Eelgrass

In 1996, the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program conducted a Tier 1 survey for eelgrass and found only 100 acres remaining in Narragansett Bay. Today, there are about 1100 acres of eelgrass in all of Rhode Island’s coastal waters, a substantial…

In Rhode Island, a three-tiered monitoring effort is used to comprehensively assess the geographic extent, cover, and condition of eelgrass beds. Tier 1: landscape scale, GIS (Geographic Information System) based assessment using aerial photography and remote sensing to map eelgrass…

Value to Management Indicates health of the ecosystem: Eelgrass bed extent and health serve as an indicator for water quality and overall ecosystem health. Provides information on a key habitat for fish: Since eelgrass beds are important habitat for many…