{"id":1587,"date":"2018-11-28T14:57:19","date_gmt":"2018-11-28T22:57:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mlml.sjsu.edu\/aquaculture\/?page_id=1587"},"modified":"2021-04-27T10:42:02","modified_gmt":"2021-04-27T17:42:02","slug":"upcoming-projects","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/mlml.sjsu.edu\/aquaculture\/upcoming-projects\/","title":{"rendered":"Upcoming Projects"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tUPCOMING PROJECTS\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
\n
\n\t

Assessment of practical methods for re-establishment of northern California bull kelp populations at an ecologically relevant scale<\/h2>\n

Mike Graham and Scott Hamilton received funding from California Sea Grant to identify cost-effective ways of enhancing bull kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana<\/i>) recruitment at local to regional scales. Ocean warming and seastar wasting disease, which caused the collapse of populations of an important sea urchin predator (the sunflower star Pycnopodia<\/i>), resulted in dramatic declines and overgrazing of bull kelp populations. Over broad scales, productive kelp forests shifted to unproductive sea urchin barren grounds. The lack of sources of bull kelp reproductive material paired with high grazing pressure make natural re-establishment challenging. Further, bull kelp is an annual species that primarily occupies areas of high water motion, thus it exhibits a high degree of natural temporal variability within and across seasons. Despite this, bull kelp is an ecologically and economically impactful species serving as habitat and food to many marine species. The goals of restoration efforts are to add bull kelp reproductive material and sporophytes (i.e., established juvenile size classes) to areas cleared of sea urchins to re-establish kelp populations through natural recruitment.<\/strong><\/h6>\n
The four ways of re-establishment include: (1) concentration of reproductive sori in bags, (2) attachment of aquaculture produced free-floating sporophytes by SCUBA, (3) scattering of bull kelp seeded gravel by SCUBA, and (4) surface scattering of bull kelp seeded gravel by boat.\u00a0 The California Ocean Protection Council (OPC), California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) and Reef Check California have been working to establish urchin removal sites in Mendocino County, which will be used to test the different modes of outplanting bull kelp for our restoration efforts.<\/strong><\/h6>\n
We have three 1000-gallon tanks at the MLML Aquaculture Facility that will serve as broodstock of bull kelp sporophytes. Smaller trough tanks will hold gravel for the establishment of seeded substrate. Initial testing is ongoing for production of seeded substrates and free-floating sporophytes via tumble culture.<\/strong><\/h6>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>
\n
\n\t