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Coastal Atlas · Region

The Northwest Atlantic

The Gulf of Maine is among the fastest-warming bodies of ocean water ever measured, and the kelp coasts from Newfoundland down through Nova Scotia and into New England are living through the change season by season — sugar kelp thinning at its southern edge, green urchin barrens that alternate with forest on a decades-long rhythm, and a seaweed-farming sector growing as fast as the wild coast is changing. This is the Atlantic’s laboratory for what warming does to a kelp ecosystem, and for what people can do about it.

Browse 15 guidesAll regions
Stylised world map highlighting 15 Coastal Atlas guides in The Northwest AtlanticAleutian Islands — Otters, urchins and the far-western arc of bull kelpHaida Gwaii — Kelp forests at the edge of the continentVancouver Island — The wild west coast — swell, wolves and kelpOlympic Coast — Washington’s wilderness kelp below the Olympic rainforestPoint Reyes — Where the upwelling engine feeds a forestMendocino Coast — Life — and loss — on California’s bull kelp frontierMonterey Bay — The submarine canyon that feeds kelp, otters and whalesChannel Islands — California’s kelp forest crown jewelsCatalina Island — Clear water, garibaldi and a living kelp laboratoryBaja California — The warm-water southern frontier of giant kelpKangaroo Island — Kelp, seadragons and serious southern swellGreat Southern Reef — Australia’s forgotten kelp continentTasmania, east coast — The front line of southern-hemisphere kelp lossTasmanian giant kelp — What happened to the vanishing forests — and what’s being doneMaria Island — Tasmania’s island kelp sanctuaryJervis Bay — Kelp, seagrass and famously white sandMornington Peninsula — Melbourne’s kelp — dragons, piers and the HeadsStewart Island / Rakiura — New Zealand’s southernmost kelp strongholdHokkaido — Kombu grades, kelp roads and the Shiretoko wildsSanriku Coast — Ria-coast kelp, recovery and resilience after the tsunamiLofoten — Kelp forests under the northern lightsWest Scotland — Oarweed forests among the HebridesBrittany — Europe’s largest kelp forests — and its seaweed harvestRías of Galicia — Where kelp meets the harvest — and the mussel raftsCape Peninsula — Kelp at the edge of Africa, in two oceans at onceChile, Humboldt coast — The world’s richest kelp frontier, run by fishersStrait of Magellan — Subantarctic kelp at the end of the worldFalkland Islands — Mind-bending kelp beds that feed the Southern OceanSitka Sound — Herring, kelp and cultures beneath Mount EdgecumbePuget Sound — Bull kelp in the inland sea, at a city doorstepHood Canal — A natural fjord of octopus dens, wolf eels and breathless depthsSonoma Coast — Abalone country, after the bull kelpCasino Point — A kelp cathedral in a protected underwater parkFortescue Bay — Tasmania’s deep kelp gardens on the Tasman PeninsulaWellington south coast — Kelp at the capital’s doorstep, inside a marine reserveFiordland — Kelp beneath the mountains; black coral in the shallowsIse-Shima — Kelp gardens and the ama divers of JapanShakotan Peninsula — Hokkaido’s blue-water kelp coastInner Hebrides — Sea lochs, otters and kelp on Mull and SkyeFalse Bay, Cape — Snorkelling the Cape kelp beside a penguin colonyGarden Route — South Africa’s sunny kelp coastParacas, Peru — Kelp and anchoveta where desert meets upwellingGulf of Maine — Kelp meeting one of the fastest-warming seas on EarthNova Scotia — Kelp beds of the North Atlantic lobster coastNewfoundland & Labrador — Cold-water kelp and old cod grounds on Canada’s far eastVancouver Island — Sea otters, bull kelp and First Nations stewardshipOregon Coast — Bull kelp holding on at the upwelling edgeBass Strait — The rough water