KQED News: Divers and Scientists Try to Save Northern California's Kelp Forests
Jon Holcomb is an old-time urchin diver with the leathery skin of a man who spends a lot of time on his boat. On a sunny morning in August, he motors out to a cove by the town of Mendocino, and squints across the water.
“This was solid kelp,” says Holcomb. “When we first came here in the mid-'80s, this was a complete mat, you couldn't swim through.”
And now?
“Well, it's devoid of kelp,” he says. “It's like a lake.”