Advertise on podcast: Seaweed People

This one’s for early risers and big dreamers, those of you into kelp restoration fans, clothes made of seaweed, imagination, snorkelling and a fire by the beach, if you’re interested in how Indigenous Knowledges and ceremony can connect coastal communities, or how corporates can invest in the ocean  🌅🧶 Sea the Weed is a collaboration of organisations reforesting 70 hectares of once destroyed Phyllospora Comosa ('Crayweed') along Sydney’s coastline. Throughout 2025, friends Arthur Little and Brenden Newton from AIME have been running a monthly program of sunrise, ceremony and seaweed, drawing human attention back to nature and ‘looking sideways’. We recorded this one at Malabar beach, after a beautiful swim with the reforested crayweed.  Find dates and more info on the AIME website here. You can find and contact me @seaweed.people. Donate to support the making of this show at buymeacoffee.com/seaweedpeople. Also, listen to my new project, SOIL: Rewilding the Underground made with Freya Mulvey here.  Links to other stuff in this ep:  AIME - mentoring & the Imagi-Nation hub Operation Crayweed (also listen to episode 2 with Adriana Verges) Abyss Scuba Diving Making a Hoodie Podcast with Sea the Weed  The Grey Space podcast with Brenden Newtown AIME’s Imagine film The seaweed hoodie (+ the Regenerators website) PYRATEX innovative textiles Seaweed fabric Become a shareholder of the ocean (deck) This episode was recorded and produced on Gadigal & Bidjigal Country. I acknowledge and pay respects to First Nations people and their elders past and present as the ongoing custodians of Sea, Land and Sky Country. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You are going to love this conversation if you dream of spending a week greeting the sun with seaweed songs, having seaweed baths after saunas, if you’re into seaweed tattoos, if you’re a student or a teacher and you wanna go diving, and generally if you’re into the idea of regenerating underwater forests 🤿🛀🏽 Along with the team and communities behind Love Rimurimu, Zoe Studd is doing all of these things. Zoe is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Mountains to Sea Wellington Trust, where she manages both marine and freshwater education programs and citizen science programs, working with schools and communities in Aotearoa New Zealand. We talk about starting kelp restoration projects in schools, regenerating coastlines with science and cultural knowledge, and running a kickass seaweed festival. Follow the Love Rimurimu project here and on their socials. You can find and contact me @seaweed.people. Donate to support the making of this show at buymeacoffee.com/seaweedpeople. Links to other stuff in this ep:  Seaweeds of Wellington (video ID) Mountains to Sea Wellington Experiencing Marine Reserves community program New Zealand approves first special permit to remove kina barrens Project Baseline Wellington Kelp Forest Alliance website (or listen to Episode 11 with Aaron Eger) Green Gravel Group Love Rimurimu’s Seaweed Restoration Toolkit Seaweed Fest 2025 Hot tubs, seaweed soaks & saunas in Ireland This episode was recorded and produced on Gadigal Country. I acknowledge and pay respects to First Nations people and their elders past and present as the ongoing custodians of Sea, Land and Sky Country. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is for you if you’re wondering what the heck is going on across the sea for our friends in the US, if you’re into citizen science and communities coming together to protect kelp, and if you like a good ocean film 🌊🍿 Blue Frontier is a US-based organisation that’s been building solution-oriented citizen engagement for 20 years, to protect oceans, coasts and the human and wild communities that depend on them. We’re joined by Blue Frontier’s David Helvarg and Natasha Benjamin to talk about people-powered conservation, the seaweed rebellion and their new film Sequoias of the Sea, which documents a community of fishermen, tribes and scientists working to restore a kelp habitat devastated by a warming climate. Find out more about Blue Frontier here and follow the film Sequoias of the Sea here. You can find and contact me @seaweed.people. Donate to support the making of this show at buymeacoffee.com/seaweedpeople. Links to research, projects and stories touched on in this ep:  Sequoias of the Sea film (US) Blue Frontier - website Rising Tide - Blue Frontier’s podcast Jared Huffman (“Kelp Congressman”) White Rock film by the Great Southern Reef Foundation (Australia) The Australian Urchin Taskforce   The Golden Shore: California’s Love Affair with the Sea Kelp Forest Challenge The Seaweed Rebellion This episode was recorded and produced on Gadigal/Wangal Country. I acknowledge and pay respects to First Nations people and their elders past and present as the ongoing custodians of Sea, Land and Sky Country. