January 16, 2025 — Matthew Long peers over the side of the research boat Calanus, into the dark water of Hadley Harbor, about 2 miles from Woods Hole.
There’s a meadow down there, according to Long, a marine chemist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Acres of a willowy green plant called eelgrass.
Eelgrass is the dominant species of seagrass in New England, but it’s little-known and largely unsung. And no wonder — it’s impossible to see from shore and barely visible from the boat.
But Long assures me it’s there. As his colleagues put on scuba gear to collect samples, he ticks off the reasons why healthy eelgrass meadows are critical for the New England coast.