“A decade ago, hundreds of miles of the rugged seaside were flanked by thick, swaying underwater forests of amber-green bull kelp that were home to fish, abalone and a host of other species.”
Bull kelp off Sonoma and Mendocino is down 95 percent since 2013. A disease wiped out the sea stars that eat urchins, then marine heatwaves hit the kelp. The urchins ate the rest. More than 200 miles of coast is now bare rock and spines, and nobody saw it happen because it happened underwater.