SeagrassLI

Time to catch up on old posts...

2010-10-06T10:29:00.005-04:00

Unfortunately, I've been a little too busy with field work to take the time and post to the blog this summer. Time flies when you are busy. Over the coming weeks, when weather keeps us in the office and as time allows, I want to provide updates on various projects we have underway. We have had some exciting results this year and we look forward to the fall planting season.

Restoration is underway at several sites in Long Island sound, Peconic Estuary and in the South Shore Estuary Reserve. Plantings range in size from small-scale test plots to large scale multiple acre sites.

Monitoring is underway in all estuaries especially in the PE with increased attention focusing on light and temperature measurements in existing eelgrass, historic eelgrass and potential restoration sites. Another large project is underway in cooperation with Fred Short at UNH involving collection of plant samples for genetic analysis. Expect more specific updates soon...

-ChrisP

Spring Fauna

2010-07-01T10:03:00.010-04:00

Now that summer is here, I thought it would make an opportune time to mention our more interesting animal encounters from this spring. It seems like every year, we start our spring dive season earlier and earlier, and this year the weather was exceptionally warm and beautiful for the most part. We began monitoring last year’s plantings by mid-March, but I have to say didn’t see too many fish while diving…the water was still too cold at this point I am guessing. By the first week of April, pipefish, gobies, and even a yellowtail flounder were seen in Little Peconic Bay when looking for seahorses near Chris’ father’s oyster cages.

When attempting to visit our planting site on the south side of Great Gull Island in mid-April, over 30 seals surrounded our boat. One even breached right next to the boat; we took that as a warning to stay out of the water. We have been told that these seals, including harbor and gray, can get aggressive this time of year because it’s mating season. It was the same scenario on the south side of Plum Island on the same day and then again at both sites one week later. Once again, we couldn’t get in at Gull Island as the seals were way too numerous and getting a little too close for comfort, but Chris decided to get in at Plum Island because the seals kept their distance here. They just hung out in deeper water until we left so they could go back to their favorite rocks and “haul out”.

By mid-May, we started to see our usual fluke and flounder at our restoration and donor sites as well as juvenile cunner and blackfish. Other noteworthy sightings were a school of squid hovering over an eelgrass bed in Gardener’s Bay in late-May and a massive school of young cod hanging out in our restored eelgrass South of Great Gull on June 15 (the seals finally left). Also, Barry took a few funny shots of an oyster toadfish trying to fit into a scallop shell in Hallock Bay which I find hysterical. We have yet to see seahorses in the wild this year, but will keep you updated. I can’t wait to see what summer brings!

For more photos, please visit us on Facebook!

Kimberly Petersen Manzo

New York's "Fragile Waterways" Premieres

2010-04-22T21:44:00.007-04:00

The PBS Channel 13 documentary entitled "Fragile Waterways" premiered today. At 45minutes the segment begins featuring my father (the oyster farmer) and I. Part of this includes a brief discussion about our eelgrass restoration efforts in Long Island Sound. Not much on detail but there is only so much you can get into on one of these shows.

In one scene through the cabin windshield you can see Steve and in another you can briefly see Kim in the cabin next to me. They also show up in the water in their dive gear, but with all that gear everyone looks the same!

You can view the show online here.

-ChrisP

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2010-04-22T21:44:00.001-04:00

Spring Monitoring Continues...

2010-04-22T08:39:00.007-04:00

Yesterday, three of us were able to get in the water and check out the status of our eelgrass restoration sites around Plum Island and Great Gull Islands.

First stop was Great Gull Island (north side) where we had planted as part of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) grant for eelgrass work in eastern Long Island Sound. I am happy to report that the plants looked great, small, but great (photos above). It is always a little shocking to see the plants for the first time in the spring when they still have the diminutive winter growth habit. The last time we observed these plants was in the fall when they were still quite long and waving in the current. Also, during this time of year there is so much macroalgae that it tends to hide the shoots. The prognosis is VERY good for this site and we plan to begin additional plantings soon.

Second stop was the south side of Great Gull where we wanted to check on a restoration site first planted 4 years ago. This site is amazing and the patches have really spread over the last couple years. Despite the great vis and perfect conditions, we were not able to get in the water here. Once on station, we were greeted by approximately 30 seals. Most were pups, but there were enough agitated adults around to keep us on the boat. We are all too familiar with their breaching and nostril snorting to know that we were not welcome here. We’ll have to wait a little longer to dive here, but I am sure that this site is thriving given it’s performance in the past.

The third stop was Plum Island South (Fort Terry) to look for remains of a test planting we had conducted last fall to see if this site could support grass. Unfortunately, after much searching (storms had removed our buoys) we only found a couple shoots. The wave energy and sand movement are apparently too much for our small patches of plants as those that remained were buried under several inches of sand. This very frustrating given that water quality and light are more than adequate at this site. I am optimistic that we can do some additional work here this summer to measure light levels to see how deep grass might survive here. I’m not holding my breath, but I would like to think that this site could work for us.

On a more positive note, our last dive was on the Plum Island North (Radiator Beach) which was another planting associated with the NFWF project. The crew had visited this site a couple weeks ago so I already knew it was doing well, but I wanted to see it for myself. Plants looked great here in 18-22’ of water (above). The area where we planted a large number of patches 1m OC looked great and we are on schedule to begin spring plantings soon to greatly enlarge this area. One interesting observation was the fact that the deepest plots (20-22’) were showing signs of erosion from high currents (below). This area is too deep to be affected by waves, but it appears that this far off shore the plants are outside of the shadow of the nearby point and rock piles that otherwise slow the currents. I don’t believe the currents are limiting; this is just something we need to take into consideration when planning out the planting.

Next field day is planned for Friday…

-ChrisP

It’s been a long winter!

2010-03-24T08:16:00.005-04:00

It’s been a very long winter and we are all ready to begin field work. We have spent the winter renovating offices, constructing a new seagrass lab and re-organizing and cleaning out the greenhouse. Now it’s time to get back in the water.

Last Friday marks the first dive of the season for the crew as Kim and Barry went out to check on one of our test planting sites at 67 Steps in Southold, Long Island Sound. The day was unseasonably warm; a perfect day for the first dive of the season. Fortunately, the plants looked great there. Some early season camera issues didn’t allow for pictures of all of the patches, but Kim reported that everything she saw looked really good.

I hope these observations are a sign of things to come as we launch our spring monitoring visits to all of our sites. After a winter like the one we just had, I have concerns over whether or not everything survived; only time will tell whether we had any losses.

For the next week we have to limit our observations to shore dives until the boats are back in the water in early April. Once our boats are back in, we can check on our sites out at Plum and Great Gull Island as well as scout out new spring test planting sites.

Finally, we also need to get into Shinnecock Bay and check on the status of a large-scale seeding effort and experiment that we began last summer. The results of this project could be very exciting…

Check back for more observations in the coming weeks.

-ChrisP

Rock Planting 101…

2009-11-19T08:56:00.012-05:00

Rock planting is a simple and effective way of establishing eelgrass in high energy rocky environments. It all starts with selecting the perfect site…Once you have that, you’re half way there! Obviously, it is not always easy to find these sites and that is the real challenge. I couldn’t possibly cover all that goes into the site selection process in a blog post, so I won’t even try. We’ll just assume for now that you have such a site.

The following photos are from our field work yesterday off of Great Gull Island where we have initiated a large-scale planting effort based on the success of our test plantings. These are the steps we take following collection of the donor plants from a suitable location. Again, this will not be covered in this post.

Step1. Chose your weapon! I prefer that old fashioned crow bar (above) while others on the crew use l

arge screwdrivers or short sections of rebar.

Step 2. Flip the rocks in preparation for planting.

Step 3. Place the plants in groups of 6 to 12.

Step 3a. Plant in groups…to speed coalescence. 1 meter OC spacing is ideal if there are enough rocks.

Step 4. Monitor. The plantings should look like this after a couple months. Notice how the shoots are growing away from the rock they were planted under. (same site, but from a previous planting).

Step 4a. Monitor more!…Eventually the rocks disappear as they get buried under sand and gravel that accumulates as the eelgrass shoot density increases. The plantings should like this after about three years! (different site same method).

-ChrisP

Two out of three ain’t bad!

2009-11-18T07:35:00.009-05:00

The weather this week has allowed us to get back out in the field once again as the season races towards winter…we need a few more good weeks to finish out or field work!

On Monday Kim, Ali and I were able to get out to Plum Island and check on the status of plantings there. The story was mostly good with a little bit of not so great news.

I’ll begin with the not so good news…

Our plantings off of Fort Terry on Plum Island (south side of the island) were looking quite battered and beaten from the heavy winds and storms we had over the last week or so (above). It still amazes me that there can be so much erosion and scouring to the bottom in 12 feet of water! I can’t imagine what the waves must have been like! We do still have plenty of plants here, but we lost many and those that remain appear pretty battered. There was also some burial as sand waves passed through the planting area. On another note, we still haven’t been able to find the temperature logger that was attached to a half cement block that was washed away during one of the last storms…maybe this site is too energetic. We are not planning any more plantings this year and instead we will just watch and wait to see how the plants fair through the winter. I REALLY want this site to work as it has so much potential for large-scale planting. For now, I will cross my fingers!

Now onto the good news…

After Fort Terry, we headed east to the north side of Great Gull Island and although the waves were very heavy and the vis was poor, we were could see that the plants looked great here (above). Everywhere I looked, there seemed to be groups of emerald green plants. This year we have really focused on planting in tighter groupings to speed coalescence and I think this is will pay off in the end. At past rock planting sites it has taken approximately three years for coalescence to occur, but I’m hoping that with this spacing this will begin to happen within the second growing season. Then again, we will get less bang for our buck per planting unit, but we’ll see how this works…we can always go back to the original method.

At Great Gull, there was no indication of damage or loss and we even had a few Lacuna egg masses visible on the blades…a good sign. I fully expect this site to fair as well as our plantings on the south side of the island that are doing incredibly well at this point after three years…

Once back in the boat we headed west to the north side of Plum Island to visit the Radiator Beach site, the deepest of our plantings this season (top photo). Here again we were happy to find the plantings doing very well with no signs of loss or damage even at our deepest stations below 20ft! Some of the plants here were shorter than the last time we visited, but this is just the winter growth habit taking over as the temperature drops and the water clarity increases.

Today, we’ll be splitting into two teams: My team, including Neal and Ali will be planting more plants at Great Gull while Steve and Kim will be monitoring the recovery of the natural meadow at Orient Point. We also hope to get in tomorrow and we have a big day planned for Friday with visits to points west in LIS.

-ChrisP

Waiting for the wind to die

2009-10-07T15:22:00.010-04:00

The wind has the team office-bound today, but we expect to get out to plant our site off the north shore of Plum Island, LIS on Friday. Today’s forecast called for sustained winds of 20-25knots with gusts in the 40’s! Based on the shuddering sound the greenhouse is making, the weatherman got this one right.

Yesterday we did a little recon monitoring and sediment sample collection at three restoration sites including the north and south sides of Great Gull Island as well as at the Plum Island site (north side or Radiator Beach).

All three sites looked great with the south side of Gull Island still looking amazing (top). The plants here are filling in nicely on their own. We may want to add more plants further down the shore to enlarge the meadow, but we can also just sit back and let nature take its course. I think we will probably speed up the process by adding more plants to the east.

The north side of Gull Island (above), the newest of our plantings, is still looking very good. It is too early to know whether or not these plants will fair as well as their south-side neighbors, but I think they will do fine. The fact that this site is exposed to NW winds means that it will take more pounding, however. Because of this, I do expect to experience greater losses here, but once the plants are firmly established, they should do fine.

As a follow up to our September 22nd visit, the Plum Island test plants (above) still look very good. I don’t think we have lost any shoots recently; everything looked as it did on the 22nd. Based on this success, we are expanding our work here out into deeper water. Yesterday’s observations indicated that the 17’ plantings still look the best so we will definitely plant out to 20 or 22 feet when we get back on the water this Friday.

-ChrisP

Planting Deep!

2009-09-22T20:51:00.012-04:00

Yesterday was our second follow-up visit to our site off the north shore of Plum Island. These plantings are part of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Eastern Long Island Sound Eelgrass Restoration project.

