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sea? oor, planting the seeds.

Looking back, Vasiluth realizes that this idea may have ger- minated when he was a young child visiting his grandmother on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts.

“The best part of my childhood was going to the beach, boat- ing and ? shing. While on Martha’s Vineyard, I remember slow- ly walking into the saltwater and spying on a large horseshoe crab. I followed it deep into the water. Eventually, I had to go under water and hold my breath. When I opened my eyes to look for the horseshoe crab, I saw eelgrass for the ? rst time. It was an amazing experience. One that I have never forgotten.”

Vasiluth became enamored with swimming under water. The following year, during one of his dives he saw an unusual green plant amongst the eelgrass and showed it to his grandmother.

“She told me these are eelgrass seeds and that you can eat them,” said Vasiluth. “She peeled back the outside layer of what is called an eelgrass spath that holds the seeds. Kinda like peas in a pod.”

Years later, Vasiluth would be on a boat ? shing with his fam- ily on the Long Island Sound. He dived under water. “All day

I looked for eelgrass and couldn’t ? nd it. I did ? nd some other plant and showed it to my father who told me it was Rupia, also known as Widgeon Grass, sort of like a weed. I asked him if we could bring the eelgrass from the vineyard to here and he giggled and said maybe one day it will come back.”

Vasiluth started to educate himself on ways to bring eelgrass back to Long Island’s waters by talking with various conser- vation organizations and when he learned about the symbiotic relationship between clams and eelgrass he came up with the

SEAS Method and today he is bringing eelgrass back to his childhood waters.

The SEAS Method arti? cially mimics the symbiotic relation- ship between clams and eelgrass. Each clam is an oasis for the eelgrass. Clams are little ? ltering machines that ? lter water and

ROBERT VASILUTH bring oxygen down into the sediments, helping the eelgrass

AS A CHILD WITH roots to do well. In turn, eelgrass catches food that comes down

HIS FATHER. to the sea ? oor that the clam can feed on. When the clams def-

Credit: Robert Vasiluth ecate this fertilizes the eelgrass seeds. The two help each other www.marinetechnologynews.com 23

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