Protected plant irks boating enthusiasts

Spotting a patch of eelgrass under a boat dock usually means the end of a business transaction for Mark Sites, owner of Intracoastal Dredging, who has been in the business of dredging boat slips in Newport Harbor for the past 25 years.

“If they have eelgrass, that’s the end of discussion — unless they have $50,000 to $70,000 for a job that will take four to six hours. The dredging is the simplest part of the process,” Sites said.

Fish adore it, but boating enthusiasts dread having patches of the stuff sprout up under a dock.

Once clumps of the plant start growing, federal law prohibits boat slip owners from removing it unless they plant 1.2 times more eelgrass in another spot and monitor its growth for five years.

Eelgrass makes dredging an expensive and time-consuming process festooned with red tape, permits and consultant fees, Sites said.

“It causes people a lot of grief in my business,” he said.

The flowering underwater plant is protected by federal and state agencies because it is a haven for young fish and invertebrates. Many species of endangered birds scout for food in clumps of the plant, which scientists classify as an angiosperm and not a grass.

City officials will ask federal regulators to ease up on rules governing eelgrass later this month, which local boat owners complain clogs their boat slips.

“The experts are trying to look at whether this policy is beneficial to eelgrass,” said Newport Beach Assistant City Manager Dave Kiff. “The policy has resulted in fewer people dredging and that sediment development is starting to pile up — making less and less of the bay a good habitat for eelgrass.”

When boat owners can’t afford or don’t want to spend the money to dredge their slips, their boat docks begin to break up as sediment clogs the area and the docks sit on the lip of the beach.

Many boats in Newport Harbor run aground during low tide because of the problem, Sites said.

City officials will meet with representatives later this month from the National Marine Fisheries Service, one of the numerous federal and state agencies that oversee protection of the plant.

A number of city-hired experts claim eelgrass grows back quickly when removed and not allowing boat slip owners to dredge without taking expensive steps to cultivate more plants actually harms eelgrass, Kiff said.

Most boat owners won’t dredge a boat slip if eelgrass is present because of the cost involved, causing the area to become clogged with silt and making it too shallow for eelgrass to grow anyway, he said.

There’s more eelgrass in Newport Harbor today than there has been in decades, said Mike Curtis, senior scientist for MBC Applied Environmental Sciences, a Costa Mesa-based firm that monitors eelgrass in the harbor.

Eelgrass has been doing as good as ever in Newport Bay for the past 10 to 15 years, Curtis said. Eelgrass in Newport experienced an especially rapid period of growth in 2000 and 2001.

The plant has benefited from good weather and improved water quality in the bay.

Government agencies have put more emphasis on efforts to keep the water clean over the past 30 years, resulting in a revival of the plant, Curtis said, but rules and regulations protecting eelgrass remain strict.

“The federal officials would cringe if they even heard you getting rid of it — they take no exceptions,” Curtis said.

Newport Beach Councilwoman Nancy Gardner said pervasive eelgrass has a profound effect on Newport Bay.

“Eelgrass has come back gangbusters,” she said. “It’s obviously impacting the bay; people use to be able to dredge their boat slips, but it’s so difficult because you have to mitigate if you have eelgrass.”

BRIANNA BAILEY may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or at [email protected].