Restore. Capture. Protect.
Tasmania’s giant kelp forests are on the brink of extinction.
The Sea Forest Foundation has teamed up with the University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) to restore these crucial marine ecosystems and protect them in the future.
The situation
Due to climate change - specifically, rising sea temperatures, low nutrient conditions and increasing numbers of sea urchins - over 95% of the giant kelp forests in Tasmania have perished. Without intervention, they won’t recover.
The problem
Why does it matter that giant kelp has disappeared in Tasmanian waters over the last 20 years? Because kelp forests:
Support two of Tasmania’s largest industries: fishing and tourism
Creates underwater forests that are home to hundreds of other unique species.
Are a vital part of the Tasmanian marine ecosystem as well as the great southern reef, which contributes more than $10 billion to the Australian economy every year
Giant kelp is critically important not just to the ocean but to the economy and society.
The solution
The Sea Forest Foundation and IMAS are embarking on the first ever forest-scale kelp restoration project in the southern hemisphere. Together, our goal is to create a natural and self-supporting giant kelp forest in Tasmania.
Keep up to date with our reforestation efforts.
-
![]()
Sea Forest Foundation partners with IMAS
The Sea Forest Foundation has teamed up with one of the world's leading environmental institutions, the University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS).
The Sea Forest Foundation has made an initial $300,000 contribution to the giant kelp reforestation project and further research into warm-tolerant giant kelp genotypes.
-
![]()
Meet Dr Masa Tatsumi
Before joining Sea Forest as the head of research and development Masa spent many years as a researcher for the University of Tasmania and IMAS studying ecological impacts of climate change as well as the rehabilitation and conservation of coastal and estuarine environments.
-
![]()
‘Really worth a crack’: bringing Tasmania’s giant kelp forests back from the brink
Reseeding a half-hectare of seabed with microscopic giant kelp is a modest start to an ambitious aim: rebuilding an entire ecosystem.