This project involves plantings on the north side of Great Gull Island, Plum Island and several test plantings along the north shore of the north fork. At this point all initial test plantings have been completed and we are just making our final observations before making plans for the fall planting season when we will begin full-scale restoration plantings.

Great Gull Island already received pilot plantings this summer and we have decided, based on the success of this work, that this will be the focus of full-scale restoration beginning this month. Plum Island also received pilot plantings, but later than the Gull Island site and we had not been able to effectively determine how successful the site was until yesterday.

It is interesting to note that the Plum Island plantings are different from most of our other Long Island Sound sites in that there are no rocks to plant under despite the exposed conditions. As a result, we had to come up with another method of planting here. I am not prepared to discuss this method yet as it has not been fully tested, but it appears that this method is as effective, if not more effective than the rocks and can be used on any type of bottom. As an aside we expect to describe this method at some point in the future.

Another interesting aspect of the Plum Island site is that we had to plant so deep given the northern exposure. At other sites in the Sound, we have planted in 8 to 12ft of water while here we planted from 10 to 17ft. As usual we look to spread our test plantings along a gradient from shallow to deep expecting to lose the shallow plots to scouring and the deep plots to light limitation.

Soon after our planting we got our wish when the shallow plots were completely wiped out by a hurricane. The waves were so heavy here that they exposed up to a foot of new profile on several nearby boulders! Our plants didn't stand a chance... The good news was, however, that our deeper stations survived with no impact.

Yesterday, we returned for a final visit of the monitornig season to find the 12, 15 and 17ft depth plots still growing very well. So, we will now put this site on the long list of scale-up sites for this fall and winter. What is most interesting about this site is the fact that we might be able to plant even deeper since the deepest plots are showing no signs of light limitation. In fact, the plants in 17ft look even better than those at the 12ft depth since they have a lower epiphyte load.

When we come back to add more plants we will likely extend several plots deeper than the 17ft. It in interesting to note that there are natural eelgrass meadows off the north side of Fishers Island that go down to almost 25ft so we may be able to go to at least 20ft at Plum Island. Imagine that!

I'm very excited about this site and I look forward to continued work here. Hopefully, we can make history as the deepest restoration site on record in the region.

As usual, stay tuned for additional news on this site and thanks again to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for funding this project!

-ChrisP

Thanks Hurricane Billy!

2009-08-31T20:53:00.016-04:00

Yes...I am being facetious!

Although we're already a couple named storms past Billy (Danny most recently), we hadn't had a chance to check on a number of our test plots that were in his path. Today was our day to catch up. We wanted to determine what if any impact the hurricane had and decide on which of our plantings we will scale-up this fall.

So the good news is...most everything was in pretty good shape. The bad news was that it took us much longer than it should have to check on the plots since the heavy surf had moved all of our marker buoys off Plum Island more than 100 feet from their original location making it hard to find our plantings. Also, once they were found, we had to drag the buoys and cement blocks back to their original locations. We also lost a temperature logger that was attached to a cement block at one site. I think we may eventually be able to find this if we follow the trajectory the buoys and blocks took. It is amazing to think that the storm was able to move full sized cement blocks in 10-12ft of water! Fortunately, most of the plants remained in the bottom.

Although we didn't visit the site today, we did have one fatality from Billy that we noted last week. Test plots along the east side of Cartwright Shoal (not shown here) off the south shore of Gardiners Island were totally obliterated in the storm. I had high hopes for this site, but the storm changed all of that and I don't see us going back. We planting on the SE side of the shoal hoping to avoid the prevailing NW in the winter, but I hadn't planned on a storm from the NE that destroyed everything. Oh well, that's why to do test plantings before investing the time and money into large-scale plantings.

The best news today was that both Plum Island planting sites (top and left) weathered the storm. We did have some loss and damage, but all and all, the plantings made it through and we are on our way to large-scale plantings this fall. Not surprisingly, the deeper ~12ft plants looked the best, but we even had survival at the 8ft depth of the shallow station. We had assumed that the shallow plants would have been smothered or eroded. It turned out they were buried in sand, but not enough to completely cover them.

In the Sound we did see some damage at our Duck Pond Point site in Peconic, but the Horton's Point, 67 steps and Rocky Point sites all showed no sign of storm damage and look like good candidates for full-scale plantings. We will not be planting any more this fall at Duck Pond Point, but the other sites will definitely get more attention. Horton's Point (above right) and 67 steps, in particular, look to be very good candidates for full scale plantings. If Duck Pond Point makes it through the winter, it too may become a large-scale planting site.

Let the plantings begin...

-ChrisP

Too much of a good thing?

2009-08-17T22:07:00.012-04:00

On days like today there is no excuse for not getting out in the field. Although we were down two staff, it was still possible for Kim and I to get out and do what we needed to do. It was either that or stay in the office and catch up on paperwork (me) and webpage updates (Kim).

With a skeleton crew there was only so much that we can do efficiently so I decided we would focus on scouting for new planting sites around Plum Island that we have been trying to complete for the last few weeks and monitoring some older test planting sites in the area.

After a quick call to the homeland security folks on Plum Island we were on our way to visit the cool, deep and high velocity waters of eastern LIS. I won't go into any detail here, but suffice it to say that our scouting was a success and we did find at least one promising looking site on the north side of the Plum Island. This matches up with some earlier observations from April or May. I would have to look back and check the date, but it doesn't matter at this point. We may be planting this site as soon as tomorrow, weather and staff permitting.

The other, and frankly more interesting part of our day, was to monitor some test plantings from this summer. If things make it through August, we can usually be assured that water quality and temperature are not limiting. It's too early to determine if disturbance will be limiting, as this kicks in in the fall and winter, but if the plants don't make it through the summer, there is nothing to monitor and no potential for success, so we have to start somewhere.

Our sites today included two sites on the south side of Plum Island and one on the north side of Great Gull Island. The first two are part of our Suffolk County Eelgrass Restoration Initiative and the third is part of our National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Long Island Sound restoration project. As always, we couldn't do any of this work without the generous support of our funding partners!

First, I have to say that the plants looked great at both sites and it looks like we have some very promising large-scale planting candidates for the coming fall, but we did make one interesting observation. There we incredible numbers of Lacuna vincta snails on many of the plants. I'm not talking about normal numbers, but what appeared to be overwhelming numbers. We like these snails and actually will move them to a completely unvegetated site (one that has no algae to act as an alternative host for these grazers) to help clean off the epiphytes and biofilm on transplants (we're just about to do this for some plantings near Duck Pond Point in LIS), but these were almost at an alarming density.

I don't think this is a bad thing at all, but these little guys were definitely causing some grazing damage to the leaves and sheaths of many of the plants. I do remember seeing a fairly high density on some plants early on at our St. Thomas Pt. restoration site where we have had considerable success so maybe this is just the way it always is during this time of year and I just missed it..or maybe the crazy weather this year has spawned a bumper crop of snails...who knows? I will have to look back at the photos to see what time of year this occurred, however. (Editors Note: I did take a look back at shots from a couple other restoration sites over the years and, in fact, August showed the peak density for Lacuna snails. Some plants appeared to have densities rivaling those seen in the pictures here, but it still seems that we're a little higher this year than in previous years. Also, there was very little, if any, indication of heavy herbivory damage in these earlier photos from other LIS planting sites.)

It is also possible that when the eelgrass is at a low density and there are a large number of snails on the nearby macroalgae, the snails may prefer the eelgrass and leave the algae to preferentially feed on the eelgrass epiphytes and, yes, the leaf tissue! Since there are so few eelgrass plants, the snail density reaches what appears to be a saturation point on many of the plants.

If this is the case what is causing it? I just don't know right now. However, I still believe that the presence of snails, even at these very high densities, are better than no snails. At the Duck Pond Point site in LIS, there is no macroalgae and therefore no snails except for a couple that came along for the ride when we transplanted. Here the plants look fairly good, but there is a heavy layer of epiphytes that must be decreasing overall productivity. Once we deliver some snails to these plants, the problem should be solved.

With each season we learn more about the natural cycles underway in the waters around us. Not every year is the same, but trends have emerged. I hope that with this knowledge we can improve our ability to successfully plant eelgrass. So far, so good, but everyday in the field teaches us something new.

-ChrisP

Working in the fog!

2009-08-05T14:26:00.007-04:00

We had big plans for field work yesterday including test plantings on the north side of Plum Island, but it wasn't to be...

It was a beautiful day at the lab, warm, sunny and very little breeze...all the makings for the perfect day on the water, or at least I thought that would be the case. Rounding the north side of Shelter Island we could see hints of fog to the east and I didn't think too much of it as we have been out in fog in the past and it always clears. It's usually around in the early morning and disapears by mid morning...no problem.

This day was a little different. On our way past Bug Light and into Gardiners Bay we could see that the fog was thicker to the east and from the activity on the radio, it was clear that there was no visibility in Plum Gut. With this in mind I took us on a heading that would steer well clear of this busy area and we tracked southeast into Gardiners Bay on our way to Fishers Island. Unfortunatley, the fog never abated and it just got thicker and thicker making navigation nearly impossible. I decided we would try and wait it out on the south side of Plum Island where few boats would be in the hope that the fog would eventually clear.

After waiting approximately 30 minutes we decided to give up on plan A and forged ahead with a plan B. Since we were already at Plum Island, I figured we might as well scout for another test planting site to compliment the ones we have off of Fort Terry. I wanted to find an additional site further SW along the Island to try and avoid some issues we were experiencing with our first plots that seemed to gather masses of drifting macroalgae after heavy E-SE winds. This is a long story that relates to similar easterly facing planting site off of Shelter Island. The take home is that we not only have to consider current velocity and wave energy when planning out planting sites, but we also have to consider prevailing current direction and the characteristics of the upstream bottom conditions. (I'll get into this in a future post)

I had already identified a new site using aerial photos so it was just a matter of getting in the water to see if the conditions were suitable. After swimming around I was very pleased to find that the conditions were not only suitable, but were superior to our other planting site to the NE. The area contained plenty of perfectly sized rocks for rock plantings and the rocks had a nice growth of macroalgae indicating the perfect conditions. At least the day wasn't an entire loss!

After this we decided to push our luck and venture around the eastern tip of Plum to see if we could explore the north shore where we had planned addtional plantings. The heavy fog made this very challenging, but we were eventually able to find one of the sites that I had identified previously and we carefully anchored near the rocks where no boater would dare go. In the water here we were able to explore a large area inshore of the boat and among the rocks, but none of this looked suitable for planting.

After this second dive we decided to call it a day and head back to the lab to get some other work done. Hopefully, later this week we can return and complete our scouting.

-ChrisP

So much field work...so little time!

2009-08-04T06:29:00.006-04:00

After what was a pretty slow May marred by weather related delays, we hit the water hard in mid June and basically haven't stopped since. Sure there's been the necessary office work, but the pace has been nearly frantic throughout the summer.

We have been busy planting out new test plots in LIS, PE and the SSER in preparation for the coming restoration season. Our monitoring work has followed the progress of these new plantings every other week and we have also made time to go out and check on our plantings from previous years to see how they are faring.

This summer we are also testing out one TWO new planting methods, one in Shinnecock Bay and PE and the other in LIS and PE. Both could open up new restoration opportunities for us in these areas and may help to reduce restoration costs and labor.

Our monitoring results have been VERY encouraging and generally fall into what we have come to expect for the region. LIS sites, both old and new have met or exceeded our expectations. The same can be said for Shinnecock bay plantings. PE, on the the other hand, continues to disappoint, at least in some areas. A new site off Plum Island, however, may be the one we've been waiting for. If this site proves successful, it could be on a scale unheard of in the PE. So far so good!

Look for detailed posts on each of these projects as time permits in the coming weeks.

For now we have to take advantage of the very cooperative weather and continue with field work!

-ChrisP

Planting in the Hamptons...

2009-06-03T10:14:00.017-04:00

Yesterday we spent the day in Shinnecock Bay reconing for a large-scale Buoy Deployed Seeding effort we have planned with the Southampton Town Trustees. The forecast called for a passing shower and we were lucky enough drive through it on our way from Southold to Southampton. Once we got the the ramp at Ponquogue Bridge it was only sprinkling and by the time we got in the water the rain had stopped. The sun didn't come out, but at least it wasn't raining...

