Sea Forests

Underwater forests line almost one-third of coastlines worldwide. Thriving in temperate, nutrient-rich waters, these kelp forests are coral reefs forgotten cold water cousins.

I spent the past 3 years documenting kelp forests on 4 continents, first at home in California and North America, then across the Pacific in Japan and south to Australia and Antarctica. Kelp are algae: they sequester carbon, buffer coasts from waves and storm surge, and provide the base for incredible underwater ecosystems. When sun shines through the golden canopy, diving in the kelp rivals a hike in the redwoods, but underwater, you’re weightless.

Scientists estimate 40-50% of kelp forests have disappeared worldwide, largely due to climate change and trophic cascades. Through my work, I hope to illuminate what we can learn from different kelp restoration and conservation efforts that may help us protect or better study kelp forests worldwide. In Baja and Japan, I documented the power of community-based conservation with the fisheries cooperatives and ama divers. In California and Australia, I photographed scientists studying the kelp. And in the sub-Antarctic islands of South Georgia and the Falkland Islands, I found some of the last untouched, towering kelp forests below snowy peaks where Shackleton once sailed.

Kelp forests may be invisible from shore, but they are vital to life, both human life on land and the abundance of species that depend on them underwater. They link us across cultures; a dive in the kelp becomes a common language, no matter the country or continent.