between two seas — kelp on the island reefsOtago — New Zealand’s southern swell forestsFiordland fiords — Cold-water diving beneath the rain-shadowed peaksBrittany — Europe’s great laminaria bedsOrkney & Shetland — Kelp at Britain’s northern rimNorway, taretrawling coast — How industrial kelp harvest shaped a nation’s coastNorway, mid-coast — Trondheim to the tangle kelp frontierSouth Africa — Where two oceans grow one forestSaldanha & Langebaan — South Africa’s quiet west-coast kelpSkeleton Coast, Namibia — Kelp at the desert’s edge on the Skeleton CoastMonterey Breakwater — The easy kelp forest shore dive, step by stepCornwall — Britain’s Celtic edge — seals, spring blooms and golden kelpShetland Islands — Otters, wrecks and clear Atlantic water at 60° NorthSenja, Arctic Norway — Kelp forests where mountains dive into the Barents SeaLoch Carron, Scotland — Maerl beds and kelp mazes in a sheltered Highland sea lochMilford Sound, Fiordland — A kelp forest that never sees the sun — under a freshwater ceilingOtago Peninsula — Royal albatross overhead, bull kelp and sea lions belowRickett’s Point, Melbourne — Melbourne’s pocket marine sanctuary of the Great Southern ReefCape Point, Cape Town — Two-ocean kelp diving among sharks and granite coresSydney — The crayweed comeback on the city coastKamchatka — Kelp forests on the Pacific’s wild far shoreIceland — Kelp forests where warm and Arctic currents collideFaroe Islands — Kelp in one of the world’s strongest tidal landscapesHelgoland — Germany’s only kelp island — and a century of marine recordsGreenland, southwest coast — The kelp frontier — forests expanding in a warming ArcticHudson Bay — Churchill coast — Sugar kelp under half a year of sea ice, belugas in the estuarySvalbard — Kelp in polar light — the High Arctic’s underwater forestsBanks Peninsula — Drowned-volcano harbours, kelp and Hector’s dolphinsCook Strait — Kelp in the torn narrows between two islandsChatham Islands — Bull kelp forests alone in the roaring fortiesSnares & Antipodes — New Zealand’s most remote kelp wildernessAmakusa, Kyushu — Nori and wakame craft on Kyushu’s island fringeBay of Fundy — Kelp and rockweed under the highest tides on EarthGulf of St Lawrence — Green kelp under the Magdalen tidesMagdalen Islands — Red sandstone, seals and kelp in the island gulfHakai Passage — Cold green water, sea otters and a living kelp laboratoryIreland, west coast — Storm kelp and harvest memory on the Wild Atlantic WayIsle of Man — An island-scale kelp census in the Irish SeaPortugal — The southern edge of the European kelp rangeLundy Island — England’s original marine reserve and its kelp wallsWhite Sea — Kelp forests under ice in a sheltered Arctic seaBruny Island — Tasmania’s southern kelp garden at the bottom of the mapWilsons Promontory — granite reefs and kelp forests at mainland Australia’s southern tipPortsea Pier — A shallow weedy-seadragon shore dive under a working timber pier at the edge of the HeadsRapid Bay Jetty — Leafy seadragons under twin jetties on the Fleurieu PeninsulaMontague Island — Australia’s fur-seal snorkel capital on kelp-fringed granite off NaroomaHead of Bight — Whales above the cliffs, kelp at their feetLeeuwin Capes — Kelp at the warm edge where the Leeuwin Current beginsPort Phillip Bay — Melbourne’s sheltered kelp and seadragon city gardenEsperance & the Recherche — Granite islands, white sand and golden kelpSydney, crayweed coast — The city that planted its forest backGough Island — World Heritage kelp beds at the world’s loneliest weather stationKerguelen Islands — Giant kelp in one of Earth’s most remote archipelagosTristan da Cunha — Kelp ringing the remotest inhabited island on EarthPrince William Sound — Kelp recovery in Alaska’s great fjorded