Shooting for the Stars: Sunflower Star Laboratory's community-based approach to Pycnopodia conservation and kelp forest recovery

August 21, 2025

Reuven Bank, Cofounder and Chairman of the Board, Sunflower Star Laboratory

Sunflower Star Laboratory (SSL) is a conservation aquaculture nonprofit dedicated to restoring the critically-endangered Sunflower Star and saving California's kelp forests. In part because of the loss of this keystone urchin predator, over 96% of Northern California's kelp forests have disappeared in the last decade. In this talk, learn about how SSL is currently raising part of the first cohort of human-reared juvenile Sunflower Stars in California, conducting scientific research, and coordinating Sunflower Star recovery with partner institutions across North America.