Eelgrass Restoration in Staten Island's Living Breakwaters

In conjunction with New York/New Jersey Harbor and Estuary Program (HEP) and Stony Brook University, Interstate Environmental Commission (IEC) is monitoring the success of eelgrass plants planted by HEP behind living breakwaters on the southern coast of Staten Island. The success of these plants is measured using both habitat and water quality parameters in the summer and fall of 2025 and the spring of 2026. Eelgrass has several vital functions in aquatic ecosystems and can improve water quality and habitat stability. According to NOAA, eelgrass “produces food and oxygen, improves water quality by filtering polluted runoff, absorbs excess nutrients, stores greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, and protects the shoreline from erosion.”

Eelgrass has the potential to provide ecological benefits when it is present in the water. However, eelgrass has largely been lost in the New York/New Jersey Harbor due to poor water quality and the outbreak of wasting disease in the 1930s, which new plants are resistant to. Due to vast improvements in water quality since the loss of these plants, the Harbor may have the capacity to support eelgrass populations once more. Planting in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, has demonstrated that this may prove successful. The Living Breakwaters in Staten Island is an area with cool, shallow waters that eelgrass prefers, making it an ideal location for this restoration work. Throughout the summer and fall, IEC monitors the success of the restoration site using many habitat and water quality parameters including survival, growth, and epiphytic coverage, temperature, light, dissolved oxygen, salinity/conductivity, and barometric pressure/depth. These parameters are measured using visual observations both at the site and afterwards with recorded GoPro footage, as well as with an onset HOBO logger and temperature and light loggers.

This study will help determine if environmental conditions can support further eelgrass restoration in the New York/New Jersey Harbor and will provide a baseline for the impact of eelgrass on water quality. 

To learn more about the Living Breakwaters in Staten Island, click here.