seaKodiak Archipelago — Bears above, kelp below on Alaska’s emerald coastWhytecliff Park, Vancouver — Vancouver’s front-yard kelp wall, an easy shore diveDeception Pass, Washington — Current, wharf piles and bull kelp in the narrowsPoint Lobos, Monterey — The reserved slot at California’s crown-jewel cove diveMacquarie Island — Subantarctic giant kelp on a celebrated recovery storyBicheno, Tasmania — Tasmania’s quiet red-rock reef — sponges, kelp and clear waterKapiti Island — A marine reserve inside Wellington’s wild weatherPoor Knights Islands — Golden kelp in clear subtropical water at the boundary currentNorthland — Where New Zealand’s warm and cold currents meet — kelp, kina and the recovery lessonAuckland & Campbell Islands — The kelp kingdom nobody visits — New Zealand’s subantarctic wildsKorea, East Sea coast — Ecklonia cava forests and the haenyeo of the east coastJeju Island — The haenyeo coast and Korea’s living seaweed cultureKuril Islands — Kelp forests on the Pacific’s fiercest volcanic arcTaiwan, northeast coast — Kelp, Longdong’s dive reefs and the Kuroshio edgeMoray Firth — Dolphins, salmon and kelp on Scotland’s northeast shoulderPembrokeshire — Kelp, islands and tidal races on the Welsh frontierIsles of Scilly — Kelp, seals and clear Atlantic water off England’s far westChannel Islands, UK — Kelp at the warm edge of the English Channel rangeChiloé Island — Kelp, salmon country and the working coast of southern ChileChilean Patagonian channels — Kelp inside Chile’s drowned Andes — fjords, corals and whalesBeagle Channel — Kelp where Darwin first saw the forestSouth Georgia — Giant kelp at the edge of the iceGreat Bear Rainforest — Kelp forests beneath the world’s largest intact temperate rainforestHowe Sound — Vancouver’s fjord — glass sponges and recovering kelpBarkley Sound — Broken islands, kelp and a living laboratoryGerstle Cove, Salt Point — Sonoma’s reserve cove — abalone country turned sanctuaryPoint Loma, San Diego — One of the world’s great giant kelp forests at a city’s edgeGoat Island, Leigh — New Zealand’s first marine reserve and its easy kelp snorkelFoveaux Strait — Oyster grounds and bull kelp in New Zealand’s torn southern straitMurmansk coast — Arctic kelp where the Gulf Stream finally runs out of heatBohuslän, Sweden — Granite skerries and kelp on Sweden’s west coastBornholm — The Baltic’s last real kelp, clinging to a granite islandDevon — Kelp along England’s southwest peninsulaIroise Sea, Finistère — France’s great kelp reserve at the corner of BrittanyCantabria, Spain — Kelp at the southern edge of its European rangeAzores — Deep golden kelp gardens on mid-Atlantic volcanoesAzores — Volcanic shores holding the Atlantic’s oceanic kelp frontierRhode Island — Kelp on New England’s warm southern edgeCape Ann — Granite ledges and cold-water kelp on Boston’s doorstepGaspé Peninsula — Cold clear kelp water at the mouth of the St LawrencePenínsula Valdés — Kelp, whales and orcas on Argentina’s Patagonian shoreGulf of San Matías — Patagonia’s sea within a sea — giant kelp, scallops and seven-metre tidesCrozet Islands — Giant kelp wrapping the subantarctic’s loneliest archipelagoAmsterdam Island — A narrow giant-kelp ring on one of Earth’s most isolated specks of landThe Snares / Tini Heke — Storm-built bull kelp and endemic penguins on granite you may not touchTristan da Cunha — Giant kelp ringing the most remote inhabited archipelago on EarthPrince Edward Islands — Kelp, albatross and seals in the roaring fortiesGulf St Vincent — Adelaide’s shallow inverse-estuary sea of kelp and seadragonsAlgoa Bay — Where the great Cape kelp forest reaches its eastern limitAnglesey — Kelp, tidal races and bird islands off North WalesBig Sur — Giant kelp clinging to California’s