A new outdoor exhibition launched in Tromsø, Norway, alongside the Sørsjetéen jetty aims to bring public awareness toward local efforts to restore kelp forests.
Known as the Ocean Green exhibit, the project launched 9 January. Spearheaded by funding from Norway’s Green Platform and endorsed by the United Nations’ Ocean Decade, Ocean Green is “a consortium bringing together science, engineering, technology, and local volunteer groups, who are working together to solve a local problem with global relevance.”
“This exhibition is a thank you to the volunteers who have gone into the water and supported this work from the shore,” Ocean Green Founder Delphin Ruché said in a release. “The return of this wonderful ecosystem would not have been possible without their participation. By reducing the density of native sea urchins, space has been made for kelp to come back, bringing with it the abundance of sea life you see in the exhibition.”
Ruché added that the project’s public display aims to drive community engagement with the volunteer work. By opening the site to the public, Ruché said the project’s stakeholders hope to encourage more people to volunteer as “Kelpers” and learn how important Norway’s kelp forests are.
The exhibit is open to the public, and displays along the waterfront include colorful photographs taken by three underwater photographers – Clément Brun, Ann Cools, and Liga Sirava – showcasing the work volunteers have undergone removing sea urchins by hand to restore kelp habitats over time. Volunteers cleared one side of the jetty and left the other untouched as a control variable to show just how successfully ecosystems could bounce back with sea urchin removal.
“Kelp loss is a global problem,” said Ocean Green Project Lead Dagny-Elise Anastassiou, who is also the chief impact officer at Ava Ocean, which is a partner firm of Ocean Green. “Around Northern Norway, as much as 80 percent of our region’s kelp has been lost over the last 50 years – largely replaced by urchin barrens as overfishing reduced urchin predators.”
Another project on display at the waterfront is Ava Ocean’s non-invasive scallop harvesting project in the Barents Sea. The aquaculture firm is exploring new ways to harvest sea urchins with the same non-invasive approach that is being taken for the region’s kelp forests.
