Eelgrass Habitat
The complex and intricate food webs of an eelgrass meadow rival the world’s richest farmlands and tropical rainforests. Eelgrass grows in muddy or sandy bottom of salt water estuaries. The extensive root system of the plants helps stabilize sediments and prevent erosion along the BC coastline. Damage to eelgrass can affect an entire ecosystem, as well as the stability of our shorelines.
Our Goal is to enhance and protect the fresh water and marine habitats that support salmonids and the ecosystems in which they live along the east coast of Vancouver Island.
This perennial evergreen supplies nutrients to fish, shellfish, waterfowl and about 124 species of invertebrates. Animals living in this meadow find protection and food. Species include:
- Juvenile salmon,
- Young herring,
- Nudibranchs,
- Anemones,
- Jellyfish,
- Clams,
- Scallops,
- Cockles,
- Shrimp,
- Spider, red rock and dungeness crabs,
- Sea stars,
- Moon snails,
- Sand dollars and more.
The protection of this habitat is as important as the kelp beds, the rivers and the forests through which they run to ensure that these interconnected ecosystems continue to support the salmon and other species that are so vital to us.
Kelp: large seaweeds (algae) belonging to the brown algae (class Phaeophyceae) and are classified as the order Laminariales.
Eelgrass: (Zostera marina and Zostera japonica) is a small genus of widely distributed seagrass.
Groyne: a breakwater; a protective structure of stone or concrete; extends from shore into the water to prevent a beach from washing away.
Salmonids: is a family of ray-finned fish that includes salmon, trout, chars, freshwater whitefishes and graylings
Bull kelp: Nereocystis (Greek for "mermaid's bladder") leutkeana
Giant kelp: Macrocystis pyrifera