photo of a hand holding a rope with kelp growing on it.

Generation Restoration

Feeding hope and resilience back into kelp forests and the community

Salish Sea kelp ecosystems are among the most vital and most threatened ecosystems in Canadian waters. Kelp forests are foundational and provide critical habitat and food for diverse species, including commercially, recreationally, and culturally valuable species such as salmon, rockfish, lingcod, herring, prawns and crab. Kelp provides vital ecosystem services, stabilizing shorelines, filtering water, mitigating storm surges, and capturing large quantities of carbon, helping to mitigate climate change and counteract ocean acidification. 

Join Lee-Ann Ennis as she tells her inspiring story of cultivating kelp for fish habitat and restoration projects.

Recorded Friday June 9, 2023.

About Lee-Ann Ennis

With a background studying marine science at UVic, and Bamfield Marine Science Centre, Lee-Ann had picked up experience cultivating red seaweeds for agar, the most common phycocolloid used as gelling agents in the food, biotech and cosmetic industries. Lee-Ann rekindled her passion for seaweed science when she witnessed first hand the disappearance of kelp on the Sunshine Coast. She realized how truly important kelp are as habitat for a wide range of fish and invertebrate species, serving as resting, foraging and essential nursery grounds. It occurred to her that by cultivating kelp, she could actually make a tangible difference for quite a few million fish. Lee-Ann has been busy ever since and will share her story that may inspire the next generation of restoration, feeding hope and resilience back into kelp forests and the community. 

Additional resources

The Nature Conservancy – June 2023 Magazine Article – The Vanishing Kelp Forest.

Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre is a not-for-profit, registered Canadian charity dedicated to education and research related to coastal marine sciences. Kelp Support Research project includes kelp incubators.

Seaweed Sorter. Pacific Northwest Edition. Patrick Martone. APPLE APP, in the App store.

Kelp Forest Alliance. The Kelp Forest Alliance is a collaborative home that brings together people and organizations to enhance, protect, and restore these incredible ecosystems.

Kelp Forest Challenge. Anyone can get involved, it doesn’t matter if you are a snorkeller, CEO, scientist, artist, Prime Minister, or ocean lover you can join the movement. 


Sea Stars of the Pacific Northwest. This website includes descriptions of over 30 species of sea stars encountered from the intertidal zone to a depth of 30 m (100 ft) on the Pacific coast of North America.

underwater photo of sea star.
Underwater photo of kelp with diver light.
Photo from Hakai Institute website. Photo by Flip Nicklin/Minden Pictures.

Kelp Gets on the Carbon-Credit Bandwagon. Hakai Magazine article.

Potential role of seaweeds in climate change mitigation. (scientific paper)