Our first stop was a site in Tiana Bay to collect a new sediment sample to round out our sediment data for the Eelgrass and Bay Scallop Project funded by the NYSDOS. The previous sample collected last year had some "issues" so we just needed to retake the sample so the analysis could be re-run. While at the site we were pleased to see a very interesting and patchy meadow, growing in mud, with flowers reaching to the surface. Although we didn't have time to investigate in more detail yesterday, we will have to go back and observe this site in more detail as it is different from other SSER meadows we are aware of.

The two goals of our trip were to: 1) locate and characterize an appropriate multi-acre planting site, and 2) to identify a seed donor site and collect samples to determine potential seed yield and timing of seed collection.

After finishing in Tiana, we headed back east under the bridge and anchored in the flats just beyond the inlet and north of the barrier beach. At a meeting a couple weeks ago with the Trustees it was decided that we would focus on a very large flat south of some of the existing grass in the bay in an area that was not used for shellfishing. Once we got out there we realized that this site just happens to be in front of the largest home on the barrier beach so it will be relatively easy to find the future.

Once at the proposed site we started by setting small buoys to generally define the planting area. With these in place, we set out to characterize the site in more detail so that we could base our final decision on the existing conditions. While Kim and Ali collected sediment samples and photographed the bottom, Steve and I walked the perimeter of the area and recorded depth, time and GPS coordinates to characterize depths. With regard to depth, we need to make sure that the site is deep enough to support or buoys. In addition, we also need to determine our BuDS line lengths based on this depth.

In order to find a suitable seed donor site, Kim and Ali observed the natural meadows north of the flats in 7-9 feet of water and at another site near the Coast Guard Station in 7 feet of water. At each site they collected at least 10 reproductive shoots so that spathes, and seeds could be counted. Given that it has been cold this year, the flowers were in early stages of development and we observed stigmas emerging and some pollen being released. This gives us approximately 4 weeks until the first seed release depending on how our water temperatures progress this month.

Once Steve gets the GPS coordinates on an appropriate aerial photo I will be able to present the map to the Trustees for final approval. When this is complete, we hope to mark the site with larger buoys or sapling "whips" so that it will be easily identified in the future. Kim will also be observing the flowers she collected to determine the potential seed yield and give us an idea of the optimal collection window. At this point we are looking at the last week in June as a potential collection/deployment time.

- ChrisP

Hallocks Bay seedlings thrive...so far!

2009-06-01T15:31:00.008-04:00

Today Kim and I took the small Parker out to Hallock Bay to check on the status of our seedlings there. Last year we planted approximately 500,000 seeds in two areas; one in inner north Gidds Bay and one east of the inner channel running north/south in Hallocks. Kim, Steve and Ali had been out to check on the seedlings on April 27th, but we like to check on things monthly, if not more often. At that time they located the densest patches and took pictures and did some quadrat counts to get a general idea of densities before laterals start forming in May.

Today the weather was nearly perfect for observations with clear skies and a light breeze out of the northwest that add only a slight chop to the protected waters of Hallocks. Once in the water, Kim was able to locate the seedlings at the channel site in Hallocks and take a number of good photographs (left and below). Plants here were still small for this time of year given that water temps have been slow to rise this spring. However they all looked even healthier than in April according to Kim who had observed them both times. The densest areas looked especially impressive, even if the plants were only a few inches tall.

Observations in Gidds Bay were similar although the plants (large photo above) were larger given the finer sediment and additional nutrients available . These muddy sites seem to recruit and grow seedlings very well early in the season, but are typically the first areas to lose grass in summer at the water clarity declines, temperatures increase and crab activity rises. This is what we observed in Noyack Creek last summer when we lost all of our seedlings in June. I think conditions in Hallocks are better than in Noyack and we can only hope that this does not happen again.

Now that we have successful seedling establishment, all we can do is sit back and wait for the coming summer. Only time will tell if this planting will be successful. In the coming weeks I hope to work with the Southold Town Trustees to establish a temporary habitat sanctuary at, the channel site minimally so that, if the plants make it through July and into August, we can scale-up the effort and plan for a large-scale Buoy Deployed Seeding (BuDS) here. The fact that we have seeds maturing into August around Fishers Island gives us until that late in the season plant, but we must act quickly if we are to establish the sanctuary...

I hope to report back on the success of these sites.

-ChrisP

BuDS goes National!

2009-05-27T08:53:00.007-04:00

A new planting system we devised and first tested in Sag Harbor Cove in 2000 has been adopted by managers in San Francisco Bay to help to restore grass there.....see this link to the story.

In 2002, I was invited to a workshop designed to discuss various alternatives for replanting grass in the intertidal flats in the Bay. Subsequent to this, a NOAA-funded study was undertaken to test three methods of planting eelgrass including a modified TERFS transplant method, broadcast seeding and our Buoy Deployed Seeding. We were very happy to learn that the BuDS had the best results and has since been the method of choice for San Fran managers. Apparently, they have been able to establish acres of grass using this method. See the NOAA story for details and check out the close-up photo (below) of an intertidal flat taken by Dr. Mark Fonseca of NOAA.

The State of Maryland also has some considerable success with BuDS and considered it the most economical method they ever tested. I'm not sure if they are still using it, but it is nice to know that this system has worked elsewhere. Initial trials in Portugal were inconclusive, but I hope that they also adopt our system.

With all the success of this method you would think that we would have lots of sites to point to here on Long Island, but, unfortunately, we don't. This system is best suited to shallow sandy flats that can be found in San Francisco and the Maryland Coastal Bays system. The only areas we have like that around here are in the South Shore Estuary Reserve. We did run a trial on TNC's Blue Points property a couple years ago, but the arrival of the brown tide last year all but doomed that effort.

In a new effort, we are about to embark on a large-scale eelgrass planting project using BuDS in Shinnecock Bay. This project, with funding from Suffolk County and the cooperation and support of the Southampton Town Trustees, will be our largest BuDS deployment ever and has a high likelyhood of successful if our initial transplant tests are any indication. This project follows the successful completion of a New York State Department of State funded Eelgrass and bay scallop restoration planning effort for Shinnecock and Moriches Bays. (I will have an entire post once the final report and GIS model is released next month).

In the coming days we will be spending time out on the flats scouting and marking the most suitable areas. A meeting with the Trustees has indicated that there is one large area that will likely be ideal.

In a future post I will report back on the progress of this work.

-- ChrisP

Boat Time!

2009-04-23T08:05:00.003-04:00

After what seems like an endless winter it’s finally time to get the “big” Parker in the water. We really have to get out and check on some of last year’s sites and scout for new ones for the coming season. The cold weather, winds and rain have really put a damper on what I hoped would be a more productive April field season. It was probably better off this way as I have been able to clean up some administrative stuff that would otherwise cause me problems later in the year. It’s hard to respond to frantic calls about some missing report or budget snafu when I’m under water!

Today is the day! Steve has completed last minute checks of the batteries, electronics and other details. Ali (above) has used her recent boater safety training to make sure that our safety equipment is ready to go. All we need now is enough water to float the boat off the trailer here at Cedar Beach today…no small task.

By tomorrow I hope to be in the water testing out some new dive gear. I just got a Black Diamond BCD that feels really nice above water. No telling how it will feel under water. My good old Zeagle has seen better days and needs to be retired as a back up. It would be nice to be able to ditch the dry suits tomorrow, but I think we need it to get a little warmer before that happens.

Look out four our first field reports soon.

-ChrisP

NYC plantings finally in!

2009-04-22T17:00:00.003-04:00

After much coordination of our schedules with that of NYCDEP, we were finally able to complete our plantings into Jamaica Bay. It would have been nice to get them in last fall or even this past winter, but it wasn’t to be…

On April 9th Steve, Kim and I planted 2,100 plants gathered from Mulford and Orient Points into 11 separate 1m2 plots. We had hoped to have more donor material, but the fact that the plants were so small this time of year made collection difficult. We planted 6 plots at Breezy Point, 3 at Floyd Bennett Field and 2 at Little Egg Marsh. Plots were set out perpendicular to shore and started just below MLW and went out to ~3ft at MLW. All plots were marked with a labeled stone at the center and we kept the Mulford and Orient shoots separate so that we might be able to tease out donor population effects.

The weather was very cooperative and we met John McLaughlin of NYCDEP and Robert Will of the Army Corp of Engineers at the old Coast Guard Station west of the Marine Parkway Bridge at 8:30am for a day on the water. A NYCDEP boat came to pick us up soon thereafter and we were on our way. It was a little breezy, but coming from the SSW meant that we were protected for most of our work.

We had planned to work during the ebbing tide and end up at Breezy Point, at or around low tide. This worked out well as we arrived at this site at 1:15am and we were able to observe the full extent of the flats at low tide. After laying out the six plots here, the three of us began planting and we finished some time around 2:30pm. Steve installed an OnSet temperature logger adjacent to the deepest plot and we were on our way.

One troubling observation as we were heading back to the dock was the fact that we saw a number of brant feeding almost exactly on top of our shallowest plot at Breezy Point. We fully expect to loose this plot to something, maybe exposure or erosion, but I didn’t think it would be to Brant! There is no guarantee that they did rip out the plants, but I will be very surprised if any remain in this plot when we return in May. I just hope they haven’t moved out to the deeper plots…

I’ll provide an update next month after our first monitoring visit.

-ChrisP

Long overdue...

2009-02-11T11:21:00.003-05:00

Well, I haven't posted anything in more than a month now. I do have one excuse...I was on vacation for the first three weeks in January. After that I had to catch up on the pile of office work that had built up since I left!

Now I'm back and I should be able to keep things going again.

The capture above is from a mock up of our latest newsletter that I am working on this week. I hope to have it to the printers by the middle of next week, but since I'm so early in the proces it's not clear when it will be ready to go. It may change a little, but you get the gist of it. For those who have seen previous newsletters, you can see that I have changed the look a little. I'm going for more of a magazine style. You'll have to wait and see if I get it right!

Field work has been minimal with the cold weather and ice that have been around in recent weeks. Kim and I did get in Monday to test our new drysuites and I am happy to report that I was warm and toasty and there was not one leak! Love the new Unisuite! Kim had a little leakage around a wrist, but not enough to worry much about.

Our planned NYC plantings have been rescheduled again as we can't seem to line up weather and reporters... I would just as soon plant, but they do want to have this event covered properly in the local press.

I will be travelling to Portland Maine in a couple weeks to present the status of eelgrass in NY waters. Should be an interesting, if not depressing, meeting as managers and scientists from around the northeast report on the status of Zostera in their waters...

Well, I've got to get back to working on the newsletter.

If you're not a subscriber to the newsletter and want a hard copy drop me a line. Just let me finish it first. Those so inclined can also look for the link to a pdf version on our website.

ChrisP

Babies into the new year…

2008-12-29T14:26:00.001-05:00

I’m happy to report that we still have a good number of our babies. Fortunately, through the Christmas break, Kim, Mikey and I were able to share the feeding responsibilities. I’m “on” all this week. Special thanks to Mike Patricio who has stepped in to feed when needed. Mikey has also provided the lab space, live algae and air we need to hatch and raise our brine shrimp. Soon we will be moving into our own small space so that Mikey can get to conditioning shellfish for the upcoming spawn.

At this point we have approximately 40 healthy looking guys “happily” swimming around and hunting for food. We are losing one every other day or so for no apparent reason. The ones that die look just as healthy as their living brothers and sisters still swimming. I no longer see any trapped on the surface suffering from air trapped in there pouches or some similar malady. Many now gather near the bottom of the tank seaming to be looking at their reflection in the glass or just hunting for food down there.

I would like to think that we can begin to supplement with some non-live food such as chopped glass shrimp, but I’m a little concerned about fouling the water in the tank. I may try later this week to see what happens. If we do augment the feeding this way we will surely have to up the water change schedule. Another concern is that we want to keep these guys accustomed to hunting for food if we have any chance of successfully releasing them when they get large enough.

Oh yeah, our pregnant male looks about ready to pop any day now…

-ChrisP

Blondes have more fun?

2008-12-23T15:04:00.002-05:00

I reported last week on our latest batch of seahorse babies and the fact that we had one light colored individual in the bunch. The next day I looked in the tank and I saw 2, but I thought miscounted. Well now its almost a week later and we have 5!

