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.

This episode’s for you if you’re into eating seaweed, sustainable food systems, Nitrogen cycles, how seaweed can heal burns, or if you’ve ever daydreamed about being a humble seaweed farmer 🧑‍🌾🍝

Dr Pia Winberg is a marine ecologist who’s spent the past 25 years working in and researching sustainable marine development. In her words, she’s now in “the business of growing seaweed in a circular economy” and her main focus is developing systems to sustainably cultivate seaweeds in Australia. She runs two companies, Phycohealth and Venus Shell Systems, she has seaweed products on the shelves of supermarkets and she’s currently testing the wound-healing properties of seaweed cells.

You can find Pia at Phycohealth or Venus Shell Systems and on social media @phycohealth. You can find and contact me @seaweed.people.

Links to research, projects and stories touched on in this ep:

People in Europe ate seaweed for thousands of years

Your Evidence Based Guide to Seaweed a Superfood for the Gut

Iodine levels in seaweed and seaweed products in Australia

The Australian prawn farm raising the bar for sustainable aquaculture (not Sri Lanka, but same vibe)

What Is the Nitrogen Cycle and Why Is It Key to Life?

More on how Pia’s seaweed factory works

The circular economy at sea

Pia’s personal story of seaweed & wound healing

Seaweed and skin - skincare and wound healin

Harvesting seaweed to make skin from the sea

This episode was recorded and 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.