WELLINGTON, May 20 (Xinhua) -- A New Zealand research released on Monday showed timber slash and debris from inundation is decimating the country's vital underwater kelp forests.

Silt and other contaminants from flooded land pour into the sea during increasingly frequent storm events, and this is threatening New Zealand's coastal ecosystems, said University of Canterbury (UC) Marine Science Distinguished Professor David Schiel.

Schiel is co-leading a five-year 11 million-NZ dollar (6.73 million U.S. dollars) research project exploring the issue.

"Sunlight, on which thriving kelp forests depend, is obstructed by this run-off in shallow coastal water," Schiel said, adding they saw many areas where the kelp was covered with a layer of sediment.

There is a rapidly accelerating degradation of New Zealand's kelp forests, a major concern for marine biodiversity, Schiel said.

Kelp forests support many species of invertebrates, sponges and other plants that coastal fish species feed on.

The Cyclone Gabrielle in early 2023 in New Zealand's North Island saw slash from recently harvested forestry blocks cascaded down slopes along with torrents of water, mud and debris and swept down into the ocean, often burying kelp forests and their resident species, Schiel said.

The damage is visible in satellite images of the coastline around East Cape, as a brown area in coastal waters from the clay that has washed down from catchments, is darkening the coastal waters and smothering the kelp forests.

"Increases in land-use intensification and forestry have added to the coastal stressors around the country," he said, adding scientists need to find ways to improve coastal management and prevent run-off from land damaging kelp forests.

Once sediment from the land settles on kelp forests it takes a long time to clear, Schiel said, adding these pernicious effects are long-lasting and very hard to reverse. Enditem

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