SAV Restoration and Resilience

Chesapeake Bay SAV Restoration Manual and Outreach Materials: The below resources, developed by Green Fin Studios in partnership with the Chesapeake Bay Program’s SAV Workgroup, include a Chesapeake Bay SAV Restoration Manual and accompanying outreach materials.

• SAV Restoration in Chesapeake Bay: A Guide to the Restoration of SAV in Chesapeake Bay and its Tidal Tributaries (pdf - 14.604 MB)

• SAV Restoration Quick Start Guide (pdf - 1.726 MB)

• SAV Restoration Fact Sheet (pdf - 5.224 MB)

• SAV Restoration Bookmark (pdf - 866.772 KB)

• SAV-ing the Sassafras River (pdf - 929.988 KB)

A Path Forward: Building Eelgrass Resilience Along the Mid-Atlantic and New England Coast

What interventions can increase the pace and effectiveness of climate adaptation in eelgrass to maintain its presence and associated services along the Mid-Atlantic/New England coast? To help answer this question, an interdisciplinary team of experts working in terrestrial and marine restoration and the agricultural sciences was convened, all of whom face similar climate challenges in their work. Together they explored the questions “what can be done?” “what should be done?” and “how do we do it?” The proceedings in this report attempt to capture an in-depth view of the lively discussion that occurred over three days of workshops, while also providing a higher-level view of the processes that led the workshop participants to engage so actively in trying to solve this climate challenge.

Promoting Resilience in Vegetated Coastal Habitats -Submerged Aquatic Vegetation

Jimmy Johnson, Coastal Habitats Coordinator, Albemarle Pamlico National Estuary Partnership

“The Albemarle-Pamlico Estuarine System has more than 100,000 acres of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV), the most of any single state on the Atlantic Seaboard. Over the past year and a half, the Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Partnership (APNEP) has contracted with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Institute of Marine Sciences “to establish scientifically defensible chlorophyll a (Chla) and turbidity thresholds that are protective of SAV for high-and low-salinity zones of the Albemarle-Pamlico Estuarine System (APES).” This research was led by Dr. Nathan Hall and the report he authored is entitled, “Evaluation of water clarity metrics for protection of submerged aquatic vegetation in the Albemarle-Pamlico Estuarine System.” It may be accessed at https://apnep.nc.gov/media/1985/open.

The purpose behind the project was to answer three important management related questions. The answer to these questions will help to better understand the links between eutrophication, photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) attenuation, and SAV health across the APES.“

-Habitat Hotline Atlantic 2023 Issue, Volume 1 pg 23-24

Promoting Resilience in Vegetated Coastal Habitats

Compiled by Mark Rousseau, Massachusetts

Division of Marine Fisheries

“Ram Island, a small, low elevation island in Buzzards Bay, MA, was heavily impacted by the 2003 Bouchard Barge oil spill, which released oil along nearly 100 miles of shoreline in the camera methods. Surveys were completed during the 2021

and 2022 growing seasons to provide current data on eelgrass distribution and density. These data will be used in the development of the coastal resilience design and the permitting process to ensure that strategies implemented to protect Ram Island minimize direct and indirect impacts to existing eelgrass habitat.

For more information, contact Dr. John Logan at John. logan@mass.gov”

-Habitat Hotline Atlantic 2023 Issue, Volume 1 pg 14-15

Salem 2022 – MA DMF and Northeastern University Scientists Investigate Methods to Improve Resilience of Restored Eelgrass

“In Massachusetts, eelgrass (Zostera marina) is an important marine flowering plant that provides habitat for many fish and invertebrates including commercially and recreationally harvested species such as winter flounder, bay scallop, and American lobster. Widespread eelgrass declines in Massachusetts in recent decades have led to concern and a call for increased restoration efforts. However, to date, many eelgrass restoration efforts in Massachusetts have been unsuccessful, with eelgrass failing to persist more than a season or two following planting. Interestingly, small scale experiments in laboratory and field settings indicate that eelgrass are adapted to local environmental conditions at fine spatial scales. This suggests that the traits of donor eelgrass may strongly influence restoration success. In addition, experimental plantings that incorporate eelgrass with a mixture of traits are more resilient to stress caused by heat waves, algal blooms, and grazing. MA DMF and Northeastern University scientists are working together to investigate whether these experimental findings scale up to affect the resilience of eelgrass in large-scale restoration efforts. Specifically, eelgrass shoots from five natural beds along the North Shore of Massachusetts were harvested and planted individually and in mixture at a ½ acre restoration site in Salem Sound. The fourth year of the planned five-year monitoring program of the restored site was complete via SCUBA this past summer. The final restoration site monitoring is planned for next summer and will involve SCUBA and side scan sonar surveys of the site. These data will then be analyzed to test the effects of eelgrass donor identity and diversity on restoration success. For more information, contact Forest Schenck at

Forest.Schenck@mass.gov”

-Habitat Hotline Atlantic 2023 Issue, Volume 1 pg 14-15