In the latest episode of Changing Waters, Global Ocean Health’s Deputy Director Julia Sanders interviews kelp guru, Dr. Tom Mumford from the Friday Harbor Laboratories, University of Washington in Seattle.   From Northern California to Southern Oregon, kelp is undergoing devastating losses, with 95% of kelp forests transformed into urchin barrens.   Tom explains what happened and the miraculous benefits kelp provides as an ecosystem engineer and as a source for new scientific discoveries.   From kelp-derived plastic you can eat, to wound care, from rediscovering how kelp can help farmers, to a critical contributor to biodiversity and marine food webs, there is much to be gained from kelp.  Catch this episode of Changing Waters and open your eyes to a miracle macroalgae and the struggle to keep it thriving in changing ocean conditions. 

In the first of Changing Waters’ new series on the plight of southern resident killer whales, National Fisheries Conservation Center/Global Ocean Health’s Deputy Director Julia Sanders interviews NOAA researcher Laurie Weitkamp about the food web effects caused by recent heat waves in the Pacific ocean, including the “warm blob.” These changing conditions have caused major disturbances all the way up the food web: starting with microscopic plankton and ending with our beloved Orca whales. Learn more about what’s happening in our changing waters as temperatures rise and fisheries face abrupt disruptions — including the Chinook salmon that southern resident killer whales rely on.