NLWC News

Great Harbor Yacht Club Foundation Awards Generous Grant to Nantucket Land & Water Council to Advance Eelgrass-Friendly Moorings Pilot Project

February 25, 2026

New partnership will transition conventional moorings in Monomoy to protect and restore Nantucket Harbor habitat


The Nantucket Land & Water Council (NLWC) has received a generous grant from the Great Harbor Yacht Club Foundation to support the installation of eelgrass-friendly moorings in Nantucket Harbor, a major step forward in protecting one of the island’s most important marine habitats.


Healthy eelgrass is essential to the vitality of Nantucket Harbor. Eelgrass meadows provide critical habitat for wild bay scallops and juvenile fish, improve water quality by filtering polluted runoff, absorb excess nutrients, store carbon, and stabilize shorelines against erosion and storm surge. Yet eelgrass in Nantucket Harbor has declined significantly in recent decades due to nutrient pollution, warming waters, and physical disturbance — including abrasion from traditional boat moorings. Since 2018, NLWC has worked with Harbormaster Sheila Lucey and her team, the Town of Nantucket and island partners on eelgrass restoration initiatives aimed at reversing this decline. One of the most practical and immediate solutions is transitioning conventional chain moorings to eelgrass-friendly systems — a key recommendation of the newly adopted Nantucket Eelgrass Management Plan.


In 2022, NLWC partnered with Nantucket Harbormaster Sheila Lucey and Anderson Stillwater Moorings to design and implement an environmentally-sensitive mooring system adapted for Nantucket’s unique needs. The design uses a 300-pound pyramid anchor and an eco-rode that keeps gear suspended above the seabed, preventing the heavy chain “scouring” that destroys eelgrass beds around traditional moorings.

The NLWC Waterkeeper vessel has been successfully secured using this mooring system for three consecutive seasons. Thanks to generous funding from the Great Harbor Yacht Club Foundation, NLWC and the Harbormaster’s Office will now launch a pilot program this spring, in partnership with local mooring companies, to transition up to 25 conventional moorings to eelgrass-friendly systems. Ed Orenstein, GHYC Foundation President, states: “The Foundation prioritizes projects that deliver both immediate and long-term benefits to Nantucket Harbor’s ecosystem and our community at large. These new eelgrass-friendly moorings accomplish both. We couldn’t be happier to team with NLWC on this impactful initiative and applaud Emily Molden’s leadership." 

NLWC will monitor the pilot sites to measure eelgrass recovery and seabed stability, with the goal of informing future harbor management decisions and expanding the program if successful. 


“Eelgrass is the foundation of our harbor ecosystem — without it, we lose scallops, water quality, and coastal resilience. The beauty of eelgrass-friendly moorings is that they solve a problem without restricting boating. This project shows conservation and harbor use can work together for the betterment of our environment and to the benefit of our community, and we hope it becomes a model for broader adoption.” – RJ Turcotte, Nantucket Waterkeeper


The Nantucket Land & Water Council extends its sincere appreciation to the Great Harbor Yacht Club Foundation for their foresight, vision, and generous support for innovative solutions that protect the island’s land and water through science, advocacy, and community engagement.

MassDEP Casts Doubt on 'Sconset Beach Geotube Expansion

September 10, 2026
On August 31st, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued a letter rebuking the efforts of Siasconset Beach Preservation Fund (SBPF) to expand the geotube project on Sconset Beach. Nantucket Land & Water Council (NLWC) along with over a dozen Nantucket residents, including members of the Nantucket Coastal Conservancy (collectively “Appellants”), appealed the Conservation Commission’s March 2025 approval of an Order of Conditions for the geotube expansion. Now seventeen months later, DEP’s letter dated August 31, 2026, casts grave doubt on whether the expansion project will be approved by the state agency. This setback follows the denial of a license for the project at Town Meeting last spring.

Letter from the Nantucket Waterkeeper

September 1, 2026
To the Editor,  This letter is about the water situation on the island. As the Nantucket Waterkeeper, I measure the water levels in our aquifer every month (a half-century tradition of the Nantucket Land & Water Council) at ten wells across the island from ’Sconset to Madaket. These wells are simply metal or pvc pipes installed just far enough below the surface to reach and measure the ups and downs of our aquifer. This data is used by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and Mass Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). It's also available to the public on USGS’s website- The exact well used to determine if we’re in a drought or not is well #228 . You’ll notice that it continues to trend downward. With the exception of two very shallow wells in Madaket which have shown some recovery from recent rain, the other seven wells across the island continue to trend downward.

Eelgrass-Friendly Moorings Installations Begin!

July 16, 2026
On Monday, June 29th, 2026 , the Nantucket Land & Water Council (NLWC) in collaboration with Nantucket Harbormaster Sheila Lucey , Anderson’s Stillwater Moorings , & Nantucket Mooring s, officially began installing eelgrass-friendly moorings along our testing site in Nantucket Harbor. Installation has moved forward thanks to a generous grant from the Great Harbor Yacht Club Foundation to support eelgrass-friendly moorings in Nantucket Harbor. Eelgrass is paramount to maintaining the health and fragile ecosystems within our harbor . Eelgrass meadows aid our water quality by filtering out runoff contaminants , removing excess nutrients , providing necessary habitats for wild bay scallops and juvenile fish species , and helping to combat environmental events like coastal erosion and storm surge . Traditional moorings utilize a mushroom anchor and a heavy chain that digs into the harbor floor. As wind, tides, and currents move boats and moorings, the chain drags on the harbor floor creating a circular scour – a place where eelgrass cannot grow. Eelgrass-friendly moorings are a type of mooring that protects eelgrass meadows while allowing us to continue using and enjoying our boats as we always have. The eelgrass-friendly moorings use a pyramid style Dormor anchor and an ecorode elastic rope replacing traditional chain and mushroom anchors. The elastic does not scour, allowing eelgrass to grow sustainably in our harbors.
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