From Popular Science · October 24, 2026 · By Margherita Bassi
Along Long Island Sound in New York and Connecticut, the environmental group Save the Sound is trying a new way to restore eelgrass, the underwater grass that shelters young fish and invertebrates, slows erosion and helps filter the water. Volunteers attach eelgrass seeds to clam shells. When the clams are released and bury into the bottom, they carry the seeds down and plant them. The group first tried the method in 2025, and drone images this year showed eelgrass coverage up 178 percent. Save the Sound says meadows in and around the Sound have shrunk by more than 90 percent since the 1930s. This fall the team switched from coral-reef glue to wet rice paper, an idea from Connecticut College biologist Maria Rosa, who saw better germination with it. The group is aiming to release 10,000 clams carrying 300,000 seeds this season.
The work is in Long Island Sound, not Waquoit Bay, but eelgrass restoration is hard in any estuary, and Save the Sound’s Bill Lucey says many past attempts have failed. He says the plants need to survive three years before the team can call the method a success. The Connecticut team’s rice-paper fix is a reminder that eelgrass restoration methods are still being worked out.
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