Restoration of a damaged seagrass meadow is underway in the Northwest Ship Channel off Key West, where a ferry boat damaged a large section of the seafloor after running aground and attempting to power off. NOAA’s Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary is overseeing the project, which is expected to last into June. Serendipitously, the start of the restoration coincides with Earth Day, Tuesday, April 22, which originated in 1970 to raise awareness about environmental issues.

The exposed area, within sight of Mallory Square, will be rehabilitated by filling the blow holes with up to 100 yards of pea gravel, and then laying out 14,000 sediment tubes, which are cotton bags filled with a mix of sand and gravel. Almost 2,000 planting units will then be inserted into the tubes, along with fertilizer spikes. “Our team will harvest manatee grass and shoal grass from nearby donor beds,” said Dr. Andy Risi of Sea & Shoreline, one of the contractors working on the project. “We will collect small, 6-inch plugs of the seagrass and break them up into smaller groups of two to three seagrass shoots each, that will then get put into the sediment tubes with the fertilizer spikes.”