steepest coastlineCape Breton Island — Kelp where the Gulf meets the open AtlanticThe Catlins — Bull kelp on New Zealand’s forgotten southern coastSecond Valley, SA — Shore-diving leafy seadragon country on the FleurieuCounty Donegal — Storm kelp on Ireland’s wild northwest cornerDorset, Jurassic Coast — Kelp ledges beneath England’s fossil cliffsFirth of Clyde — A grand sea on Scotland’s west coast, slowly recoveringNorthern Gulf of California — Kelp holding its warm-water edge in the Sea of CortezHeard & McDonald Islands — Kelp in the shadow of an active subantarctic volcanoIzu Peninsula — Japan’s warm kelp coast within reach of TokyoKing George Sound, Albany — A sheltered kelp jewel on Western Australia’s south coastLabrador — The subarctic kelp coast almost nobody seesMarion Island — Kelp, mice and albatross in the roaring fortiesMarlborough Sounds — Kelp in the drowned valleys at the top of the South IslandCotentin Peninsula — Normandy’s tidal kelp races at the corner of the ChannelNoto Peninsula — Home of satoumi, Japan’s art of coastal stewardshipOuter Hebrides — Tangle kelp on Scotland’s Atlantic frontierSado Island — Kelp, tub boats and the gold-mining coastYellow Sea (Shandong) — The farming heartland where kelp feeds a nationAzores — Volcanic reefs and kelp at the Atlantic’s midpointCanary Islands — Kelp forests on the edge of the SaharaCook Inlet, Alaska — Kelp beds in the land of bore tides and glacial siltGulf of Alaska — A thousand leagues of wild kelp shoreThe Kattegat — Kelp forests holding on in brackish waterKermadec Islands — Where New Zealand’s kelp reaches toward the tropicsLüderitz, Namibia — Benguela kelp growing against a desert shoreNewfoundland, east coast — Kelp and cold water in Iceberg AlleyRías Baixas, Galicia — Kelp, harvesters and the Galician tideSan Juan Islands — Bull kelp in the Salish Sea’s racing channelsHoutman Abrolhos — Where kelp and coral share the same reefDalmatian Coast — Cystoseira forests on the drowned karst of CroatiaEden, Twofold Bay — Kelp, whales and whaling history on the Sapphire CoastBoston Harbor Islands — Rockweed shores and kelp minutes from downtown BostonCape Arago, Oregon — Tidepools and bull kelp on Oregon’s rugged headlandFalkland kelp belt — Kelp so dense it damps the wavesKaikōura — Kelp, canyon currents and whales on one coastCalifornia’s Lost Coast — Roadless kelp wilderness under the King RangeCascais coast — Kelp on Lisbon’s rocky doorstepSaltstraumen — Kelp in the world’s strongest tidal currentShetland Islands — Britain’s far-north kelp, otters and sea cavesSicily — Where canopy Cystoseira still rules the rocksAsturias — Green Spain’s kelp cliffs and cider-coast reefsThe Baltic coasts — Bladderwrack meadow seas at the edge of salinityBasque Coast — Kelp ledges and fishing ports between Geopark cliffsEast Lothian — Kelp, castles and fulmars on Scotland’s southeast shoreGalápagos — A kelp forest rediscovered at the equatorIsle of Man (flora) — Species by species through the Manx tide racesScottish sea lochs — Sheltered kelp down the long, still lochsShikoku — Kelp brooms and a warm current on Shikoku’s Pacific shoreStrait of Juan de Fuca — Bull kelp standing in the gateway to the Salish SeaSydney platforms — Sandstone platforms striped with seaweedWestfjords, Iceland — Iceland’s kelp wilderness of seals and eiderSeto Inland Sea — Seaweed gardens inside Japan’s island seaBantry Bay, West Cork — Kelp forest in a drowned valley — and Ireland’s great harvest battleBasque surf coast — Swell, flysch and the kelp beneath the surf breaksBrowns Bank — An offshore kelp bank science has watched for fifty yearsCorsica — Cystoseira canopy, Posidonia meadows and the Med’s deep-water kelpZhoushan archipelago — A legendary fishing ground where