I’m not exactly sure what is happening, but we seem to be gaining blondes somehow. Three of the 5 are almost yellow while another has some dark highlights on a light background and another is a more brownish blonde. All of these light “guys” stand in stark contrast to the nearly jet black coloring of the other babies.

I knew the adults changed color in response to mood and activity, but I didn’t know that the babies changed color as they matured. Learn something new every day…

At this point we have about 30 individuals of various sizes with some really large ones in the dark group. The blondes appear to be among the most active so hopefully they will make it through to adulthood.

We’re looking to begin to feed some chopped shrimp and other “meat” soon to get these guys growing even faster.

I will report on how they do.

Merry Christmas!

-ChrisP

NYC plantings postponed until January…

2008-12-18T14:25:00.004-05:00

Some of you may be aware of our efforts to plant eelgrass in Jamaica Bay NYC. It’s a long story, but we are working with NYCDEP and the Gateway Jamaica Bay Unit among others to establish test plantings at three locations near the mouth of the Bay. There was interest in us planting further inside Jamaica, but water quality, temperature and sediment texture appear to be limiting factors here.

After some discussion, we secured permits from both the NYSDEC, Region 2 and Parks to do the plantings earlier this year and we have been looking to schedule plantings for this fall/winter. This pilot planting will hopefully lead the way for a large-scale effort to be funded by NYCDEP…

Although I had hoped to get our plants in by now uncooperative weather and several scheduling conflicts have pushed this work into late January. This late date does not affect the plants as much as it affects the divers. We are fine to plant right through the winter but the water is not very warm as you might imagine.

I will report here when we complete the plantings…

Just be thankful its not you out there diving!

-ChrisP

Web Page Improvements...

2008-12-17T13:15:00.006-05:00

While I was gone Kim also was able to make some changes and update the web page. Take a look at the modified layout and new links on the bottom and let us know what you think. More changes will come this winter, but we try and get things accomplished as time allows.

With the "What's New" button visitors will be able to quickly find out what has been added or changed. We also added a link to pictures that we have lent out to others in the "Picture Hall of Fame" link. We are more than happy to provide pics to those who ask...

-ChrisP

The Ponies are Growing!

2008-12-17T13:03:00.007-05:00

I’ve been out for a couple weeks now, but just before I left we had another batch of baby seahorses arrive. We’ve been through a few of these events and unfortunately, we have not been able to get these little guys past about 10-14 days. This time is different.

The big difference was the fact that Kim Petersen took the babies home at the end of week one and was able to keep them fed. Past broods have suffered major losses after the first weekend as I was only able to feed them a few times. Also, I was putting too much food in the tank at one time. This time Kim fed them several times each day and got them past what has been a major bottleneck.

I came back to the office today to find about 50 healthy looking, large ponies swimming in a 10 gallon tank. All are jet black except for one “blonde”. Since I didn’t observe this batch closely from the beginning, I don’t know how many were light from the start, but I have seen maybe 10% of the lighter colored individuals in past batches.

There is no guarantee that we will be able to raise these guys to adulthood, but from the looks of it we are on the right track. The fact that they have more than doubled in size and are eating well is a good sign.

For now, I will cross my fingers and hope that we have figured this out.

-ChrisP

The Fall season is in full swing…

2008-11-18T08:19:00.006-05:00

Although most people assume that our busiest season is summer they couldn’t be further from the truth. We’re out in the boat a lot during the summer given the great weather, but fall is when most of the real important work takes place. Unfortunately, fickle weather patterns including heavy winds from the northwest keep us in the office more than we would like during this time of year. As a result, we have more work to do than days to do it in and we must take advantage of every field day possible. It is not unusual for me to hold off scheduling meetings until I look at the weather forecast for the week.

Although the fall brings us cold air temps the water takes some time to drop. This change is really tied into colder nights that inch the mercury downward day by day. The opposite is true in the spring when the air gets warmer faster than the water. It’s that whole heat capacity thing that I don’t want to get into now…

One big advantage of working in the fall is that the water clarity (vis) really improves. The algae all seem to take a break for the season and do not bloom. This is less than ideal for our filter feeders like shellfish and perfect for those of us who want to see past our noses while diving. This added light is also critical for the grass as we observe a nice little growth spurt in fall as lateral shoots emerge.

During fall we complete our monitoring for the various test planting sites and we summarize the results of our large-scale restoration projects. If the planting has suffered losses over summer we sometimes observe slight increases in shoot density by November or December. It’s not that the shoots get any larger, actually they get smaller, but what we want to see is more of them. For the some projects we may even replant.

Another advantage of the colder temps is that the crabs slow a little and tend to cause less damage to our plots. Unfortunately, most of the damage has already taken place during the summer, but this is helps to protect our new plantings. This is especially true in January, but this frigid water even slows us down!

This year, we don’t have an overly eventful fall. We just have a few projects to complete before January. Planting sites include Caumsett State Park in Long Island Sound (LIS), Great Gull Island (LIS), Jamaica Bay, NYC and several areas along the north fork. I always like to add at least a couple new test plots and we are still figuring out which ones we will use this year.

Soon we will be breaking out our dry suits. For now I can still dive wet…

-ChrisP

“Donut” anyone?

2008-11-17T08:03:00.005-05:00

On a recent dive at the Terry’s Point restoration site, I was surprised to observe very small “bald spots” at the center of the larger patches indicating that we may be observing the initiation of what I call “donuts”. In this case, there is still a dense covering of rhizomes, but there are few if any shoots in this open area leading me to believe that some process may be limiting shoot recruitment here.

At many natural meadows in high energy areas we observe distinct patterns including rings, crescents or C-shaped formations scattered throughout the bed. In fact, this distinctive signature helps us to distinguish grass from macroalgae beds in aerial photos in the Sound and Gardiners Bay. Despite the fact that these forms are common, it is not really clear how and when they form.

I always assumed that these started off as circular patches that eventually lose their centers. In some cases there may be a breach of the ring leading to the formation of a “C” or similar. However, since we have not observed this, I just don’t know if this is the process.

Continued observations at Terry’s may allow us to follow this progression. Overall, the grass here is flourishing and the early summer plantings that Steve, Kim and Ali did this year, adjacent to the large patches are doing REALLY well, so there is no reason to think that the grass is under stress here. In fact, I couldn’t be happier with the project.

Only time will tell whether this is beginning of a natural meadow-shaping process. All we can do is sit back and let nature take its course. In the mean time we will continue to plant shoots in the adjacent rocky areas to ensure that this meadow expands and flourishes. I wish all of our sites were doing so well!

-ChrisP

New Skin for the Nursery!

2008-11-04T20:32:00.002-05:00

Steve organized a group of us to replace the plastic on the greenhouse. This was long overdue. We were still on our original covering and I think we put the place up in 2001! Hopefully, with the new plastic we can inflate the roof properly and keep a little more heat in this winter. The first time we installed the plastic it was too tight and we haven’t been able to inflate the roof correctly ever since…

-ChrisP

Seeding for diversity…

2008-11-04T19:51:00.007-05:00

Yesterday Kim and I went out to our eastern Long Island Sound (LIS) restoration sites and overseeded with seeds from several donor meadows. We were fortunate to collect a large number of seeds from Fishers Island and Mulford Pt. this year and it is time we got them out of the nursery. We will be planting some for restoration, some for grow out in the creek behind the lab, but a large number were destined to increase the genetic diversity at our existing restoration sites.

Because we created the meadows at St. Thomas and Terry’s Points with adult shoot transplants the genetic diversity in these new meadows is probably low. We make every effort to collect shoots from various locations to ensure the highest diversity, but given that these stable meadows could be single clones there is no guarantee that what we collect is genetically diverse.

In an effort in increase genetic diversity at these sites we overseed with seeds collected from various donor populations in the Sound. We have found through the years working at these high energy sites that seeds do not recruit very effectively in the absence of adult shoots. Apparently, the seeds need the moderating influence of these shoots to reduce currents and turbulence that might otherwise dislodge or overly bury the seeds. In the presence of adult shoots, however, they do recruit and grow.

The seeding at St. Thomas involved spreading the seeds at the leading edge of each large patch of grass that we encountered. There is a “leading edge” because the current always runs in one direction given the shape of the shoreline. This way, as the seeds migrate down current they will have the greatest opportunity to be trapped by the stems and other bottom irregularities. If we placed them near the center of these areas, there is a greater chance that the seeds might be transported out of the patches and beyond where they could effectively recruit.

The conditions at Terry’s Pt. are different so I simply sprinkled the seeds throughout the large patches. Other seeds were broadcast outside the patches to see if they could recruit under here.

During our planting we broadcast approximately 500,000 seeds between the two sites. Three quarters of these were planted at St. Thomas site and the balance at Terry’s. Only time will tell how manh of these seeds recruit.

-ChrisP

Little Ram Test Plantings continued…

2008-10-17T09:41:00.010-04:00

This week after getting back from giving a talk at the Restore America’s Estuaries Conference in Providence Rhode Island we were able to get a little field work in.

On the top of the agenda was checking on the status of the Little Ram Island plantings off of Shelter Island. In my previous post I reported on the survival of these rock plantings into September, but I was not in the water that day and wanted to see them first hand. I also wanted to add some fall plantings to provide a better overwinter test as late spring/early summer plantings are not the norm for us.

When we arrived at the buoy and anchored we were welcomed by a curious seal that watched as we donned our gear. I was hoping to see our friend in the water, but despite how many times we have seen seals on the surface in the fall and winter, we have never seen one up close in the water. Its probably better off as we are not supposed to “harass” marine mammals regardless of how innocuous it may seem.

Once in the water, it was clear that the buoy had been moved as nothing looked right and no plants could be found. I eventually swam about 100ft. north and was able to find our plots. Once I moved the blocks and buoy over, Kim and I were able to add some additional plantings and check on the status of those from spring. Ali was on the boat for support.

I must say that I was not overly impressed with what was there (See above photo). It looked like we might have lost a few since September, which would be odd as we usually lose things in July and August, but again I wasn’t in the water last time so I’m not a good judge of what was there.

What is clear is that we added a few hundred more plants to the area to give it a better chance of overwintering and spreading. One thing we will have to watch out for is the growth of the Sargassum. There was absolutely no sign of this species in the spring and now it carpets the rocks we planted under. Surrounding rocks actually have a heavy growth of much taller Sargassum. I don’t think it will be a problem if the eelgrass can keep up, but we will have to watch. Never a dull moment…

I am scheduled to meet with the folks form Shelter Island to discuss future plans for this site, Cornelius Point and Coecles Harbor the first week in November. I am hoping that they will look favorably on our efforts on the Island and allow us to continue.

-ChrisP

A look at Lake Montauk eelgrass

2008-09-25T09:32:00.008-04:00

It’s been a very long time since I’ve been diving in Lake Montauk to look at eelgrass. I think it was actually 14 years ago! Well, all I can say is a lot has changed…and not for the better.

CCE has been contracted to work with the Town of East Hampton Natural Resources Department to help develop a “Watershed Protection Plan”. As part of this effort my group signed up to help with monitoring, mapping and trends analysis of eelgrass in the Lake along with some sediment analysis.

A quick look at recent aerials told me that much of the grass that I had seen in the past was no longer there, but we needed to get in and establish permanent sampling stations, count shoots, estimate percent algae coverage, take photographs and collect sediment samples.

Since this is a joint effort, on our way through town, we met up with Mark Abramson from the EHNRD and headed out for a day in windy Montauk. We brought along our Southern Skimmer and all of our diver gear and sampling equipment.

After launching the boat at the town ramp off West Shore Drive we headed over to the large flat just south of Star Island and east of the main channel. This has always been a hot spot for eelgrass and as we observed, seems to be one of the last hold outs in the Lake. While we worked here we were approached by two different baymen who were clamming in an area nearby that interestingly enough used to support grass. For some reason they thought we were poaching bay scallops. Once they learned who we were and what we were up to, they left us alone.

After a little poking around it was obvious why there concern was warranted. Kim and Steve both reported seeing lots of scallops in the grass. Most, if not all were legal, but many were on the smaller size. The baymen had told us that the area had been seeded with scallops and as the photo above shows that apparently it worked.

