Register for the EAC Eelgrass BioBlitz to help us find more eelgrass meadows in Nova Scotia!!

A BioBlitz generally seeks to identify as many species as possible in a single area through a certain period. But we're shaking things up! This BioBlitz is dedicated to finding a single species – Eelgrass (Zostera marina) – in as many locations within Nova Scotia as possible from August 13th – August 21st!

Click to register and get more information on the EAC Eelgrass BioBlitz 2022!

Participate on your own while you're on or in the water, and join us in person for a coastal excursion along the Eastern Shore to search for eelgrass on Sunday, Aug. 21.

Incredible citizen scientists, like you, have helped us locate and map over 450 coastal areas with eelgrass throughout the province! We hope to reach 500 observations by the end of the BioBlitz!

Looking forward to seeing all of your observations and meeting on August 21st!

In Nova Scotia the distribution and health of eelgrass meadows remain to be well understood, and many residents have noted losses of eelgrass meadows within their local communities. We want to ensure the benefits provided by eelgrass – ie. nursery habitat, water quality & clarity, protection from coastal erosion, carbon sequestration – are not lost in areas where eelgrass declines have been observed.

The Ecology Action Centre has partnered with Dalhousie Future of Marine Ecosystems Lab. Together we've spent the summer piloting an eelgrass restoration research project based in Port Medway, NS!

Historically, eelgrass restoration efforts have had varying levels of success, and very little restoration work has been done in Nova Scotia. We are working to find the most effective and scalable eelgrass restoration method for Nova Scotian waters.

A healthy and dense eelgrass meadow was chosen as a donor site, where we would harvest eelgrass seeds, shoots, and sods to use in the study.

With the materials harvested, we carried on to the experimental setup to cross-examine 4 different eelgrass restoration methods. Along our experimental transect lines, a total of 6000 seeds, 250 shoots, and 25 sods were planted! We are super excited to see the results next year, and hope you are too! Stay tuned for updates.

Method #1 - Planting individual eelgrass seeds

Method #2 - Burlap bags containing 50 eelgrass seeds and sediment

Method #3 - Transplanting individual eelgrass shoots

Method # 4 - Transplanting eelgrass sods containing multiple shoots & sediment

We are so thrilled to see the rising number of observations being made to the EAC Eelgrass Mapping Project on iNaturalist!

Our dedicated team of volunteer paddlers have been such a huge help to our project, contributing over 75% of the 600+ total eelgrass observations!

Special shout-outs for this summer’s paddlers – Miriam, Ralph, Aryn, Jennifer, Susan, and Peter – who’ve helped us double our total number of eelgrass observations! Way to go folks!!!

If you spend your free time paddling throughout Nova Scotia and are interested in joining our volunteer eelgrass paddler team, send an email to eelgrass@ecologyaction.ca for more info!