Devastation of the Tasmanian Kelp Forests

Yesterday evening I sat down to watch the second episode of Oceans, the new BBC/Discovery Channel co production. I had my viewing interrupted by some one calling persistently on the telephone, but that's another posting.

This week they were in the Southern Ocean, and the first dive they made was on the Kelp Forests off the coast of Tasmania. Except it is no longer a forest and there are just a few scant patches left. In the past, and we are only talking ten years ago, these Kelp forests stretched for miles and were an important habitat for a whole range of creatures. The reason for this change is simply the warming of the oceans. The seas at the poles are warming faster than the rest of the oceans and this is having a devastating effect upon the ecosystems at the poles.

Now I remember seeing a programme several years ago that showed what the kelp forests were like, thus I was genuinely shocked by what I saw. However, this new production is not a pessimistic one, and it showed what is being done to correct the problem.

As the water is warming this has brought sea urchins into the area of the kelp forests. They are eating the new growth kelp long before they can establish themselves. So what is happening is that full grown lobsters are being reintroduced. They previously disappeared because of over fishing. As the sea urchins are food for the lobsters, this reintroduction should reduce the numbers of the urchins that are eating the kelp. Thus the balance should be restored.

While I am pleased that this work is going on, it really is a sorry indictment of the way we have treated the planet. While I have been and will continue to be involved in reintroductions and habitat regeneration, it is work that we should not have to do. Had the lobsters not been over fished to extinction in the southern ocean kelp forest, then the sea urchins would not have devastated the kelp.

All around the globe we are over fishing, emptying the seas. In recent weeks I heard of the collapse of the Pollock population in one important fishery, I don't know where as I didn't hear the full report. Also I hear that the tuna fishery in the Mediterranean is close to collapse and all that fishermen are catching are small juvenile fish. Then just yesterday there was a report that the EU (European Union) are close to an agreement on increased fish quotas for cod. Yet the stocks are so depleted that there is little or no breading population left.

We really do need to stop thinking about the environment as a factory and learn to utilise our seas, land and forests in a sustainable way. There will be a complete collapse of all the fisheries around the planet soon. Therefore all this effort to maintain jobs in the fishing industry will end up being futile in the end. But I guess that until we have that shock of a seriously wounded planet, most people will not take the issues of Climate Change and Environmental degradation seriously.