Kelp Restoration
in Portugal

Your funds helped pay for the growing of 53 trays of kelp using a 'green gravel' technique. They were planted off the coast of Cascais in 2023 & 2024.

Developing Methods to Restore Kelp Forests

WHY KELP?

Kelp forests are prized for their carbon sequestering abilities. They grow quickly & can absorb carbon dioxide, together with other marine pollutants, at speed. Kelp forests provide food, shelter & nursery grounds for fish, shellfish, seabirds & marine mammals. Kelp forests are declining fast however, and because they are out of site they don't often get the same attention as trees. Developing restoration techniques for kelp is critical for our ocean's health & climate resilience.

3 Kelp Deployment Sept 24_edited_edited.

Green Gravel Technique

Between July 2023 & Sept 2024 you helped fund a program run by our partners at Mossy Earth and SeaForester to grow kelp plants on small stones, or gravel, in optimum conditions in a lab. Once established there, our 53 trays of kelp were dropped into the Guia reef off the coast of Cascais. Each tray had the potential to cover 50 square meters of ocean floor.

Initial Results

Our trays of kelp plants were deployed in two batches. The results from batch one were initially exciting with plants growing up to 30 cms over 200 days.

Checks post winter however proved disappointing and it was found that most plants had been swept away by the winter storms.

Batch Two

With lessons learned, batch two of the 'green gravel' kelp plants were deployed in a more sheltered zone to the south of the Guia reef & we remain hopeful that these plants will still be there. Updates will be shared in due course.