters, harbor seals, sea lions and seabirds that depend on kelp forest structure is directly impaired by its loss. Sea otters - particularly charismatic and individually recognizable - have been documented struggling to find adequate prey in collapsing kelp systems. The trophic cascade triggered by sea star wasting disease is one of the most dramatic examples of how ecosystem disruption causes widespread animal suffering simultaneously at multiple levels. Kelp restoration addresses these welfare harms while also restoring carbon sequestration and commercial fishery productivity.