the Yangtze meets the seaEsperance, remote east — Expedition kelp beyond the postcards — Cape Arid to Israelite BayBahía Magdalena — A gray-whale lagoon with kelp holding the outside shoreMagdalena Bay — Standing on the cold–warm seam of kelp’s southern worldIsla Guadalupe — White sharks, fur seals and kelp at the southern edgePribilof Islands — Fur seals, seabird cities and shelf-edge kelp far at seaCommander Islands — Fog-bound kelp wilds at the Aleutian arc’s western endAcadia coast, Maine — Rockweed shores and cold kelp ledges beneath Acadia’s graniteArraial do Cabo, Brazil — Deep, upwelled kelp growing where kelp should not beGreat Barrier Island — Auckland’s wild outer-gulf island of kelp reefs and dark skyPortland–Discovery Bay — Golden kelp in heavy swell on Victoria’s far westWestern Port — Mangroves, mudflats and kelp in Melbourne’s quiet second bayAlaska Peninsula — An 800-km volcanic finger splitting two seas, fringed in kelpPhillip Island — Little penguins above, golden kelp forests belowBlack Sea coast — No true kelp — but ancient Cystoseira forests on brackish reefsSardinia — The Mediterranean’s Cystoseira canopy at its most beautifulNorthumberland coast — Castles on crags, eider ducks and kelp along England’s empty northeastBay of Plenty — Warm-current kelp at its subtropical limit, with volcanic islands offshoreCoromandel Peninsula — Golden kelp, snapper nurseries and the Cathedral Cove marine reserveDerwent Estuary — Kelp restoration in Hobart’s front yard — an industrial estuary healingPort Stephens — The northern hinge of the Great Southern Reef — kelp beside sponge gardensSulu Archipelago — Eucheumatoid seaweed farms staked across Coral Triangle shallowsMontenegro coast — Cystoseira forests beneath the drowned canyon of the Bay of KotorAlbanian Riviera — Karst reefs and algal forests on the Mediterranean’s least-studied coastChonos Archipelago — Chile’s drowned coastal range — kelp channels beside mussel farms and whalesArraial do Cabo — a wind-driven upwelling that parks cold, nutrient-rich water on Brazil’s warm coastBahía de Concepción — Humboldt-fed kelp beds beside Chile’s industrial coast and artisanal dive fisheriesEnsenada — giant kelp at its warm southern range edge, off Bahía de Todos SantosSt Helena Bay — The upwelling heart of the West Coast kelp fringeAbel Tasman / Golden Bay — Split-apple granite, golden-sand anchorages and fern-hung kelp coastAntarctic Peninsula — Seaweed forests clinging to the frozen edge of the kelp worldBig Sur — Vertical cliffs, deep kelp and the steepest shelf in CaliforniaLa Jolla — Kelp canopy growing above the twin submarine canyonsMalibu coast — Historic Hollywood kelp beds, restored beside the cityWest coast, Vancouver Island — Surf-beaten outer coast of glassy swells, canyons and bull kelpBarkley Sound & Bamfield — Broken Group islands, tongue of ocean swell and a century of marine scienceStrait of Georgia — The Salish Sea’s deep central basin between island and mainland mountainsKachemak Bay — Tide-raced Alaskan bay of bull kelp at the end of the roadResurrection Bay — A glacial fjord of kelp walls within easy reach of AnchorageSt Abbs–Eyemouth — Britain’s celebrated marine reserve — kelp walls in East Coast swellAleutian Islands — The wildest, loneliest kelp arc on EarthAnacapa Island — Compact kelp gardens in lee and surge, close to a million peopleBodega Head — A granitic hammerhead of bull kelp and marine-lab memoryCarmel Bay — Four decades of protection under the cypressesClayoquot Sound — Kelp beds at the feet of the ancient rainforestGlacier Bay — New kelp forests colonising the wake of retreating icePoint Lobos — The crown-jewel reserve of American kelp divingPoint Reyes — Wind, fog and upwelling at a continental corner

