Snohomish County Marine Resources Committee hosting kelp and eelgrass talk

Published 1:30 am Monday, September 8, 2025

MUKILTEO — The Snohomish County Marine Resources Committee is hosting a night of talks and presentations from scientists and surveyors on the state of kelp and eelgrass beds off Mukilteo and Hat Island on Wednesday at the Rosehill Community Center. The talks will take place from 5-6:30 p.m. in the Point Elliot Room.

The committee has been monitoring kelp in Snohomish County since 2015 and eel grass since the late 90s, said Elisa Dawson, a senior marine resources planner.

“We have these large data sets of marine vegetation data, and we’re interested in sharing that data with the public,” Dawson said on Thursday. “The event is really for anyone who might be interested in learning about the Puget Sound, these critical habitats that are in the Puget Sound and right out our front door.”

The Puget Sound region is home to five species of seagrass, including eelgrass, which is the most abundant. Eelgrass typically grows in protected intertidal areas with muddy or sandy substrates for the plant to dig its roots, called rhizomes, into.

Eelgrass meadows are important nursery habitats for a variety of organisms, including juvenile salmon that migrate down rivers and streams and rest between the blades of grass before heading out to the open ocean.

The meadows are also critical carbon sinks as the plants pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and store it in sediment. While the Environmental Protection Agency has stated seagrass meadows cover less than 1% of the ocean surface, it is estimated the grasses sequester 10% of the global oceans’ annual carbon sequestration.

The county’s marine resource committee also surveys multiple species of kelp. Bull kelp is the largest species of brown seaweed in the region and can grow 60 feet annually. Along the West Coast, there have been reports of declining kelp forests, which scientists state is a strong indication of climate change’s effects on ocean habitats.

More details on the committee’s monitoring can be found at: https://www.snocomrc.org/projects/marine-vegetation-monitoring//.

Eliza Aronson: 425-339-3434; eliza.aronson@heraldnet.com; X: @ElizaAronson.

Eliza’s stories are supported by the Herald’s Environmental and Climate Reporting Fund.