Interns Help Restore Tasmania's Fast-Disappearing Giant Kelp Forests

Linnea Bird has travelled from across the Pacific to help restore Tasmania's fast-disappearing giant kelp forests.

The 25-year-old Masters student from the United States is one of six participants taking part in a live-in internship program run by the Eaglehawk Dive Centre, an hour's drive south of Hobart.

"Growing up in California and seeing the kelp forests there, it's always been something that I've been interested in," Ms Bird said.

"Being able to go across the world and see very similar ecosystems, but also just different biodiversity, has really drawn me to Tasmania."

Tasmania's giant kelp forests have been rapidly deteriorating since the 1940s.

Warming waters and overgrazing by invading sea urchins have led to the decline of what were once abundant marine forests.

Dive instructor Pauline Nuttens heads up the centre's newly established internship program, which is part of the larger Tasmanian Giant Kelp Restoration Project.

"The loss of the kelp has a massive impact on our ecosystem. For people who understand that, and want to do something about it, that's great," Ms Nuttens said.

Ms Nuttens said that in 2015, she worked as a dive instructor at the centre, guiding groups through the giant kelp forests.

When she returned the following summer, she said the area's kelp was gone.

Reforesting under the waves

The technique used by the interns to restore the kelp forest was developed by Professor Scott Ling from the University of Tasmania's Institute of Marine and Antarctic Science (IMAS).

The kelp spores are grown in a laboratory on a spool, which the divers then wrap around the base of existing seaweed at protected sites off the Tasman Peninsula.

Scott Bennett is a marine ecologist at IMAS and co-founder of the national marine charity Great Southern Reef Foundation.

Dr Bennett said the internship program was an opportunity to access more hands for restoration work.

"They can train these people up to a really professional standard, and that just increases our capacity to plant kelp and help look after the reefs," he said.

Dr Bennett said results from the project have been a "mixed bag" due to changing conditions in Tasmanian waters.

"Often we'll get hit by warm summer temperatures or a kind of herbivorous fish that moves in and finds the kelp really tasty, or big storm events, and all these things just really knock the restored patches around."

The current focus has been on choosing the right sites to restore.

"Increasingly, we're realising that site selection and picking the places that really are still amenable to giant kelp forest growth is really crucial to the ongoing success of restoration, as well as just looking after the remnant forests that we do still have in Tassie," Dr Bennett said.

Cold water plunge for interns

The internship takes place over Tasmania's winter months, which is the optimal time to plant the kelp spores.

Ms Nuttens said over their month of diving, the interns are trained to handle the cold water.

"Diving in Tasmania can be a bit challenging," she said.

"Because of the cold water, we need to use thick wetsuits and that changes the buoyancy control, the techniques."

Ms Bird said it was a shock coming from the warm waters of California to the chilly Tasman Peninsula.

Immersive experience

To take part in the program, interns pay about $3,000, which covers board, food and dives for the month.

"I think the fact that they come and live in the dive centre, it is really immersive," Ms Nuttens said.

For the program's first intake, six participants took part over two months, with three interns in June, and another three in July.

As well as Ms Bird, the July interns included 27-year-old Hugo from Sweden and 20-year-old Paige from Perth.

Ms Bird said giant kelp was the subject of her master's project, so being able to participate in hands-on restoration was a great opportunity.

"We also do something called underwater gardening, which is a great term, and it was super fun," she said.

"We're basically cutting around the kelp restoration sites, so where we're out planting the juvenile giant kelp, we're cutting about a metre around all of the other kelp that could out-compete the juveniles."

For Ms Nuttens, she said she hoped the internship would allow more people to contribute to the restoration project, while giving young people valuable diving time and experience in the water.