Resources
SAV Policy, Statues, and Regulations
SAV Policy, Statutes, and Regulations
Eelgrass Aquaculture Research Regulator Roundtable - Nov 15 2022
This resource was originally developed by the Chesapeake Legal Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay Program's SAV Workgroup. The East Coast SAV Collaborative has taken the original document and added additional federal regulations as well as regulations, statutes, and policies from member states. It is a living document that will be updated annually. The most recent updates were finalized on 4/9/24.
Chesapeake Bay SAV Regulatory Review
The below resources, developed by the Chesapeake Legal Alliance in partnership with the SAV Workgroup, include a comprehensive regulatory review for Chesapeake Bay SAV and an accompanying searchable database for CB SAV statutes, regulations, and relevant policies.
Existing Chesapeake Bay Watershed Statutes and Regulations Affecting SAV 1 (pdf - 728.77 KB)
CB SAV searchable SAV reg database (xlsx - 204.801 KB)
North Carolina Coastal Habitat Protection Plan 2021 Amendment
The overarching goal of the N.C. Coastal Habitat Protection Plan (CHPP) is long-term enhancement of coastal fisheries through habitat protection and enhancement efforts. The North Carolina Marine Fisheries, Environmental Management, and Coastal Resources Commissions unanimously adopted the North Carolina Coastal Habitat Protection Plan in December 2004. The document provides information on the habitats’ distribution and abundance, ecological functions and importance to fish production, status and trends, threats to the habitats, and includes recommendations to address threats. The Coastal Habitat Protection Plan is revised every five years to reflect changes in the status of habitat protection in North Carolina.
Updates to the Commission’s Submerged Aquatic Vegetation Policy
Dr. Lisa Havel, former ASMFC Habitat Committee Coordinator
“In 1997, the Commission’s Habitat Committee developed a policy to communicate the need for conservation of coastal submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) resources, and to highlight state and Commission-based activities for implementation of a coastal SAV conservation and enhancement program.
The Commission encouraged implementation of this policy by state, federal, local, and cooperative programs that influence and regulate fish habitat and activities impacting fish habitat, specifically SAV.
In 2017, the Commission’s Habitat Committee conducted a thorough review of the policy, reevaluating its recommendations and importance, and released an updated policy in 2018.
In 2022, the Habitat Committee updated the policy again to further refine the definition of SAV, and to introduce the Commission’s position on living shorelines and nature based features. Other minor clarifying edits were also included. The goals are still largely unchanged from the 1997 version. The primary goal is to preserve, conserve, and restore SAV where possible, in order to achieve a net gain in distribution and abundance along the Atlantic coast and in tidal tributaries, and to prevent any further losses of SAV in individual states by encouraging the following:
1. Protect existing SAV beds from further losses due to degradation of water quality, physical destruction to the plants, or disruption to the local benthic environment, such as from coastal construction
2. Continue to promote state or regional water and habitat quality objectives that will result in restoration of SAV through natural re-vegetation
3. Continue to promote, develop, attain, and update as needed, state SAV restoration goals in terms of acreage, abundance, and species diversity, considering historical distribution records and estimates of potential habitat
4. Continue to promote SAV protection at local, state and federal levels and when unavoidable impacts to SAV occur from permitted coastal alterations or other unintended actions, agencies should implement compensatory mitigation for the functional and temporal impacts
5. Encourage monitoring and research to address management-oriented information gaps
6. Provide funding for pilot projects and other demonstration restoration areas
There are six key components to achieving the goal of this policy: (1) assessment of historical, current and potential distribution an-=d abundance of SAV; (2) protection of existing SAV and associated habitat; (3) SAV restoration and enhancement; (4) public education and involvement; (5) research; and (6) implementation through pilot demonstration areas. The policy can be found here – HMS_MgmtSeries15_SAV_PolicyUpdate_Winter2022.pdf (asmfc.org).
For more information on SAV, visit the Commission website at http://www.asmfc.org/habitat/hot-topics or contact Simen Kaalstad, Habitat Committee Coordinator, at SKaalstad@asmfc.org”
-Habitat Hotline Atlantic 2023 Issue, Volume 1 pg 9-10