Oregon bill supporting eelgrass meadows passes its first legislative hurdle

Eelgrass is an aquatic plant essential for estuaries, coastal ecosystems and wildlife. Their root systems help reduce erosion, they can mitigate some of the damage done during storm surges and flooding, they store carbon from the air and are the nursery grounds for juvenile species like rockfish, Dungeness crab and salmon.

Despite their importance, eelgrass meadows are at risk with some estuaries on the coast seeing a 50% decline in eelgrass cover in recent years. These plants are sensitive to many of the threats from climate change such as increased water temperatures and ocean acidification. Water pollution and disturbance from human activities such as mechanical oyster harvesting also are playing a role in their disappearance.

The broader issue is that in the face of these problems there’s a lack of agency coordination and eelgrass monitoring at the state level, which is making it even more difficult to ascertain the true extent of the problem.

Fortunately, the Eelgrass Action Bill, which just passed out of its first committee yesterday, would address many of these problems by requiring state agencies, scientists, advocates and other stakeholders put their heads together to ultimately set conservation targets and to provide future recommendations on further actions to the legislature.

From here, the bill is off to the Joint Committee on Ways and Means where it likely will be voted on again in the following months. Overall, the bill’s movement in the legislature is a positive sign that Oregon sees the value in doing more for our undersea meadows.

Join us in calling on our legislators to pass this bill.