The grass in on the flat looked relatively healthy with a lots of epiphytic growth on the older leaves. It was also good to see our old friend Lacuna snails cleaning off the epiphytes. Quadrat counts indicated densities across our 4 stations ranging from 0-310shoots/m2. A little on the low side, but not to the point where we think the meadow is going to disappear next year.

After finishing up on the flat we headed up to another meadow on the east side of the channel opposite the Coast Guard station and the commercial fishing dock. Here the grass was a little thicker and possibly healthier based on proximity to the inlet. Shoot counts here across 5 stations ranged from 0-420shoots/m2.

We still have more to do, but it was nice to finally get back out to Lake Montauk. Next week we should be finishing up our field work and getting on to the analysis of aerial photos to determine the trends analysis. I’m guessing the lake lost at least 75% of its grass since the 90’s!

-ChrisP

Another batch of Ponies has arrived…early!

2008-09-16T13:32:00.014-04:00

A full week ahead of when we expected, the babies have arrived. We were prepared for delivery the end of this week, but our male seems to think that 14 days is a more suitable gestation period than the “typical” 21 days.

If you look in the top righthand corner of this photo you can see a “Sharpie” mark on the side of the tank that provides a scale. If you look even closer around the seahorse you can see the tiny brine shrimp that the ponies are feeding on.

As with the last batch, it is interesting to note that there seems to be range of colors in the seahorses. I don't know if these are just random individuals changing color based on "mood", as the adults do, or if some are just lighter or darker.

Given the early arrival we didn’t have food ready right away, but 24hrs later (this AM), we have all the baby brine shrimp the ponies could ever want. Mike Patricio (the shellfish hatchery manager) has been nice enough to not only hatch the brine shrimp, but also provide algae to feed the shrimp so that, hopefully, we can make them that much more nutritious to the ponies.

We’ve come to realize pretty quickly that there is a VERY steep learning curve when it comes to getting the seahorses beyond the first couple weeks and we hope that this time we will be more successful.

All we can do is sit back and watch them eat and hope that what we provide is enough. We are also looking into raising copepods and gathering wild plankton to feed, but we weren’t too successful in pulling our plankton net last time out. I don’t know that there is much in the water this time of year.

The male is busy chasing around the female so I have not doubt that we will have another batch of babies in 2-3 weeks from now.

-ChrisP

Little Ram Test Plantings Survive!

2008-09-11T07:40:00.007-04:00

Every year we add a few new test planting sites to our ongoing effort to bring eelgrass back to the Peconic Estuary (See our Google Map for sites). In many cases these sites fail, but we never cease in our effort to find new sites to work in. We believe that conditions are suitable in many parts of the PE, we just need to find the right sites.

Among the sites this year was a late-comer to the process, Little Ram Island, Shelter Island. This site really was an afterthought as we didn’t stumble upon it until this spring and normally this would put it in the cue for next year’s sites with a fall ’08 planting. However, in this case I thought it would be worth it to try a late spring planting given that it was in cooler Gardiners Bay. My experience in the PE in the early 90’s indicated that early summer plantings don’t make it, but I was hoping this site was different.

The first thing that attracted me to the Little Ram site is a characteristic that all of our successful sites have in common; this site has rocks, lots of them. Visible rocks on the surface usually indicate rocks below and they also guarantee that there will be little if any boating or shellfishing to disturb the site. In fact, rocks appear to be the only refuge for some of the last areas of grass in the PE where physical and anthropogenic disturbance can be considerable.

During a recon trip form Cornelius Pt. to the large meadow at Ram Island this past May we literally almost ran into this site. I thought it looked promising so we dropped in to find it was packed with perfectly sized planting rocks and a nice sandy bottom. Perfect for rock planting! During this same visit Kim also found our first seahorse in the PE, but that’s another story.

At the end of May/beginning of June Steve, Kim and I planted several hundred shoots under existing softball-sized rocks at the site the same way we plant in LIS. However rather than spread the plants widely as we have in the past, we concentrated on filling in select areas to see If this would work better.

Follow up visits in July indicated good growth, but a disturbing amount of red drift macroalgae moving through the site that could block out the light and smother the plants. The prevailing current here is south to north and the currents run along Ram Island, pick up algae and other debris and transport it past Little Ram and up to Cornelius Pt.

A dive by Steve, Kim and Ali last week indicates that the site looks very different from early summer. Sargassum is now growing from the surface of all of the rocks carpeting the bottom in the planting area. Fortunately, the grass extends above this layer and appears to be doing well. A close look at the rhizomes indicates that branching is occurring as the plants grow out from under the rocks and spread across the bottom.

One major thing we have changed this year about or transplanting technique that makes success more likely is that we have stopped holding harvested plant material in our greenhouse and have moved to a system where we collect and plant on the same day. I believe that this has resulted in much more vigorous and healthy planting stock. In past years we have held plants, sometimes for weeks, in our greenhouse with varied success.

Since we are past he most stressful part of the year I expect the existing plants to continue to thrive and thicken through the fall, winter and into next spring. I will soon contact with the Town of Shelter Island to apprise them of our early success and seek their cooperation in expanding this area. Assuming they agree, we will more than likely add additional plantings this fall to see how things fair over the winter. Assuming the success of these, we may also add more plants next spring to enlarge the area.

-ChrisP

LIS Sites Look Great!

2008-09-10T10:28:00.005-04:00

After the summer peak in water temperature (typically during the beginning of August) we always like to get out and do one final site assessment at all of our restoration sites before we plan out our upcoming fall/winter planting season. Based on the major environmental differences within and between our estuaries we make detailed site-specific observations and, in some cases, can group sites by estuary. This is definitely the case for our eastern Long Island Sound sites, funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, where planting and growth conditions are optimal.

Last week, Steve and Kim had a chance to check on St. Thomas and Terry Points while I was on vacation. (See my spring posts for these sites here: Terry & St. Thomas) We were especially interested in the status of Terry Pt. as the crew had added plantings here in June. We were hoping that this site would react as it has in past years where we have conducted early summer plantings with great success.

The vis was obviously not as good as in the spring, but as you can see from the first two shots (above and the close up of the sheaths), the plants at Terry Pt. look VERY good. The crew reported that densities in this created meadow appear higher than we have ever observed in either natural or planted grass in the Sound. Follow up shoot counts should confirm this. There is something about the combination of water quality, water depth and bottom type that seem to support incredible plant growth here.

The report from St. Thomas, the site of our largest restoration effort to date, was similarly good with healthy growth observed throughout the area. The deeper water and high currents here often make it difficult for divers to get around and figure out where they are, but a series of large boulders on the shore help us to navigate the 2-acre site.

Given the long standing growth, expansion and stability of these plantings I am confident that they will last well beyond their upcoming 5-year anniversary…

-ChrisP

New Arrival!

2008-08-19T15:17:00.004-04:00

Things continue to fall into place for our seahorse project as if by design.

While I was on a brief vacation my father called to report that he had found yet another seahorse in his aquaculture gear in the Peconics. It seems that the general lack of grass in the area makes the cages some of the hottest real estate for the few seahorses that pass through.

This time it wasn’t another female but a pregnant male. Just what we were looking for! The photo above isn’t great, but I didn’t want to disturb the expecting father just for a money shot.

As I write this, Kim is busy getting the lab ready for what we hope will be the arrival of a bunch of new “ponies”. These little guys are notoriously difficult to raise, but we are gearing up for rotifer and artemia culture so that we can give them the best chance for survival.

I hope to be able to report that we have been able to get a heard of little ones through the first couple weeks of their life and to the point where they are easy to feed.

-ChrisP

Catch and Release Seahorse

2008-08-14T07:07:00.006-04:00

If you remember back to an earlier post I mentioned that we had initiated a Seahorse Project. We chose this species as it relies heavily on eelgrass for its prime habitat and it is clearly more charismatic than any other species we deal with. Although we work with them all the time a “Snail Project” doesn’t sound half as interesting…

Our goal is to link habitat restoration (eelgrass plantings) with species enhancement (seahorse breeding and release). Our first goal was to determine the minimum plot size that would support an individual or pair of seahorses. This way we could target future plantings as dedicated seahorse habitat.

In June, a lucky find, gave us the opportunity to begin this process. My father, who has oyster bags in Peconic Bay called to tell me that he found a healthy seahorse IN one of his bags. I made arrangements to go over to Water Mill and pick the little guy up fully expecting him to be a little worse for the wear given he was dropped to the deck with a couple hundred oysters.

Upon arrival, I was pleasantly surprised to find that he was in perfect health and had an interesting and unusual yellow/orange color. The others that we have observed are typically gray, black or brown. This little guy really stood out in a crowd.

What to do with this guy? At first we kept him in our greenhouse for a few days to observe him and see whether he would eat in captivity. Sure enough, he started to feed on small shrimp (actually amphipods) in the large tank he was held in. However, I was concerned about the extreme temps in this tank and the fact that it could harm him in some way.

It was time to get him back in the bay. We quickly decided to place him in one of our transplant plots at Robins Island. This site seemed ideal in that the grass was thriving and shallow, relatively calm waters.

On June 18th, we delivered the seahorse to his new “home” with the hope that we could return in future weeks to check on his progress.

In the weeks that followed, we observed our little friend in or adjacent to the original plot on a couple occasions. Outside of the plots there is basically nothing on the bottom except for the occasional clump of Codium, but even these are few and far between given the lack of rocks or shells. On our last visit in late July we did not find him in the original plot or on the adjacent Codium.

Fast forward to last week (August 8th) when we went out to do our regular plot counts at a number of our sites in the PE. The summer heat and crabs have wreaked some havoc on our plantings in the bay, as it always does, but the plots were still there.

Unfortunately the shallow plot, where we placed the seahorse, was almost entirely lost, reduced to only a few shoots. This is not surprising as we fully expect to lose the shallow and/or the deep plots for these plantings. Unfortunately, the seahorse was also not visible.

Fortunately, as Kim counted the second plot she found our seahorse. With this we decided to bring him back to the lab to reside in a specially designed tank with temperature control and a good supply of food.

Our firs foray into the world of seahorses proved to be productive. As a result we have learned a few things. First, our 1m2 plots appear sufficient to support at least one individual seahorse. Second, these guys seem to have a certain amount of site fidelity once they get to suitable area. In this case this individual stayed in our plots for 50 days.

Over the next few months our Project Seahorse will become a reality...

-ChrisP

Docks and Eelgrass?

2008-08-12T11:16:00.010-04:00

Last week I had the pleasure of heading over to Fishers Island for the annual “Founder's Day” when the Town Board and other “officials” go over to this distant outpost of Southold to discuss the issues. It truly is a beautiful place that everyone should visit at least once. There is one supermarket, one (public) restaurant, one general store/deli…you get the idea.

We had been over to the island to collect seeds the day prior and the weather was nice, but the ride over this day was pretty hairy as the waves really rocked the ferry from side to side. A couple of the less seaworthy on board didn’t fair too well as we passed under Plum Island and hit some real big rollers. I’m glad I didn’t witness anything first hand, but I am told that there were a few green faces in the cabin.

The main reason I was going over, besides the free lunch, was to work with Mark Terry and John Sep of Southold Town to conduct a preliminary dock survey. The Southold Town Board is developing new dock law and wants to establish design standards for Fishers Island based on the unique physical and environmental conditions and needs of the residents.

We knew from our previous work that the Island is one of the last strongholds for eelgrass in the Town, but we have never took the time to observe how the docks and eelgrass interact. We don’t make it a habit of anchoring in and around docks or other structures.

Starting on the east end of the island and working our way west along the north shore, we visited every dock along the way in a small lobster boat provided by a local resident. At each station they measured depths at the end of the dock and took photos for reference. I jumped in the water at most of the docks to look for grass and take pictures so Mark and John could also see what was going on.

Well I can’t say that I was surprised, but it looks like eelgrass can thrive under a dock if the conditions are right. The combination of mostly N/S orientation, clear water and height above the water enabled grass to grow under most of the structures we visited in Fishers Island Sound. There were a couple cases where the dock was wider and lower than a neighbor, or the orientation was such that light was apparently reduced to the point of limiting grass growth. I didn’t snorkel in the harbors as there is very little grass there.

