“Aren’t they so cute?” says Rachael Karm, a Sonoma State University research technician, who’s peering into an open-topped tub of swirling seawater, alongside researchers Julieta Gómez and Rietta Hohman, of the Greater Farallones Association. The objects of their admiration are tiny, brown algal sprouts clinging to submerged PVC pipes, illuminated by Barbie-pink grow lights. They look about as consequential as the scum in a dirty fish tank. But these little babies—two-month-old sporophytes of bull kelp, Nereocystis luetkeana—could represent the future of Northern California’s imperiled kelp forests.

Earlier this month, Bay Area researchers […] made baby kelp grow on twine in a lab, then wrapped the twine around clay bricks and deposited them into Drakes Bay, a part of Point Reyes National Seashore that was once dense with the golden, towering strands of seaweed. […]. The restoration will take place within the marine sanctuary, 3,300 square miles of protected waters from Marin County to Mendocino County where about 80 miles of coastline have lost kelp forest and with it opportunities for recreational abalone diving.

A unique ocean-going restoration effort is just getting underway along the Sonoma Coast and its goal is to rescue an underwater forest that’s critical to marine life. […] “So kelp loss has been a devastating issue along the Northern California coastline, particularly in Sonoma and Mendocino County. And so the scale of loss is incredible. It’s over 90 percent since 2014,” says Rietta Hohman, who’s leading the cutting-edge kelp restoration project for the Greater Farallones Association and the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary.

Alarmed by the rapid loss of the bull kelp forests along the northern California coast in the past decade, researchers are hoping to unlock the key to reviving the vibrant underwater ecosystems along the coast of Marin and Sonoma counties. […] This week, researchers with the Greater Farallones Association—the nonprofit partner of the marine sanctuary—and Sonoma State University will tie lengths of twine that have been infused with bull kelp spores onto hundreds of bricks, which will then be tossed into different parts of the bay.

A new deep-sea coral species described as a small, yellow octocoral and named Chromoplexaura cordellbankensis, was discovered in Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary. Researchers, including staff from Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary and Greater Farallones Association, made the discovery during an expedition aboard the NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada in the summer of 2018. Remotely operated vehicles (ROV) were used to collect the individual specimen, and the species was formally described by scientists at the California Academy of Sciences and University of Costa Rica.

Greater Farallones Association with Greater Farallones and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuaries, and other partners, set out for a two-week deep-sea expedition off the Marin coast in August 2018. The goal of the trip is to learn more about the corals, sponges, and other marine life adapted to this unique environment, in order to inform management activities that protect these sensitive areas and important animals.

The Greater Farallones Education Team travels north! From crab costumes to squid dissections, the students at Fort Ross Elementary School and six other schools, learned about sea life and coastal protection through hands-on education.

Sea levels may be rising but one Bay Area beach community is not going down without a fight. In Stinson Beach many believe sand dunes are the key to battling erosion. Dr. Doug George, coastal geologist at the Greater Farallones Association, and Marin County are deep into the process of getting the money together for a study to find solutions. When they do, the study will likely take several years. Public commenting, permitting, will add even more time so beachgoers won’t see construction any time soon.

The European green crab is costing the fishing industry nineteen million dollars a year on the East Coast alone. And now, the invasive species has been spotted up and down the West Coast from British Columbia to here in California. But a group of California ecologists are striking back. The team has focused their efforts on a small inlet in Marin County called Seadrift Lagoon. The key to fending off this species is to let them grow into adulthood.

On Nov. 7, 2007 reports on the Cosco Busan spill reached Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary. Staff of the Sanctuary and Greater Farallones Association began to mobilize Farallones Beach Watch volunteers.

The Greater Farallones Association’s LiMPETS program empowered high school students to present their science alongside professionals. “It was incredible to have scientists coming up to us, asking questions about our research. They were all blown away by how we’re only in high school, and we have the opportunity to present at a prestigious conference,” said Frankie Gerraty at The Branson School.