Seagrass Ecology and Estuarine Mitigation: A Low-Cost Method for Eelgrass Restoration

Abstract

Seagrasses are valuable coastal marine habitats that support fisheries, contribute to ocean food webs, and filter estuarine waters. As seagrasses are lost due to human impacts to coastal environments, techniques are being developed to effectively mitigate these losses by transplanting. In transplanting seagrasses, both site selection and transplanting method are critical for success at the lowest possible cost. In the northeastern U.S., we have developed a model to choose sites most likely to sustain eelgrass, Zostera marina L, transplants. The high cost of restoring eelgrass beds in subtidal environments, and the difficulty in protecting transplants from various bioturbating organisms, led us to develop a new method not requiring SCUBA. Transplanting Eelgrass Remotely with Frame Systems” (TERFS™) is a modification of bare-root transplanting methods. Eelgrass shoots are attached with biodegradable ties to weighted wire frames that provide mechanical protection from uprooting and bioturbation. The TERFS™ are then deployed from any small boat. After three to five weeks, the frames are retrieved for reuse, leaving behind dense patches of eelgrass. We tested TERFS™ first in the Great Bay Estuary, NH (USA) and again in New Bedford Harbor, Massachusetts (USA); in both cases the TERFS™ method was successful. The ease and success of this technique provides an approach to restoration that can involve citizen volunteers. More importantly, it significantly reduces the cost of eelgrass restoration. © 2002, The Japanese Society of Fisheries Science. All rights reserved.