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This one’s for you if you’re an artist, or a scientist or conservationist wanting to communicate in creative ways, and if you love the deep sea, the Great Barrier Reef and Kate Bush 🪸💎 Kirsty Kross is an eco-feminist Australian artist currently based in Oslo, Norway, whose work is about finding ways of connecting diverse groups with issues around the climate crisis, often by embodying a vibrant coral trout. We talk about deep sea mining, mesopotamian deities, which countries are two-tit countries and a seaside collaborative opera performance 📣🪼 You can find Kirsty at her website or on Instagram @kirstykrosss. You can find and contact me @seaweed.people. Donate to support the making of this show at buymeacoffee.com/seaweedpeople. Deep sea mining links & stories touched on in this ep:  Greenpeace AU petition to ban deep sea mining ahead of international ISA meeting in July 2025 Pacific Blue petition to ban deep sea mining Blue Peril short film New battleground in critical minerals race is on Australia’s doorstep What We Know About Deep-Sea Mining — and What We Don’t Analysis of the implications of deep seabed mining for the global biodiversity framework and the sustainable development agenda (WWF report) Immortal jellyfish! National Treasure at Woollahra Gallery, Redleaf The Cult of Atargatis and Transgender Priestesses Jack Halberstam on Queer Failure, Silly Archives and the Wild This episode was recorded and produced on Gadigal/Wangal Country. I acknowledge and pay respects to First Nations people and their elders past and present as the ongoing custodians of Sea, Land and Sky Country. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This one’s for you if you’re into nudibranchs, sea grapes, solar power, butterflies, citizen science and tongues with teeth(!?) 🌱🐛 Nicole Mertens is a marine ecologist with a passion for sacoglossans, a science communicator and the Nature Stewards Coordinator with the Victorian National Parks Association. Nicole is passionate about using citizen science as a platform for evidence-based conservation, and helping people connect with their local environment.  You can find Nicole and the VNPA team here and on socials @vicnationalparks.  You can find and contact me @seaweed.people. Donate to support the making of this show at buymeacoffee.com/seaweedpeople. Links to research, projects and stories touched on in this ep:  Seaslug census Facebook group (Australia) iNaturalist - sacoglossans of Victoria (good pics) Nudibranchs - videos + freaky facts Shaun the Sheep internet famous nudi Keep your head: the self-decapitating sea slugs that regrow their bodies – hearts and all Solar-powered sea slugs  VNPA ReefWatch citizen science programs This episode was recorded and produced on Gadigal/Wangal and Larrakia Country. I acknowledge and pay respects to First Nations people and their elders past and present as the ongoing custodians of Sea, Land and Sky Country. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This one’s for you if you’re interested in how a class action case works, if you wanna hear about seaweed farmers taking on big oil companies or if you’re also a soil person  🌱🪱 Freya Mulvey is a senior lawyer and environmental enthusiast who is passionate about implementing better soil and landscape regulation into policy and legal frameworks. She is a 2023 Churchill Fellow and a 2017 recipient of the Australian Lawyers Alliance Civil Justice Award for her work on the Montara Oil Spill. She is also a published author of the book Ground Breaking: Soil Security and Climate Change. We're also making a podcast together! You can find Freya on LinkedIn, subscribe to SOIL on Spotify here, find us on socials @soilpodcast or read more at thesoilpodcast.com. Donate to our Pozible campaign by March 16th or via our website afterwards. You can find and contact me @seaweed.people. Links to research, projects and stories touched on in this ep:  Indonesian seaweed farmers win class action over one of Australia's largest oil spills Interview with Greg Phelps Phil Mulvey, Environmental Earth Sciences International Ground Breaking: Soil Security & Climate Change (the book Freya co-authored with Phil Mulvey) SOIL - Pozible campaign Soil on Spotify Seaweed People is completely independent. You can support the making of this show at buymeacoffee.com/seaweedpeople. This episode was recorded and produced on Gadigal/Wangal and Larrakia Country. I acknowledge and pay respects to First Nations people and their elders past and present as the ongoing custodians of Sea, Land and Sky Country. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This one’s for you if you’re interested in biochar, giant kelp, marine engineering or thinking about seaweed as a solution to a whole lotta problems 🛠️🐟 Adam Brancher is a Principle Marine Surveyor and the Founder of Southern Ocean Carbon (now known as Next Wave Seaweed), which aims to mitigate the impacts of climate change through responsible seaweed mariculture and bio-mitigation around aquaculture farms. We touch on a few of the exciting projects his team is working on across the world in this episode, such as growing seaweed for bioplastics, offshore mariculture, IMTA and seaweed for food security.  