Plymouth kelp forests dedicated to Queen in ceremony

The brown seaweed offers shelter, foraging and a nursery habitat for fish and shellfish, say marine biologists

Underwater forests of kelp have been dedicated to the Queen in a ceremony.

The marine habitat off Plymouth comes under the Queen's Green Canopy which was set up as part of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

Kelp forests are some of the most productive ecosystems in the world and help regulate the atmosphere by absorbing carbon dioxide.

Endurance swimmer Lewis Pugh led a wild swimming relay to mark the occasion.

He said: "Underneath the water is a hidden treasure, these kelp forests, and it is a home for so much wildlife.

"When you walk in a forest you are looking up at the branches and the leaves and the birds and the trees, but when you swim through a kelp forest it's a completely different perspective.

Swimmer Lewis Pugh called kelp a "hidden treasure"

"You are on top, in the canopy looking down, and you can swim down into the canopy, and look at all the amazing fish swimming around you.

"It's a different perspective - it's beautiful down there."

They are the only marine forests to become part of the Queen's canopy, a tree planting project to mark the Platinum Jubilee.

Colonel Dan Rex, CEO of the Queen's Green Canopy said: "Kelp forests are as big as terrestrial forests and do the same thing in sequestering carbon, and providing a habitat to the amazing marine creatures."

Kelp is the name given to several species of large brown seaweed, and their forests in the UK cover an area similar in size to the country's woodlands.

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