PORT TOWNSEND — As boats flock to Port Townsend for the Wooden Boat Festival early next month, a flotilla of volunteers will be out on the water asking people not to anchor in the eelgrass.
Although a boon to the local economy, the Wooden Boat Festival can be devastating to the eelgrass, prime habitat for an abundance of underwater creatures, said Michelle L. McConnell, coordinator of the Jefferson County Marine Resource Committee.
During the Sept. 5-7 festival, volunteers will ask people not to anchor in eelgrass but will not be confrontational, McConnell said.
“Volunteers must pledge to make friendly, educational boater contacts and not use an aggressive enforcement-style approach,” she said.
The effort is one of the first related to the Marine Resource Committee’s project to make a voluntary eelgrass protection zone along the city’s shoreline.
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The rest of the story appears in Wednesday’s Peninsula Daily News.