Chiix̱uu Tll iinasdll: Nurturing Seafood to Grow Just as the forests of Gwaii Haanas are important places for many species and the people of Haida Gwaii, so are the underwater kelp forests. A huge benefit to the coastal communities and ecosystems, kelp forests act as nurseries, habitat and abundant feeding grounds for species of fish and seafood that people eat. Kelp forests are also home to many species protected under Canada’s Species at Risk laws. The fast growth of kelp helps coastal, marine and even offshore ecosystems by forming natural breakwaters, acting as the ocean’s cafeteria for everything from tiny shrimp to fish to large marine mammals. Kelp forests also help prevent our shorelines from eroding. Unfortunately, many of the underwater kelp forests of Gwaii Haanas are out of balance and have shrunk considerably. Nearly 200 years ago, kuu (sea otters) disappeared from Gwaii Haanas as a result of the maritime fur trade, and coastal ocean ecosystems in the area have experienced a cascade of change ever since. The reason is that sea otter are keystone predators – voracious consumers of marine invertebrates like sea urchin, crab and abalone. Without otters keeping populations in check, spiny sea urchin numbers grew and grew, and the cascade began. Urchins in turn began to graze down the rich kelp forests on which species like the endangered northern abalone and many rockfishes (yelloweye, bocaccio, canary, quillback) depend. Kelp forests declined in quantity and quality, which in turn created what are called urchin barrens. Urchin barrens are long expanses of ocean floor with many, many urchin and very little or no kelp. In some places the seafloor is now barren, reminiscent of a clear-cut forest, and no longer able to support a diverse marine ecosystem.

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