What in the world is eelgrass? Eelgrass is a simple, ribbon-like, rooted, aquatic perennial plant that grows just below the low-tide level all over the world. It is one of the few seed bearing plants that can grow in salt water. Found in sheltered bays, salt ponds, inlets, tidal flats, tidal creeks, and at the mouth of estuaries, its habitat is shallow saline waters in sandy mud. It likes to grow where the currents are not too swift, there is low wave disturbance, and sunlight is able to penetrate the water. A suitable temperature for eelgrass growth is between 9 and 16 degrees C. Eelgrass pollination is very effective because it lasts for days and is carried about by currents. It resembles the same growth pattern as grass by forming underwater prairies. Eelgrass shares its environment and provides a useful service for other plant and animal life from Greenland to Florida and in Narragansett Bay. It is the primary source of food for many animals in Narragansett Bay, such as cod, plaice, and brandt geese. The depletion of eelgrass is having devastating consequences on Narragansett Bay's ecosystem.

Eelgrass is important because it serves as a critical nursery and shelter for shrimp, minnows, scallops, eels, mussels, crabs, clams, horseshoe crabs, and juvenile blue fish. Scallops and other mollusks are able to escape the oxygen-poor mudflats, avoiding suffocation, by holding out in eelgrass beds. Spider crabs utilize eelgrass as a mooring during its molting process. Eelgrass nourishes crabs, worms, shrimp, and sea urchins that feed on the detritus that eelgrass provide. Eelgrass is also important because it's a filter of pollutants and a key place for nutrient cycling. It has long slender blades for absorbing the sunlight energy. The blades also produce oxygen so other animals can breathe. Finally, eelgrass guards against shoreline erosion by dampening wave energy from storms. To stop erosion, eelgrass grows its roots down in the mud and holds it there so the water canít wash away the mud and deprive plants from growing.

In our classroom at Rocky Hill School we deal with eelgrass hands on. Our science teacher Mr. Worthington use to work at Save the Bay and he signed up our seventh grade class for the eelgrass restoration project. We had tried to grow eelgrass last year but the adult eelgrass died. This year, Elizabeth Dickens from Save the Bay came into our classroom and told us how to specifically plant eelgrass and how to take care of it so it would not die (The seventh grade class is divided into two sections, one blue, and one white. We're in white.). Our white section sorted the good seeds from the bad seeds (you need to get rid of the squishy ones because they have already started to germinate, we kept the hard ones for planting). We also labeled the two plastic containers provided by Save the Bay. On the long side of both containers every centimeter we wrote a number (1, 2, 3...); on the short side of both containers every centimeter we wrote a letter (A, B, C...). We put the letters and numbers on the containers so we could record the data (where the specific eelgrass blades were growing). Save the Bay wanted us to keep a record of how much the longest blades grew.

The next step was to put in some layers of sand into the containers and leave 3-4 centimeters at the top. The sand came from Charlestown Breachway. Then we put a coconut fiber mat on top of the sand and we packed some sand onto it until it was firm and not springy so the eelgrass plants would have something to hold onto with their roots. The seventh grade blue section took the sorted seeds and the sand filled plastic containers and put the seeds on top of the coconut fiber, being careful not to squish them. Then they covered the seeds with a thin layer of silt and placed the containers into a saltwater tank. After we planted the eelgrass seeds on October 28, 1999 we waited for them to germinate.

After two weeks the seeds started to send out shoots. Since our tank is smaller than the ocean we have to monitor the salinity, water temperature, and the nitrates. Save the Bay had some forms for us to fill out, concerning the monitoring of the eelgrass. Alexander and Catherine have been monitoring the eelgrass every Tuesday during their lunch period. To measure the blades we had two items: a paintbrush and a ruler with millimeters. Every morning Catherine cleans the blades of eelgrass. It is important to keep the blades clean, to more easily absorb the light in order to grow. The epiphytes (algae) on the blades prevent light from getting to the eelgrass, thus hindering its growth. Nutrient pollution is one of the main threats to eelgrass in Narragansett Bay. Sewage and fertilizers from land runoff produces excess nutrients that stimulates increased growth in microscopic plants that cloud the water, diminishing the sunlight that the eelgrass needs to have in order to grow. Some other threats to eelgrass in the Bay are the increase use of coastal water for power plant cooling. The thermal discharges alter the eelgrass life cycle. It reduces the eelgrass reproductive period in May which is when the eelgrass flowers and seeds. Finally, dredging destroys the eelgrass by pulling it up and by taking away the substrate in which they root.

At this point in time Alexander and Catherine along with Mr. Worthington are solely responsible for the eelgrass restoration project in their classroom at Rocky Hill School. As of February 1, 2000 some of the eelgrass shoots have grown to 90 millimeters. Our eelgrass is healthy and growing at a steady rate. We will continue to take care of the eelgrass and monitor its growth through out the school year. We look forward to transplanting our eelgrass in Narragansett Bay. We hope our efforts to save and protect eelgrass in the Bay will make a difference in maintaining its ecosystem.

Only 30% of Rhode Islanders know what eelgrass is and how important it is to other marine life. To help educate people in Rhode Island about the importance of and the depletion of eelgrass in Narragansett Bay we have created a brochure. We will distribute our brochure to Save the Bay, DEM, Schools, Libraries and local Chambers of Commerce. We have also created a power point presentation about eelgrass that we will show to the students at Rocky Hill School, the San Miguel School in Providence, and any other school who might be interested in hearing about our project.

We must save our eelgrass! In order to protect the eelgrass in Narragansett Bay we need to create strategies to develop better water quality in the Bay by reducing nutrient pollution. This means no more dumping waste into the Bay. Regulations need to be implemented at the state and local level to protect the existing eelgrass beds. Finally, more eelgrass restoration projects like ours at Rocky Hill School need to be established so eelgrass beds can thrive once again in Narragansett Bay. We owe it to the marine life that makes their home here in our Bay.