Operation Crayweed

Operation Crayweed

The revival of Sydney’s underwater forests

Off Sydney’s shoreline, a vital restoration is taking place. At its centre is Professor Adriana Vergés, a marine ecologist at UNSW and the driving force behind Operation Crayweed, a project bringing Sydney’s lost seaweed forests back to life.

Creative Director Sarah Gittoes and the SARAH & SEBASTIAN team spent the day with Professor Vergés and her researchers, learning about their pioneering work and documenting the restoration process firsthand.

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Why it Matters

Crayweed (Phyllospora comosa) may be little known, but its impact is immense. Forming dense underwater forests, it provides refuge, nourishment, and structure for countless marine species while absorbing carbon, supporting fisheries, and protecting coastlines from erosion.

Once abundant from Port Macquarie to Tasmania, Crayweed vanished from Sydney’s reefs in the 1980s after decades of pollution. Though the water has long since cleared, the forests never returned, leaving behind a barren seafloor and fragile ecosystem.

RESTORING WHAT WAS LOST

Professor Vergés and her team are working to bring back Sydney’s lost underwater forests through the Operation Crayweed project. They collect healthy crayweed plants from thriving reefs north and south of the city and transplant them onto rocky areas where the species once grew.

The seaweeds are secured with temporary mesh to help them take hold until they can attach naturally. Once established, they release spores that settle nearby and grow into new plants, gradually rebuilding underwater forests that can sustain themselves into the future.

THE REPLANTING

In September, the SARAH & SEBASTIAN team joined the Operation Crayweed team at Wylies Baths in Coogee. Together, we prepared and planted over one hundred live crayweed.

The process was precise and collaborative; sorting, measuring, and bundling plants before divers secured them to the reef below. Small in scale perhaps, yet each planting becomes part of a larger story: a once-barren reef beginning to breathe again.

OUR COMMITMENT

Through our philanthropic initiative, The Xanthe Project, we’re proud to support Operation Crayweed. Each planting represents more than restoration; it’s a promise of renewal and a future where Sydney’s underwater forests return, thriving and untamed.

Learn more about Operation Crayweed and our other conservation initiatives within the Xanthe Project.

Discover the Xanthe Project