There was also an issue with grass growing under the docks if they extended into a deep water meadow of 10 feet or more. (we need to further investigate this observation to narrow down this depth precicsely). Apparently the combination of water depth, reducing light, as well as the shade of the dock limits growth.

One thing that was a little surprising was the effect of floating docks and boats. All of the floating docks resulted in loss of grass. In all cases the dock resulted in an unvegetated shadow in the grass meadow. In one case the clearing was “L” shaped. However, in cases where there was surrounding grass it seemed to thrive under the walkway leading to the float.

With regard to boats it was fairly clear that the presence or absence of grass was related to depth in the slip. If the water was deep enough the boat did not appear to have an impact. If it was shallow or the boat had excessive draft the impacts included scouring, shading and loss of grass under the vessel.

In some cases the docks also had a boat house or similar structure. In all cases, these structures reduced light to the point that grass could not persist in the shadow.

This was all very exciting and encouraging for our first look. I look forward to getting out there to take a closer look at some of these areas in an effort to refine the design standards. It should also be noted that these observations on Fishers do not indicate how grass and docks will interact on the mainland as there are issues with water clarity and water quality before the impact of these fixed structures is considered...

-ChrisP

Seed collection season is over!

2008-08-12T10:02:00.005-04:00

This past week we completed what will likely be one of our most productive seed collection seasons to date. Our seed work varies greatly from year to year depending on our needs for restoration and level of effort. Well, kind of like buying a lottery ticket in the hopes of winning it big, we jumped in head first this year.

As anyone in the field of eelgrass restoration knows, seeds are the way to go, IF you can get them to work for you. That is a big “IF”… Some sites work very well while others fail dismally. It is not that uncommon to get good seedling recruitment and I like to say that anyone can do this. Long-term survival is the hard part. In our area it seems like most seedlings die before they reach maturity unless they are growing near established plants.

For this reason seeds can be used to increase the genetic diversity within transplanted sites. This season many of the seeds will be used for fall broadcasting into ongoing restoration sites where we want to increase shoot density and genetic diversity. For something different a large portion will be held for growout into adult shoots that can be used in spring transplant efforts.

Our seed collection season begins some time in Late June to early July in parts of the South Shore Bays (e.g., Shinnecock Bay) and Bullhead Bay in the Peconic Estuary (if we collect there which we didn’t this year). There is then a little lull until late July as the plants in western Gardiners Bay mature.

Following this there is a large collection window beginning in early August for our Long Island Sound and Fishers Island sites. Given the density and size of the flowers off Fishers, we concentrated much of our work here this year.

I’m not sure if this year was a banner year or if we just hadn’t noticed how productive Fishers Island was. Our collection site is located just south of South Dumpling Island west of Flat Hammock. Here, most flowers are over 7 feet tall and a handful will fill ¼ of one of our bags. We were actually able to fill a bag in less than 10 minutes! If we tried hard it could be done in 5 minutes…

This may not sound too impressive unless you compare it to one of our sites with smaller, widely spaced flowers where it can take 1 hour to fill a bag.

Our collections were so extensive this year we had to borrow some tank space in the Shellfish Hatchery (Thanks Mikey!) as well as set up an outdoor tank next to our greenhouse. In the coming weeks the seeds will be separated from the flowering shoots and we will be left with what we hope is a large amount of seeds.

I look forward to broadcasting these in the hopes of adding to our restoration work.

-ChrisP

Cosmetics from Eelgrass!

2008-07-30T11:10:00.005-04:00

While innocently searching the web for an eelgrass (Zostera marina) reference I came across something totally new to me. Apparently, the Ren Ltd of London is selling skin care products using eelgrass extracts.

I'm not sure how they (or rather their suppliers!) gather the grass and do their extracting , but it interesting to see a modern use for a species that had so many historic uses. It is not uncommon to see rafts of grass floating on the waters surface during summer and fall. Possibly these are being gathered and processed...?

I will have to look into this more...

-ChrisP

2 Piles of…?

2008-07-27T20:30:00.007-04:00

While diving along the north side of Fishers Island last week I photographed these two piles of what must be worm deposits (poop!) of some kind. Although we come across a lot of interesting things I haven’t seen this before.

I was swimming over the sandy flats checking on small seedlings when these caught my eye. There were a number of these piles, spread around the unvegetated bottom between grass patches, in various stages of settling and blending back into the surrounding sand.

Stay tuned for more on our work at Fishers last week. The weather was crappy, but we still got lots of work done!

-ChrisP

The Starfish Hoard…

2008-07-17T21:53:00.004-04:00

I just wanted to pass along a couple cool pics of baby starfish in an eelgrass meadow north of Warner Island in Shinnecock Bay. We were out today to look for a temperature logger that we lost last year. Actually we didn’t lose it, but the story is too long to explain here.

Anyway, we still couldn’t find it even after using two GPS units and divers.

Back to the starfish…this is the same spot where we got some great shots of even smaller starfish a couple years ago. One of those pics was used in our newsletter under the title “A Star is Born”. See that issue here. Then and now it looks as if the starfish are wandering up on the blades of eelgrass to eat of the small blue mussels that have set there.

Definitely not one of my favorites, but yet another species that utilizes eelgrass!

-ChrisP

The Robins Island Plots Continue to do well…

2008-07-14T12:13:00.008-04:00

As the water temps increase and vis plummets, regular monitoring visits to our test planting sites begin to show us which are the “good” sites and which are the “bad” sites. If we are lucky we have more good than bad, but during a typical year our “good” sites number less than the bad. If this was as easy as just throwing some plants in the bottom…everyone would be doing it!

Well, fortunately, the Robins Island plots seem to fit nicely, so far, in the “good” category. On July10th Kim and I visited the site to count shoots and take a bunch of pictures. We hadn’t counted during the June visit and I was interested to see how things have faired since May 29th counts.

As we expected, the flowers are mostly spent and many have detached. Kim didn’t count them as they were a mess. However, counts of the vegetative shoots showed an approximately 10% increase since May 29th. This is very good news since in my last post about this site I predicted a loss given that the flowers would soon detach. I should caution that Kim reported that counting was a little difficult, but the increase was consistent across the four plots.

The vis was pretty bad given the bloom in the water and the fact that it was low tide stirring up things a little. We have also had some fairly constant winds for the last few days that seem to have deposited silt and flock on the leaves, especially in the epiphyte fuzz. When kim bent over the tops of the plants as she counted them, the water became clouded with silt and flock.

This is the first time we have observed a fairly heavy coat of epiphytes on the older leaves giving the plants an ugly “fuzzy” look. The base of the plants and the new leaves looked great, however.

It was also interesting to note that there were decent numbers of small to medium sized mud snails in the plots, but most appeared to be concentrated on the bottom apparently eating the remains of dead lady crabs. It was definitely too warm for Lacuna snails and they will not be any help here until the fall, if and when they recruit as larvae. Seeing the fouling makes me want to import a large number of adult mud snails as they usually do a good job of cleaning things up. We still may try that this week.

We are not out of the woods yet with regard to this site or any other test plot site for that matter. It’s not until late August that we will know for sure whether the plots will persist. However, we have learned to many times that there no guarantees.....except in Long Island Sound!

Check back to see how this and other sites fair.

-ChrisP

Why I should really wear a hood!

2008-07-14T11:10:00.010-04:00

The jellyfish are really, really, really bad this year! Last week I thought I could get away with not wearing a hood since it is getting so nice and warm, but as you can see, it was NOT a good idea.

We gathered a group of divers to collect flowers in Gardiners Bay as part of our restoration program. We did manage to find a site that wasn’t “Paved” with jellies, but it only takes one big one to do the damage.

We all had to deal with the stings around our mouths as the seemingly endless cloud of detached "tentacles" drifted by and gently wrapped around our regs. This I can handle and we all did that day.

It’s when I felt the hit on my neck and reached down for a handful of jellfish meat that I knew this was more than a gentle brush. It wasn’t the end of the world, but it was uncomfortable…

Everyone had tingly lips for the rest of the day while I had the pleasure of a “red neck” with welts for three days…

Suffice to say that I learned my lesson...Ouch!

-ChrisP

Meadow found in Southold!

2008-07-14T09:18:00.006-04:00

This past Friday (July 11th) while scouting for new eelgrass planting sites we found a natural meadow east of Cleaves Point in the north race between Shelter Island and Southold. We were on our way out to recon ongoing restoration sites, east of Shelter Island when I thought it might be interesting to see if there was any grass remaining near the Cleaves Point Condominiums.

Some years ago (maybe 8) Lorne Brousseau and I had swam through the meadow here and observed recreational clammers digging up large patches of grass. We even documented the damage using our video and still camera.

Unfortunately, there was/is no law against this and the damage continued unchecked for years until the meadow was decimated. The last time we were in at this site there was a very sparse patch of grass that was being slowly uprooted by knobbed whelks searching for chowders growing under the grass. This was the last nail in the coffin for this site.

This day the relatively clear water in combination with the bright sun allowed us to see the bottom pretty well and confirm that yes, the meadow was gone.

As we headed east along the bulkhead and past the filled in inlet to the boat basin at the abandoned oyster factory a group of large boulders caught my eye.

If there was any chance to plant grass in the area these would surely provide the protection it needs from man and the forces of nature alike. We approached the area slowly to avoid striking one of the large number of rocks that could be seen as dark patches under the surface. Eventually, we anchored south and east of the rocks and the combination of the SE wind and incoming tide pushed the boat within the rocks.

Kim was the first in the water snorkeling to get a feel for the area before I got on my SCUBA to get some shots of what looked like a great planting site from the surface. Within a minute of being in the water Kim said: “your not gonna believe it….there’s grass here!”

Although I was surprised I was also happy to see that my mental site selection model of where the grass SHOULD be and where it actually WAS matched! Obviously, there was no need to plant grass so we just spent the next half hour exploring the site and documenting it with photos.
This meadow runs east and west between the rock jetties that effectively define the boulder field. Depths range from about ~1m where the grass is almost right up on shore to about 2m seaward of the largest boulder near the edge of the channel.

Lacuna vincta were plentiful and apparently doing a good job of keeping the leaves clean. This is in stark contrast to the grass a short distance across the race at Hay Beach Point, Shelter Island, where there is a considerable epiphyte load.

The largest and healthiest looking parts of this “new” meadow were in the deeper water and in some areas it looked like meadows we see in the Sound except for the Codium growing here.

A look at the nautical chart hints at why this site may be thriving in addition to the fact that it is protected by the boulders. Given the very close proximity to the channel waters just off the deep edge drop down to nearly 60ft. There is no way of getting cooler or clearer water…

-ChrisP

Why I HATE spider crabs!

2008-06-23T13:57:00.007-04:00

I know, I know “hate” is a strong word, but I can’t think of a more appropriate way to describe my invertebrate nemesis. Spider crabs may be responsible for more failed eelgrass plantings under my watch than any other cause. OK, maybe not ANY other cause as we did really mess up on the site selection thing in the 90’s, but it’s got to be up there…

Above is a picture of a spider crab (Libinia emarginata) eating one of our transplants at the Sag Harbor test plot site. It isn’t bad enough the we can never seem to get plants to survive in Sag Harbor (I’ll write about this soon), now we have crabs yanking out plants as fast as we can plant them! Maybe this has been the problem all along?

In this case I just happened upon the unsuspecting culprit as he casually munched on one of our shoots like he was eating a celery stick filled with peanut butter. He couldn’t have started more than a minute or two before I got in the water.

In the past we have witnessed spider crabs uprooting and dislodging transplants as they always seem to show up right after we plant. They must be attracted to the good smells coming from the disturbed sediments. In most cases they rip out a few shoots along one edge of the plot and back in amid the shelter of the new patch. I can hardly blame them as there is literally nothing else on the bottom at most of these sites (see my “Oasis Effect” comment).

The typical sign of crab damage is a shoot cut cleanly off at a 10-30% angle. This kind of damage is common and it does not seem to harm the plants too much if the trimming is minimal. Occasionally, we do see more crushing type wounds and these are likely caused by crabs as well.

I must say that it is almost (do I dare say it) cute when the young "decorator" spider crabs cut off SMALL pieces of shoot (thus the use of the term “cute”) to add to the forest on their back like a sniper customizing his ghillie suite to blend in with the surrounding landscape.