Since this ep was recorded SOC has rebranded to Next Wave Seaweed - you can find them here or on socials @nextwaveseaweed. You can find and contact me @seaweed.people. Donate to support the making of this show at buymeacoffee.com/seaweedpeople. Links to research, projects and stories touched on in this ep:  The Problem with Carbon Credits and Offsets Explained Forensic carbon accounting with Catriona Herd (SP episode) Opportunities and constraints for biochar technology in Australian agriculture: looking beyond carbon sequestration (research) Kelpy (NSW-based seaweed bioplastic) Nopla - bioplastics Blue Economy CRC Hydrodynamic energy attenuation by seaweed aquaculture Developing Production Systems for Offshore Kelp Mariculture A new paper on seaweed explores its potential in nourishing low- and middle-income nations Some info on IMTA (integrated multi-trophic aquaculture) Nutrition, Nitrogen & circular Systems with Pia Winberg (SP episode) This episode was recorded and produced on Gadigal/Wangal and Palawa Pakana lands. I acknowledge and pay respects to First Nations people and their elders past and present as the ongoing custodians of Sea, Land and Sky Country. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You’ll love this ep, I just know it 🐋🦅 It’s for you if you like baby seahorses and migrating whales, if you live in a coastal city, if you've heard about wildlife coming back into harbours during lockdowns, or if you want to know what a strong collaboration between Indigenous knowledge-holders and western science looks like.  Robert Cooley is a Senior Ranger and leader of the Gamay Rangers, an Indigenous ranger team that cares for country on Gamay, or Botany Bay in Sydney, and on conservation land owned by the La Perouse Local Aboriginal Land Council. Since 2019, the Gamay Rangers team have been regenerating coastal habitats, protecting marine mammals, providing food for vulnerable people during Covid lockdowns and connecting local communities to Sea Country in Australia’s biggest city.  You can find Robert and the Gamay Ranger team on socials @gamayrangers. You can find and contact me @seaweed.people. Donate to support the making of this show at buymeacoffee.com/seaweedpeople. Links to research, projects and stories touched on in this ep:  La Perouse Local Aboriginal Land Council Operation Crayweed - restoring Sydney’s underwater forests  Operation Posidonia - healing old wounds  The Sydney Seahorse Project (SIMS/Gamay Rangers) SIMS Aboriginal Youth Ranger Program  Wild Sydney Harbour - citizen science project  Country Needs People - what are Indigenous Rangers? Indigenous Rangers (NIAA/gov) This episode was recorded and produced on Gadigal/Wangal and Bidjigal lands. I acknowledge and pay respects to First Nations people and their elders past and present as the ongoing custodians of Sea, Land and Sky Country. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This one’s for you if you’re into craft beer, you like dreaming up side hustles with your mates, you’re a chef wanting to experiment with kelpy umami or if you’re an aspiring seaweed farmer 👩🏽‍🍳🍻 Cam Hines and Brent “Bert” Cross are two of the three founders of Southern Seagreens. From backgrounds in craft beer and naval diving, they joined forces with Rob (the third, a scientist) to learn how to farm native kelp at their sea farm down in Flinders, Victoria. They also hunt wakame, one of the world’s most invasive (yet delicious) species, and turning it all into tasty treats.  You can find Cam & Bert via the Southern Greens website or socials. You can find and contact me @seaweed.people. Donate to support the making of this show at buymeacoffee.com/seaweedpeople. Links to research, projects and stories touched on in this ep:  AU government Invasive pests: Wakame control plan  Removing wakame (Parks Victoria) Mountain Goat Beer Aegir Divers (Bert’s company) GreenWave - global network of regenerative ocean farmers Reviving Tassie’s giant kelp with Mick Baron (SP companion episode about Macrocystis) Seaweed babies & kelp farms with Jo Lane (another companion ep about Ecklonia radiata) An Overview of the Alternative Use of Seaweeds to Produce Safe and Sustainable Bio-Packaging (Lomartire et al., 2022 - research) This episode was recorded and produced on Gadigal/Wangal land and Boon Wurrung/Bunurong land. I acknowledge and pay respects to First Nations people and their elders past and present as the ongoing custodians of Sea, Land and Sky Country. