Humanity has inflicted widespread ecocide on global marine ecosystems since the industrial revolution (1). Indiscriminate dredging of the seabed has decimated thriving ecosystems and vast biogenic empires, leaving only barren sedimentary plains [e.g., (2)]. However, despite the extent of habitat loss and humanity’s increasing impact on the ocean, many marine habitats still demonstrate astonishing capacity for rapid recovery (3, 4). In southern Australia, for example, a rapid reversal of ecological extinction is underway.