Eelgrass (Zostera marina) is a vascular marine plant that has been shown to have significant ecological value. The plants convert the sun’s energy into carbon and provide habitat for invertebrates and juvenile fish. In addition, eelgrass roots reduce erosion, dampen the effects of flood events and promote water quality.

Studies have shown that eelgrass is in decline worldwide, due primarily to degraded water quality caused by human pollution.

Eelgrass restoration can help kick start the recovery process, as long as the water quality has returned to adequate levels and there is a history of eelgrass presence at the site in question.

Currently, most eelgrass restoration experts use the "adult-shoot" method, where plants are uprooted from one area and transplanted to another. This work is very time-consuming since each shoot must be extracted and then replanted by waders, snorkelers or, as is often the case, SCUBA divers.

Seeds, on the other hand, can be collected and planted in groups, so that less time and personnel are required.

In an effort to make large-scale eelgrass restoration a reality, researchers at the University of Rhode Island (URI) are currently testing a boat-pulled sled, the culmination of six years of research, that automatically deposits eelgrass seeds below the surface of the sediment in estuaries and near-shore coastal areas.

A specialized pump, used in the food processing industry to inject precise amounts of jelly into donuts, is used to push the seed-gelatin mixture to the sled and into the ground. The pump was built by the Edhard Corporation in Hackettstown, NJ, and provided to the researchers at a reduced cost.

The URI team is also looking at alternative methods for increasing the germination rates of eelgrass seeds, including encasing the seeds in plastic as well as burlap tubes.

Test plantings are taking place this fall and results on seed germination and seedling survival will be available in the summer of 2001.