Seagrass Transplanting

sea grass plantingOver the past 100 years, Tampa Bay has lost more than 80% of its sea grass beds due mostly to waste water discharges and dredging for port and residential waterfront development. This loss has severed a crucial link in the bay's food chain for fish and wildlife resources, causing the collapse of the bay's scallop and oyster fisheries, and major declines in bait and food shrimp, spotted sea trout, and red drum (redfish).

Sea grasses are flowering plants that live underwater and are mostly found in protected bays and lagoons. They are limited in their depth by water clarity because they require light and they also produce oxygen, similar to plants on the land. In Tampa Bay, sea grasses are mostly found along the shoreline fringe, not exceeding much over a 2-meter depth. At one time (late 1800s) it is estimated there were more than 75,000 acres of sea grass in the Tampa Bay, but as mentioned they have been disappearing at an alarming rate. Having reached a low point in 1982 of around 21,500 acres, the sea grass coverage in Tampa Bay has slowly been increasing and today we have nearly 28,000 acres. This increase in sea grass coverage is mostly due to bay-wide water quality improvements and reduced dredging and filling along with educational programs aimed at the importance of the beds and responsible boating.

In the 1996 publication "Charting the Course for Tampa Bay" by the Tampa Bay Estuary Program (TBEP), several goals for habitat restoration and protection were set. The long-term goal is to increase and preserve the quantity, quality, and diversity of sea grass communities through restoration of 12,350 acres of sea grass and protection of the bay's existing acreage. In addition, TBEP goals are also set for restoring a balance of wetland and associated upland habitats.

The specific targets include:

  • restoration of a minimum of 100-acres of low-salinity tidal marsh every five years, for a total increase of 1,800 acres, and the preservation of the exiting habitat
  • protection and enhancement of the bay's mangrove and salt marsh communities which total nearly 14,000 acres
  • restoration over time of 150 acres of salt barren habitat
  • protection of hard-bottom, oyster reef, and soft bottom communities

 

sea pressTo further the advancement of the TBEP goals, Tampa Bay Watch is dedicated toward restoring and protecting estuarine habitat. Many of our programs are directly geared to forward habitat restoration, such as conducting salt marsh restoration projects, growing plants for restoration projects with our wetland nursery program, installing oyster reefs along hardened shorelines, our sea grass restoration program, and many more.

Tampa Bay Watch has been building a sea grass Restoration Program for the past three summers. The program is designed to train high school and college volunteer interns in sea grass restoration techniques and educate them on the importance of protecting this vital habitat. Volunteers assist in harvesting the grasses from an approved donor site and transplanting them into an area of the bay with improving water quality but sparse sea grass coverage.

Two of the four common sea grasses in Florida are used in the restoration effort. Shoal grass, Halodule wrightii (shown above-left), is transplanted into shallow areas with improving water quality where historically sea grasses were present. Manatee grass, Syringodium filiforme (shown left), is transplanted into areas of sparse Halodule growth, in order to encourage sea grass diversity and natural succession.

Each summer, Tampa Bay Watch recruits interested high school and college interns to participate in the program. Interns get to spend time on the waters of Tampa Bay in boats and snorkeling in the water, learn sea grass biology and ecology, and participate in an important habitat restoration project. 

For more information, contact Chris Sutton.

Contact Rachel if you are interested in volunteering for this project.