This time the damage was clearly catastrophic to the shoot and there was no chance of recovery. After I took a couple shots with the camera I grabbed the crab and decided that he was going to be sacrificed in the name of science to see how much he actually consumed.

Once back in the boat a fatal blow to the carapace allowed me to dig through the goo that is a crabs innards. I was somewhat surprised to find that most, if not all, of the eelgrass sections were still lined up at or near the crabs mouth parts.

Later that day, back at the lab, I photographed what came out of the crab and was surprised to find a small leaf tip. Since the shoot that he was eating when I found him was not missing any tips, this obviously came from another shoot. Through my frustration I had a warm feeling knowing that there was one less multiple offender in Peconic Bay.

-ChrisP

So much field work so little time…

2008-06-23T12:08:00.003-04:00

The last two weeks have delivered nearly perfect weather for field work and we have definitely taken advantage of it! The tides were also cooperative allowing us to get in and out of the creek at almost any hour. As a result, I have spent more time in the boat and underwater than at my desk. I’m not complaining, just stating a fact.

Over the next couple days I want to report on some of what we did. There is much to report, both good and bad, including monitoring at restoration sites, discovery of a new meadow at Fishers Island and other interesting observations.

-ChrisP

Planting Grass on Mars?

2008-06-06T09:54:00.006-04:00

On June 5th we got in our first plantings of the “Seepage Project”. At this point we are one site down and two to go… I need to wait for the groundwater crew to better define the other two sites before we can plant them.

This site, on the east side of Jessup’s Neck, appears to be a major upwelling area as indicated by the dark staining of rust red on an otherwise tan sandy bottom. It literally looks like a moonscape with silver bubbles. Even when we dig down into the sand it shows evidence of reduced iron with a strong dark blue color.

It is getting late to transplant in the PE, but I am hoping that the temperature moderation of the groundwater will help to reduce the stress on the plants. The control plots outside the seepage will not have this benefit, if there is any.

Kim and I were able to plant out four 1m2 plots, two in the seepage and two outside of the seepage. Now its time for Brad and his crew to follow plant growth and survival. Since they plan to destructively sample (remove plants over the summer) we also planted a plot for us to follow over the coming months.

As part of this project we also deployed two temperature loggers under half cement blocks on the sediment surface. If there are any differences between the flow and no flow sites, these should pick it up.

While we were planting we witnessed something that we have never seen before, a clam spawning. Check back for a note and pictures describing this event.

-ChrisP

The Robins Island Plots Thrive…

2008-06-06T07:37:00.007-04:00

In order to track the progress of our various test plantings throughout the region we typically schedule monitoring visits at least monthly throughout the growing season. Sometimes, especially during late summer when we can begin to lose plants to stress, it is useful to monitor more often, if possible.

Last week we made our second monitoring visit to the Robins Island test plots that looked so good in April. If you remember my last post on this site I mentioned that these plots were the best that I have ever seen in over 15 years of work in the Peconic Estuary. However, as they say in the investment commercials “past performance is no guarantee of future results” or some such thing.

Having said this, I could not have been happier with what we observed on May 29th. The day was perfect for monitoring. The sun was shining and there was a slight breeze, not enough to produce a chop in the lee of the island, but just enough to keep the “noseeums” away.

As we approached the plots we could clearly see the dark circles against the tan of the surrounding sand. I was relieved that they were still there. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you want to look at it there is literally nothing on the bottom at this site except for what we planted; No algae, no crabs, no whelks, no anything...just as we like it. In areas like this our plots normally experience the “oasis effect” (I think I just made that up) meaning that any crab, whelk or moonsnail in the area eventually arrives and rips or plows out the grass looking for food. For some reason, this does not happen here.

Given the water clarity I could almost count the shoots from the boat, but that would clearly not be accurate enough for our work. What was apparent from above was that the plots contained many flowers indicating that there will likely be a nice seed set this summer.

In my mind the flowers are a mixed blessing. On one hand they indicate how well the site is performing. On the other hand they also mean that the site will lose shoots after seeds are released some time mid summer.

For those who don’t know a certain number (about 10%) of vegetative shoots typically develop into reproductive shoots, set seed and die. This appears to be initiated some time during the winter or very early spring and no one really knows what causes an otherwise normal shoot to differentiate. What is clear however is that as a result of this process the shoot density after flowering always drops proportional to the amount of flowering.

As usual Steve handled the counting as he has the most skilled and experienced of us. When there are flowers we count them separately so we can account for the eventual loses and we also want to calculate flowering percentage.

Based on the numbers from April to May the plots have shown an 8% drop when the reproductive shoots are included. Mean flowering percentage was 15.8% which will translate into an approximately 30 shoot loss per plot by mid summer. However, we also expect additional lateral shoots to form in the coming weeks so this number COULD be overcome be increases in additional vegetative shoots.

We also checked on the Hog Neck Bay plots on the same day. They looked good, but not as good as Robins Island. Check back for an update on these plots soon.

-ChrisP

Attack of the Sea Robin!

2008-06-04T13:10:00.007-04:00

I know, I know they’re not known for being vicious, but as I found out this week, Sea Robins can be very aggressive. While minding my own business documenting some of our newest test plantings off Little Ram Island (Shelter Island) I was accosted by a male Sea Robin in breading color.

Kim and I were just completing a rock planting in about 8 feet of water and I wanted to document the extent of our work with some “before” pictures to compare to what will hopefully be great “after” pics as the grass spreads. You’ll have to check back to see if this actually happens.

Anyway, while I was busy taking pics, I saw this guy approach pretty close and start to do wide circles around me in and out of the extent of my visibility. Most fish we come across, except for our flounders at St. Thomas, which is another “fish” story, are very wary of us and either dart away as we approach or stay away from us completely.

I have experienced a menhaden (aka Bunker) school close up in the LIS that reminded me of a show on the Discovery or the National Geographic Channel as the metallic school morphed around me as it passed. I have also had stripers circle me as well. However, in both cases if I exhaled the fish instinctively moved away.

This time was different! What I thought would be another quaint encounter with a docile denizen of the deep turned into a case of aggravated assault.

At first I thought this guy was simply there to clean up a couple of the spider crabs that I had sacrificed for the cause. Yes, I must admit that I like to offer up spider crabs to nearby fishes as there are more spider crabs out there than we can shake a stick at…and they like to dig up our plots. The phrase to “kill to birds with one stone” comes to mind but “to kill two crabs with one stone” is right on target. Back to the story; this guy had more on his mind than the free handouts though.

As I innocently went about my business getting some great shots of the plantings apparently he grew tired of me trespassing in HIS territory. That’s when it all changed. As I looked down in the viewer to look at a previous pic he suddenly charged me and spread his wing-like pectoral fins out and almost hit me in the face. I couldn’t believe it!

It took me a second to process what had just happen in the rush of activity, but I realized he meant business as he circled even more vigorously. At that point we were done with our work and I was more than happy to leave this proud male to his own devices as I doggy paddled back to the boat with my tail between my legs. I had to give it to him for sticking up to something that was much larger. And, let’s face it I know when I had been summarily beaten…

-ChrisP

Seahorses off Shelter Island!

2008-06-04T09:20:00.005-04:00

Call it luck…call it an amazing coincidence, but on the year when we planned to initiate a Seahorse Research project in the Peconic Estuary we found natural seahorses! That’s right, natural seahorses happy and healthy in the PE!

This past January I had met Todd Gardiner from the Atlantis Marine World Aquarium when we gave back-to-back lectures at the Friends of Flax Pond Winter Lecture Series at the Childs Mansion in Old Field. I had never participated in a “tag team” lecture before, but this one was arranged in such a way that I presented the habitat side (eelgrass) and Todd discussed the fisheries (seahorses).

While listening to Todd’s talk I became aware of the plight of local seahorses (Hippocampus erectus) and the fact that their numbers appear to be dropping, even in the Great South Bay where he regularly finds them. He also discussed that there was no current protection for this species and that large numbers are being harvested for the pet trade.

As usual, my mind raced with new project ideas. If we are already planting eelgrass in the PE why not team up with Todd and introduce seahorses as we plant our eelgrass? If this works we could introduce habitat and the animal it supports almost simultaneously. Not really, since there would have to be a delay as the grass becomes established and attracts suitable food for the seahorses, but that is the basic concept.

As a follow up, Ali and I had a meeting with Todd to see how we could coordinate our efforts. It was decided that we would work with Todd as he is THE local expert and he typically has a supply of both hatchery reared and wild caught seahorses on hand at the aquarium during the summer.

This year we planned to introduce a number of seahorses into different sized natural and/or planted plots in the PE to see what size is big enough for these little creatures. For obvious reasons we want to find the smallest size that will still support an adult pair. This way, when we plant this fall we know what sized plots to establish so that the seahorses get what they need.

On May 28th part of our project took a quantum leap forward. While scouting for new planting sites off of Little Ram Island Kim found a very small remnant patch of grass. As she was taking pictures of this dwarf (6”) tall grass she found a pair of seahorses clinging to the base of the plants. As you can imagine she was more that just a little excited.

On the same day a dive at another site with very short grass in shallow water also yielded a number of healthy looking seahorses. Apparently seahorses are alive and well in the Gardiners Bay.

On the following day and early this week we found additional animals, all in small patches of grass east of Shelter Island. In my 15 years of diving in the PE I have NEVER seen a seahorse and now we know exactly where to look for them!

We look forward to following these guys and learning more about them. Hopefully, what we learn this summer will allow us to adapt or eelgrass planting methods to the point where we can introduce seahorses back into the central and western PE at one of more of our planting sites…

-ChrisP

HAB’s hit the area HARD…

2008-05-28T09:28:00.017-04:00

This spring has brought unwelcome visitors to the area. Harmful Algae Blooms! Our old friend and archenemy of eelgrass and shellfish, the “Brown Tide” (Aureococcus anophagefferens), has hit Great South Bay hard and is creeping east at an alarming rate. Another species, nicknamed the “Mahogany Tide” (Prorocentrum minimum) (see photos) has also been sighted in local waters. First time I’ve heard of that one. What is happening?

Fortunately we are in capable hands as Robert “Mac” Waters, Supervisor for the Suffolk County Department of Health Services, Bureau of Marine Resources has been sending out almost daily email alerts detailing the geographic spread and intensity of the bloom as his team tracks the invasion.

This has already caused the cancellation of a long overdue NYSDOS-sponsored aerial mapping effort for eelgrass in the SSER where you can’t see the bottom and the Peconics for logistical reasons. In addition, we had planned to follow up on a seeding project we conducted at the Blue Points Property owned by TNC, but this was also scrubbed given the nonexistent vis.

My main concern at this time is two-fold. First, how far into Shinnecock Bay will the BT spread? We have plans to work in western parts of the bay this year, but that will likely be on hold for now. What about the eastern half though? Will it move east of the canal? Also, if it does move into the eastern part of the bay will it pass north through the Shinnecock Canal and into the Peconic Estuary? That would really be a bummer…our Red Cedar Bluff site, that is doing so well, is very close to the canal.

At this point all we can do is sit back and let the SCDHS do their job. Every day we watch the numbers come in like some defeated general getting casualty reports from the field. Hopefully, this will end some time soon. If not, we could lose even more eelgrass.

I’m just glad that BT doesn’t bloom in Long Island Sound….yet!

PHOTOS TAKEN BY PHIL DeBLASI, SCDHS

-ChrisP

The Perfect Storm: September 11th 2007

2008-05-23T10:03:00.009-04:00

Last fall during a heaving storm we lost much of what was one of the most incredible meadows in the Peconic Estuary. We are used to seeing meadows in the PE slowly wither over time as multiple stressors take their toll and they get smaller and smaller and smaller until they reach a point of no return and don’t come back the next year. In the last 15 years this has happened in Southold Bay, Northwest Harbor, Orient Harbor and many other sites I would rather not mention...

The Orient Point meadow was different though. This large meadow located in the cool clear waters near Plum Gut was one of our favorites and it showed no signs of stress or the slightest inkling of a problem, because up until September 2007, there was no problem.

For almost 10 years we have marveled at this site. From a practical point of view it was easily accessible by boat or truck and provided us with an endless supply of naturally uprooted shoots for transplant stock or seeds for our seeding efforts. In both cases we couldn’t collect 1% of what was available so we were confident that we were not having an impact. Our monthly dives here confirmed this.

