Our coast has a secret superhero coming to its rescue: eelgrass. For thousands of years, the flowering plant has formed dense meadows in Newport Bay’s shallow waters, providing habitat for countless marine species and improving water quality. Instead of getting credit for its redeeming qualities, eelgrass is often portrayed as an annoying younger sibling — bothersome, always in the way and impossible to get rid of.

Though the plant may have a harsh reputation to overcome among Newport Bay’s boaters and coastal residents, the truth is that Newport Bay needs healthy eelgrass populations.

Why Newport Needs Eelgrass

Eelgrass is a foundation species, meaning that its presence in an ecosystem has a disproportionately large positive effect on the community. It provides food, shelter and protection. Without eelgrass, a whole suite of marine life would not survive.

An entire food chain exists within the canopies of eelgrass leaves. Clams, scallops and worms burrow into the sediments near eelgrass roots while tiny animals and tubeworms colonize on the surface of its leaves. These plants and animals become food for slugs and snails, which are then consumed by larger fish and crustaceans that spend their juvenile stages in the protected waters of eelgrass meadows, avoiding predators before they make their way back out to the coast. By protecting eelgrass in our bay, we ensure greater fish production in offshore reefs.

In other parts of the country, eelgrass restoration is often used as a natural way to protect shorelines from wave damage and erosion — and the imminent threat of sea level rise makes this more urgent than ever. In addition to restoration efforts, Orange County Coastkeeper is studying the potential of eelgrass beds to protect shorelines as an alternative to sea walls and other environmentally damaging techniques.

In May, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife discovered a rare seahorse near an eelgrass restoration site in Upper Newport Bay. That’s essentially equivalent to spotting a celebrity at your favorite local coffee shop. Since this seahorse is thriving in eelgrass habitats, we know that restoration efforts are working.

A Common Goal

A healthy bay with good water quality brings tourists and residents flocking to coastal waters, but these advantages of a healthy Newport Bay do not exist without abundant eelgrass. The city of Newport Beach is testing out a new dredging and eelgrass protection plan to find a happy medium between the competing interests of our environment and coastal recreation.

By partnering with Orange County Coastkeeper, the city of Newport Beach’s plan will help overturn the negative perception of eelgrass by making mitigation efforts more feasible for local residents, while still prioritizing conservation.

Coastkeeper has a wealth of experience in transplanting eelgrass. Since 2009, we have prioritized eelgrass restoration by initiating an educational program and planting eelgrass each summer in Upper Newport Bay. We even broke our own record by planting 1,280 square meters of eelgrass this past summer — putting us at a total of 2,600 square meters over five years.

From Headache to Hero

The Newport Bay that we all know and love will not survive without a healthy eelgrass population. The clean water our children splash in, the fish caught offshore, the gorgeous environment that people travel to visit could all go away if we continue to deplete our eelgrass habitats. Coastkeeper is here to take the headache out of eelgrass mitigation.

To take advantage of restoration services or to learn more about what the new eelgrass policies mean for your property, call (714) 850-1965 or visit www.coastkeeper.org/eelgrass.

Sara Briley is marine restoration direct at the Orange County Coastkeeper.