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is maybe as seaweed peopley as it gets. It’s for you if you want an overview of kelp forests, if you’re into rewilding and sea otters, if you have any kind of skill and want to put it toward conserving kelp, if you like the sound of a national marine gardening day or if you just want to hear about a big, impressive enviro movement 🦦⚡ Aaron Eger is the Founder and Program Director of the Kelp Forest Alliance, a global community of kelp restoration and conservation practices and research that evolved from his PhD. He was the lead author of the first ever kelp restoration guidebook and facilitated the creation of the Kelp Forest Challenge, a global mission to protect and restore 4 million hectares of kelp forests by 2040. You can find Aaron at UNSW or via the Kelp Forest Alliance website. You can find and contact me @seaweed.people. Support the show at buymeacoffee.com/seaweedpeople. Links to stuff we talk about:  Sunshine Coast Canada - Kelp ecosystem restoration  Sea Otters Have Helped Bolster California’s Kelp Forest Global Rewilding Alliance Global kelp forest restoration: past lessons, present status, and future directions (Eger et al., 2022) The Race to Help Kelp (Google resource. Great pics) Kelp Restoration Guidebook Kelp Forest Challenge  The Kelp Forest Challenge: A collaborative global movement to protect and restore 4 million hectares of kelp forests (open access) Korean Kelp Restoration Manual Gardening Marine Forests (film) - South Korean kelp restoration Tips for finding & contacting your local MP (courtesy of the Australian Marine Conservation Society) This episode was recorded and produced on Gadigal/Wangal land. I acknowledge and pay respects to First Nations people and their elders past and present as the ongoing custodians of Sea, Land and Sky Country. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You’ll enjoy this episode if you like games, if you’re a scientist looking for creative ways to communicate your research, if you run a music festival, a council or small town and want to know how to talk about climate change with your townsfolk 💥🦞 Boho Interactive is a collective of Australian artists, performers and game designers who create interactive games, performances and workshops in collaboration with research scientists. Their games have been played or experienced in theatres, festivals, museums, conferences and boardrooms. One such game is the urchin-lobster battle ‘Best Kelp Secrets’, commissioned by Australia’s national science agency, the CSIRO. Joining me today and playing the part of shiny lobster, is one part of this big creative team, Nathan Harrison.  You can find Boho Interactive through their website. You can find and contact me @seaweed.people. Support the show at buymeacoffee.com/seaweedpeople. Links to research, projects and stories touched on in this ep:  Best Festival Ever - how to manage a disaster - Boho Interactive game Invasive sea urchin endangers giant kelp forests - Invasive Species Council CSIRO’s work protecting giant kelp  Gamifying Government - Best Kelp Secrets commissioned by CSIRO Playful Activism, game mechanics and participation - Coney (UK) Evaluating a community of practice for Torres Strait Islander health and wellbeing - Lowitja Institute More on Boho’s work creating games with Indigenous communities  Get Ready Singleton: Disaster Dash - game created with Singleton Council This episode was recorded and produced on Gadigal/Wangal and Bidjigal land. I acknowledge and pay respects to First Nations people and their elders past and present as the ongoing custodians of Sea, Land and Sky Country. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This one’s for aspiring seaweed farmers, kelp ladies and anyone who loves a good seaweed yarn. We’re talking seaweed babies, wild harvesting, kelp farming and Ecklonia radiata - the backbone of the Great Southern Reef, also known as common kelp, leather kelp, thorny kelp or golden kelp.  Jo Lane has a background in marine science and sustainable coastal environments and is the owner of Sea Health Products, which make small-batch kelp products on the South Coast of NSW. She’s currently working on asparagopsis in South Australia as a research Lead with the Australian Sustainable Seaweed Alliance and, as a quite serious “side hustle”, she’s also developing kelp seedstock with a view to get kelp farming and restoration projects happening in Australia. You can find Jo on LinkedIn. You can find and contact me @seaweed.people.  Links to research, projects and stories touched on in this ep:  Ecklonia radiata (Atlas of Living Australia) The story of Betty, the original “Kelp Lady” Marine heatwaves and proliferation of sea urchins on Australia’s east coast Biology and Ecology of the Globally Significant Kelp Ecklonia radiata Ecklonia - covers reproductive cycle (Wernberg et al, 2019) Churchill Fellowship GreenWave - global network of regenerative ocean farmers ASSA Research to optimise propagation and growth of the red seaweed Asparagopsis  Homeward Bound leadership program for women in STEMM This episode was recorded and produced between Gadigal/Wangal land and Kaurna land. I acknowledge and pay respects to First Nations people and their elders past and present as the ongoing custodians of Sea, Land and Sky Country. