Kelp forests once covered vast areas of coastline in the county. But 96% had been wiped out by 2019, largely due to the great storm of 1987 and fishing practices known as bottom-trawling.
The way they phrased that, first of all, makes it sound like bottom-trawling isn't well known which I find preposterous, but ok. Secondly it also sounds like "oh, we can't be sure, might be 50/50 if it was some storm in 1987 or the constant trawling for decades thereafter, who knows!". Right.
In any case, I'm happy to hear this project is turning out so well.