Stylised position plot, not to scale — teal dots mark guides in The Northwest Atlantic; faded dots are coastlines elsewhere in the atlas.

15 coastline guides

Waters: Northwest Atlantic · Northwest Atlantic / Scotian Shelf · Gulf of Maine · Gulf of St Lawrence · Northwest Atlantic / Labrador Current · Northwest Atlantic / Gulf of Maine · Labrador Sea · Gulf of St Lawrence / Atlantic

Northwest Atlantic

The Bay of Fundy: Kelp Under the Highest Tides on Earth

Kelp and rockweed under the highest tides on Earth.

13 min read · The Northwest Atlantic

Northwest Atlantic / Scotian Shelf

Browns Bank: Nova Scotia's Kelp Bank on the Scotian Shelf

An offshore kelp bank science has watched for fifty years.

9 min read · The Northwest Atlantic

Gulf of Maine

Cape Ann: Kelp Ledges and Old Granite on Massachusetts' North Shore

Granite ledges and cold-water kelp on Boston’s doorstep.

7 min read · The Northwest Atlantic

Northwest Atlantic

The Gulf of Maine: Where Kelp Meets the Fastest-Warming Sea

Kelp meeting one of the fastest-warming seas on Earth.

9 min read · The Northwest Atlantic

Northwest Atlantic

The Gulf of St Lawrence: Green Kelp Under the Tides of the Magdalens

Green kelp under the Magdalen tides.

9 min read · The Northwest Atlantic

Gulf of St Lawrence

The Magdalen Islands: Kelp and Red Sandstone in the Gulf of St Lawrence

Red sandstone, seals and kelp in the island gulf.

9 min read · The Northwest Atlantic

Gulf of Maine

Maine's Acadia Coast: Kelp Where the Mountains Meet the Gulf

Rockweed shores and cold kelp ledges beneath Acadia’s granite.

7 min read · The Northwest Atlantic

Northwest Atlantic

Nova Scotia: Kelp Beds of the North Atlantic

Kelp beds of the North Atlantic lobster coast.

12 min read · The Northwest Atlantic

Northwest Atlantic

Rhode Island: Kelp on the Southern Edge of New England

Kelp on New England’s warm southern edge.

8 min read · The Northwest Atlantic

Northwest Atlantic / Labrador Current

Newfoundland's East Coast: Kelp in Iceberg Alley

Kelp and cold water in Iceberg Alley.

9 min read · The Northwest Atlantic

Gulf of St Lawrence

The Gaspé Peninsula: Kelp, Capelin and Cold Water in the Gulf of St Lawrence

Cold clear kelp water at the mouth of the St Lawrence.

9 min read · The Northwest Atlantic

Sunlit sugar kelp forest swaying over granite boulders in the clear green water of Boston Harbor, with green sea urchins on the rock and schooling fish in the canopy

Northwest Atlantic / Gulf of Maine

Boston Harbor Islands: Kelp's Comeback Beside a Cleaned-Up City

Rockweed shores and kelp minutes from downtown Boston.

9 min read · The Northwest Atlantic

Northwest Atlantic / Labrador Current

Kelp Forests of Newfoundland and Labrador: Cold-Water Kelp and Cod

Cold-water kelp and old cod grounds on Canada’s far east.

8 min read · The Northwest Atlantic

Labrador Sea

Kelp Forests of Labrador: The Subarctic Coast Few People See

The subarctic kelp coast almost nobody sees.

9 min read · The Northwest Atlantic

Gulf of St Lawrence / Atlantic

Kelp Forests of Cape Breton: Where the Gulf Meets the Atlantic

Kelp where the Gulf meets the open Atlantic.

9 min read · The Northwest Atlantic

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The Northeast PacificAustralia & the Great Southern ReefNew ZealandEast AsiaEuropeThe North Atlantic & ArcticSouthern AfricaSouth AmericaPatagonia & the Southern Ocean

Where Tidewright works

Several coastlines in the atlas host Tidewright restoration programs — see the global map and the work itself.

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