Photo by Marc Albert

At low tide, Katharyn Boyer, Assistant Professor of Biology, Wetlands and Coastal Ecology at San Francisco State University, examines the tiny seeds forming on young aquatic eelgrass. Scientists are enlisting the aid of volunteers to help transplant eelgrass to help improve San Francisco Bay.

At first glance, it doesn't look like much.

It won't leap out of the water. It can't do tricks. And it sure won't get lost in the Delta.

But nevertheless, committed teams of scientists, graduate students and volunteers are spending part of their summers on Alameda's Crown Beach working with a comparatively simple aquatic plant.

In the complex marine food web, the lowly eelgrass is something of a superstar. Undulating in the shallows, exposed only when the tide ebbs, eelgrass is a nursery for herring eggs, a home for pipefish and a shelter for sponges and a type of sea slug called a Nudibranch.

"All of that can become a food source for a whole lot more species, it's an ecosystem builder. It's connected to so many other species" explained Marilyn Latta, habitat restoration director for Save The Bay, an environmental group.

Under a thick, chilling fog layer, Latta was on Crown Beach Tuesday morning explaining her involvement in a multi-year project aimed at improving the water quality and aquatic habitat in San Francisco Bay. Funded in part by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), in partnership with San Francisco State University and Save The Bay, the study is trying to identify the most effective way to re-introduce eelgrass to parts of San Francisco Bay where it has been wiped out.

Eelgrass beds were once abundant in the Bay, supporting a bounty of creatures. Hydraulic mining during the Gold Rush, though well over a hundred miles upstream, began silting up the clear water eelgrass needs to thrive. Pollution, landfill, heavy industry and sewage strained wildlife to the point that 100 years after the Gold Rush, the Bay was an unpleasant smelling, unhealthful soup loaded with toxins. Since stricter environmental regulations came into force in the 1970s, the Bay has made something of a comeback.

The three-year-long scientific project aims to answer once and for all how best to restore eelgrass. Scientists want to know if moving whole eelgrass plants or harvesting and spreading seeds is more effective.

The plants need the right amount of light, salinity, temperature and oxygen to survive, Latta said. In addition to invertebrates and small fish, eelgrass can support populations of clams and oysters. These creatures in turn can feed migrating sea birds, larger fish and marine mammals.

One of the Bay Area's most healthy eelgrass beds is just a few yards off of Crown Beach. That is exactly why Latta and Katharyn Boyer, an assistant professor of biology at San Francisco State University and various volunteers make regular pilgrimages to Crown Beach. They're here for raw materials. Eelgrass plants and seeds are being taken from three sites in the East Bay and planted in Richardson Bay, at the Marin Rod & Gun Club and off San Quentin State Prison.

Less than a quarter inch across and about a foot long now, the young eelgrass leaves can grow to a length of seven to eight feet. As Boyer explains how tiny seeds form, an acrobatic Forrester's Tern dives into the water as if on cue, gulping a quick morsel. "With these experiments we are hoping to make restoration more rigorous and not have it be hit or miss," Boyer said.

Another related project undertaken by the same scientists elsewhere in the Bay hopes to restore native Olympia Oysters. If abundant enough, oyster shells will pile up into reefs, creating habitat for other creatures. Smaller than most commercial oysters, it is hoped that the filter feeders will help reduce the amount of sediment suspended in Bay water. The clearer the water, the deeper light can penetrate.

More light means more grass. More eelgrass means more of everything else.

To learn more about the project or to become a volunteer, visit www.saveSFbay.org/eelgrass