10/14/2026
Volunteers braved a rainy morning to glue 25,000 eelgrass seeds to 2,200 clams for a new eelgrass restoration site off Great Captains Island in Greenwich, Connecticut.
Eelgrass play a vital role in the Long Island Sound, serving as irreplaceable (nursery) habitat for young marine fish and shellfish and a food source for migratory waterfowl, protecting our coastlines from erosion by slowing down wave energy, and capturing excess carbon dissolved in marine waters from fossil fuel emissions. Relative to the 1930’s, eelgrass meadows have declined regionally by over 90%.
The event, held in partnership with the Greenwich Shellfish Commission, is the western-most eelgrass planting conducted by Save the Sound to date. It brought together community members, including students from Greenwich High School’s environmental club. Using the SEAS (Seeds of Eelgrass Attached to Shellfish), SCUBA-collected eelgrass seeds from the eastern Sound were glued to live clams. These clams then do the hard work of planting eelgrass seeds while burying into the sea floor while locally improving water quality. Next Spring and Summer, we will be evaluating the success of this pilot planting.
We host eelgrass seed volunteer gluing events in October/November annually. To learn more about future events go to:
https://www.savethesound.org/get-involved/events/