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ooh yes, today we are hearing all about oysters! Also seascape restoration, pseudo-mangroves, living seawalls and a good use for potato chip waste. This one’s for you if you’ve heard that 85% of global oyster reefs are degraded thanks to humans (yikes) and if you want to know how we can help bring them back 🦪👻 Professor Melanie Bishop is a coastal ecologist who researches changes to temperate environments like coastal erosion, nutrient enrichment, and marine urban sprawl, as well as engineering interventions to create habitat and conserve native biodiversity in degraded seascapes. She co-leads the working group of the World Harbour Project as well as the Living Seawalls Program, which is part of the Project Restore with SIMS.  You can find Melanie at Macquarie University. You can find and contact me @seaweed.people.  Links to research, projects and stories touched on in this ep:  Living Seawalls with Project Restore  The World Harbour Project Biodiversity benefits of scaling up marine eco-engineering (research) Variable effects of substrate colour and microtexture on sessile marine taxa in Australian estuaries (research) New York’s Billion Oyster Project Oyster reef restoration around the world (The Nature Conservancy) Reef Builder - restoring oyster reefs in Australia  BESE - potato waste products for oyster reef restoration This episode was recorded and produced on Gadigal/Wangal land in Eora. I acknowledge and pay respects to First Nations people and their elders past and present as the ongoing custodians of Sea, Land and Sky Country. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Macrocystis! This episode is for you if you’ve always dreamt of diving through the iconic giant kelp forests in Tasmania, and if you’ve heard that they’ve completely disappeared, but also and if you want to hear about divers and scientists coming together to revive them 🏥🌱  Mick Baron is an avid diver, storyteller, underwater videographer and co-owner of the Eaglehawk Dive Centre. He’s spent 20 years as a scientific observer on fishing vessels in sub-Antarctic to tropical waters, and is an active campaigner for local marine conservation.  You can find Mick at the Eaglehawk Diver Centre. You can find and contact me @seaweed.people.  Links to research, projects and stories touched on in this ep:  The Dead Sea - interactive feature/video by Guardian Australia Satellite images track Tasmania’s declining kelp forests  Multi-decadal decline in cover of giant kelp Macrocystis pyrifera at the southern limit of its Australian range (research paper) Sea urchins are wreaking havoc on Tasmania's kelp forests Restoring Tasmania’s Giant Kelp forests  Assessing the feasibility of restoring giant kelp forests in Tasmania (Report) Kelp forest restoration in Australia (review paper) Giant kelp forests on Tasman Peninsula survive marine heatwave (ABC) A field guide to the marine invertebrates of South Australia - Karen Gowlett-Holmes (book) Reviving Giants - short film by the Great Southern Reef Foundation Kelp Forest Alliance  KelpTracker 2.0 - record sightings in TAS, VIC & SA This episode was recorded in teralina in lutruwita, aka Tasmania, and produced on Gadigal/Wangal land in Eora. I acknowledge and pay respects to First Nations people and their elders past and present as the ongoing custodians of Sea, Land and Sky Country. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is for you if you like rivers and oceans, if you want to connect deeper to Sea Country, if you live in Australia or another country where the dominant narrative of the ocean stems from a colonial or European history. Maybe you’re an educator or social worker, or you just love being outside.  Rhiannon Mitchell is a First Nations woman from the Mununjali people of Beaudesert, who grew up on Gumbaynggirr Country. She’s the founder of Saltwater Sistas, where she teaches young Aboriginal women and girls about the marine environment through mentoring, workshops, ocean conservation and connecting to Country.  This episode briefly touches on land theft and other themes of colonisation, so please listen with care.  You can find Rhiannon on socials @saltwater__sistas and read more about her programs and how you can get involved or support her work through her website. You can find and contact me @seaweed.people.  Links to research, projects and stories touched on in this ep:  Yaam Gymbaynggirr Jagun - here is Gumbaynggirr Country Coffs Harbour and District Local Aboriginal Land Council Donate to Saltwater Sistas NSW SharkSmart App Plastic Collective Lakota Peoples’ Law Project Action Centre - NoDAPL Campaign The #NoDAPL movement was powerful, factual, and Indigenous-led Aunty Bea Ballangarry Common Ground - amplifying First Nations knowledge, cultures and stories 13-YARN - 24/7 crisis support for Indigenous Australians This episode was made on Gadigal/Wangal land. I acknowledge and pay respects to First Nations people and their elders past and present as the ongoing custodians of Sea, Land and Sky Country. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.