Then came September 11th 2007… From my office window at Cedar beach in Southold, 12 miles west, which just happens to share the same exposure as Orient Point, I could see that it was bad, but I didn’t know how bad. I did take note of the fact that the wind never seemed to stop and the waves were crashing on our beach for almost two whole days.

But eventually as it always does, the storm stopped and we got back to the routine field work or early fall, collecting shoots and stockpiling them in our greenhouse for the upcoming restoration season. Everything was good, or so we thought…

It wasn’t until October 16th, when we happened to visit Orient on one of our regular shoot collection missions that we realized something was wrong, very wrong. Steve and Kim had gone out as they often do, but this time the report back was that not only were there no shoots to collect, but even worse, the meadow had vanished! The bottom was naked and only a few plants remained where previously there were more than 500 in a square meter.

When I got the news I was in disbelief. How could this be? What happened? Eventually, I thought about the storm we had in September and pieced together the timeline based on our dive logs. We had been to the site on September 1st and there was NO sign of anything wrong.

A search through the NOAA weather buoy archives provided the proof that I needed. A perfect storm of wind direction, intensity and duration had started on September 11th and ran into the 13th. Average seas in the area were 3-4’ over an 18hr period! Somehow the wind had passes south of Plum Island and north of the Gardiners Island ruins hitting Orient at an oblique angle that proved devastating.

My first dive on the site was on October 18th. When I dropped in I was shocked at what I saw. It looked like someone had come along and cut off all of the shoots, especially in the middle to deeper areas. Despite this devastation I was able to pick out some clues that told the story. One interesting observation was the fact that the rhizome mat was still intact throughout the meadow so the storm was not violent enough to rip the plants out entirely. What appears to have happen was even more bizarre. As I looked closely at what remained I found that the terminal ends of the rhizomes (where the shoot had once been attached) were frayed and rotting. This led me to the conclusion that the waves had actually taken the leaves and either rocked them back and forth and/or twisted them to the point where they simply broke off.

On a more positive note, there were still small clumps of plants next to larger rocks that apparently afforded some protection. Even more surprising was the fact that the inner, shallowest edge appeared to weather the storm better than the deeper areas. I must admit that this part did not make sense. The fact that the rhizome mat and most of the sediments were still there also means that there was the potential for seedling recruitment.

What is the fate of the Orient Point meadow? Is it lost forever? Will it recover?

In a future post I will describe subsequent observations at this site and a project we have recently initiated to track what we hope will be natural recovery over the coming years. As the old saying in ecology goes: “Mother Nature abhors a vacuum”; I just hope she fills it with eelgrass and not algae in this case!

-ChrisP

Overcoming muddy sediments?

2008-05-21T15:43:00.008-04:00

As I have noted in several previous blogs we have observed that the grass in most of our muddy bottom creeks and harbors around Long Island has disappeared. There are many theories as to why this happened, but on the top of the list is the stress associated with growing in muddy, highly organic, anoxic (lack of oxygen) sediments.

One theory is that low light and/or high water temperatures (or some other stressor) combined with sediment anoxia kills the plants by poisoning the meristem. This appears to have a significant impact on young seedlings.

Sulfide toxicity has been held out as the main culprit in this scenario. The problem is how can we control sulfur concentrations in the marine environment? The answer is we probably can’t since sulfur is everywhere!

One way around this may be to somehow alter the sediment is such a way that it does not go completely anoxic. This might be achieved by lowering the amount of organic matter and/or increasing sediment texture (from silts to sands). Since lowering organic matter is nearly impossible we have considered changing the texture by adding a thin layer of sand to the surface of the mud. In theory, this should allow oxygen to penetrate the surface sediments and prevent sulfide build-up at the base of the shoot.

We decided to try this out at Noyack Creek in Southampton where we already have a large number of seedlings that resulted form last year’s restoration work. Over the last couple days we set out 30 small tubes isolating individual seedlings on the bottom. The experiment involves doing nothing to the seedling (control) or either adding 1cm or 2.5cm of sand to the surface of the sediment surrounding the seedling. The hope is that we will see a difference in survival and growth between these three treatments in the coming weeks.

At this time all the seedlings look great and there is no sign of stress whatsoever. However, we observed a similar thing a few years ago when thousands of natural seedlings recruited to this site. That year the seedlings looked great during May and early June, but by the end of June they were ALL dead.

We’ll keep checking on our seedlings weekly to see what happens over the next two months. It would be nice if everything survives, but I must admit that I might be more pleased if only the sand treatments survive.

-ChrisP

Eyes in the sky...

2008-05-19T09:35:00.008-04:00

It is not that often that you get a chance to do research from a helicopter. So, when I got the call that a local businessman offered to donate a nice block of flight hours in his new turbine-powered helicopter and personally fly us around the East End to do some seagrass survey work, you didn’t have to ask me twice. My answer was “Great, when can we start!” Luckily, the reply was “What are you doing tomorrow afternoon?”

The effort has been tentatively called “Flying LEAP” for the Long-island Eelgrass Assessment Program…our businessman-pilot is used to dealing with the military, so a catchy acronym is a must.

Although everyone knows that aerial surveys are THE way to go when trying to map and run trends analysis data for eelgrass meadows the lack of public dollars and bureaucratic momentum means that this is often not possible. In this day of satellite imagery and every other new fangled means of remote sensing you would think it could be done form our desk. Maybe it can if you are with the US Defense Department but for us lowly civilians it’s just not going to happen.

Take the Peconic Estuary as an example. We were involved with a fixed wing aerial survey and ground truthing effort dating back to 2001. This was the first and last time this was done for the region; pitiful, but true. Now Google Earth and Microsoft Live Search Maps make things a little easier, but there is only so much you can do with existing photo sets which were clearly not acquired for the purposes of mapping seagrasses. I’m not complaining mind you, just stating a fact.

If we could go where we want, when we want (times of good water clarity, low tide, low wind and low sun angle) then we can really capture some great images. This is where our friend and his helicopter come in…

Over the last couple weeks we have been running flights over various parts of the Island, photographing existing meadows, current restoration sites and scouting for new restoration sites. We typically run with three cameras, one video and two still in most cases, to catch all the action. Through this effort we have found entirely new areas of grass that were unknown to us as well as gotten a “bird’s eye view” of our restoration sites around the Island. There is no substitute for seeing the grass from above with your own eyes.

Our flights over Shinnecock and Moriches Bays were especially productive as we had an absolutely PERFECT day with a low tide, no wind and great water clarity. It seemed like we could almost see fish in the grass. We are excited to follow up on these observations and get out in a boat and visit some of these interesting areas.

It is hoped that we can continue this work into the summer and fall, especially when the water is clear. We have already learned so much and would like to continue…plus, it beats any day in the office!

Thanks again, friend, and fly safe!

-ChrisP

Other LIS sites to report on...

2008-05-19T09:05:00.014-04:00

I didn’t get a chance to finish reporting on the other two sites we visited during our May 14th Long Island Sound dive trip so here you go. Given the high cost of fuel, we always try and hit as many sites as we can on the same day and these are the last two.

Mulford Point is a site that we always check for a number of reasons. This is a large meadow where we often collect naturally uprooted shoots for use as transplants in our restoration work. Luckily, we don’t have to always have to go by boat as there is convenient land access where we can get a truck relatively close to shore and unload our gear.

Since Steve and Kim went in, I didn’t get a look at this site first hand, but I was happy that they reported that there were lots of loose shoots at the inshore edge of both the inner and outer bands of grass. We will be scheduling a collection date to coincide with plantings at one of our restoration sites, most likely Caumsett State Park in Huntington.

Later in the season (August) Steve and Kim will visit 6 permanent monitoring stations established at Mulford to track trends in shoot density and percent cover. This work is essential in helping us understand how LIS meadows function and it also helps us make sure that we are not impacting the donor site through our collection process.

It was also interesting to note that Steve found several plants that were heavily coated with snail eggs. The apparent culprit was the Threeline Mudsnail/New England Dog Whelk (Ilyanassa trivittata) found on the plants, but the eggs sure looked like they came from Eastern Mudsnails. This is the only site where we have observed the Dog Whelks, although they must occur at other sites. We usually see them rooting for food around the base of the shoots. I am always surprised at how fast they move and how aggressive they appear to be. Can the word “aggressive” ever be used to describe a snail?

Our final stop on this trip was a visit to our test plantings at Great Gull Island, just east of Plum Island. We planted shoots gathered from Fishers Island here a couple years ago and are happy to report that the plants are thriving. The water is deep and the wave energy is high, but the plants have really filled in despite the small number of shoots that were originally planted. As is typical for this site, seals were seen swimming at the surface, but we didn’t see any during our dive. Some day I hope to see them face to face…

-ChrisP

In Search of Seepage…

2008-05-16T12:29:00.013-04:00

Yesterday found us out on the Peconic Bay looking for groundwater seepage sites. This work is part of a NYS funded project where we are looking to determine the impact (good, bad or nothing) of subsurface groundwater seepage on the growth of eelgrass.

The research team includes my crew who will be responsible for all plantings, Chris Smith (CCE) and Ron Paulsen (Suffolk County) working on the seepage and Brad Peterson (SUNY Southampton) who will be conducting field and laboratory work to determine the effects of the seepage on the plants.

I am coming at this from the point of view that cold groundwater upwelling out of the sediments could be a good thing if it keeps the base of the plant and the meristem cool in August. Brad is approaching it more from the point of view that all the contaminants that Ron and his crew have been finding including several herbicides and their derivatives may be toxic to eelgrass preventing it from thriving if not outright killing it…

In order to test both theories we have chosen three sites running the range of clean to highly contaminated groundwater. The “clean” site is located off the east side of Jessup’s Neck and the “contaminated” site is in Laurel just east of the Riverhead/Southold town line. A site with unknown water quality (Cold Spring Pond in Southampton) was also chosen based on our observations that there is lots of upwelling happening there. There had to be some reason for the name!

Yesterday proved to be a productive if not a little frustrating day. We were able to find plenty of seepage areas, but the non-seepage "control" sites still elude us at the locations chosen. We may have to come up with another way to artificially control the seepage so we can plant in the same general areas and run a valid experiment.

Another bummer was me cutting my thumb somewhere on the boat (ouch!). I don’t know where it happened, but there sure was blood all over. Good thing we always carry a first aid kit!

I’m looking forward to hearing back form Ron about the data we collected to find out if we found the right spots. If we got it right the plantings will take place soon…

-ChrisP

Terry’s Point keeps expanding...

2008-05-14T20:21:00.014-04:00

Another dive we look forward to each spring is our Terry’s Point restoration site in Long Island Sound. This National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) funded project is about 1.5 miles east of our largest restoration site, St. Thomas Point. Both sites are in Southold.

The Terry’s Point project began as a test planting site in our first NFWF grant and has developed into a large-scale restoration project. Our first work here involved transplanting 500 shoots in June 2005 followed by 500 shoots in August 2005. The August shoots eventually all died for a number of reasons, while the June shoots survived and grew from 500 to 4,500 shoots by September of 2006. Not too bad! This growth even exceeds what we have seen at St. Thomas Point where it is deeper, the exposure is a little different and we tend to get more erosion.

Today’s dive at Terry’s proved that the site is still doing well and densities are extremely high. We haven’t measured shoot density here in almost two years, but I am sure that it is higher than St. Thomas just by their appearance. We will have to bring out a couple quadrats and count shoots soon.

One major difference observed today between the two sites was the snail (Lacuna vincta) community. I described the snails at St. Thomas in my last post. The snails at Terry’s were much larger and easier to see; some were even laying eggs. The very small snails were also there like St. Thomas, but the adults were much easier to find. There was also a difference in the number of egg masses with the Terry’s egg masses reaching densities I have never witnessed (above left).

I look forward to getting back to this site soon to add some more plantings, measure shoot density and check on the snails. I am very interested to know if it really is higher than St. Thomas as it appears to be…

-ChrisP

The first dive at the St. Thomas Point

2008-05-14T19:17:00.010-04:00

It is always nice to dive on our most successful restoration site, St. Thomas Point in Southold, and we finally got to do that today. This National Fish and Wildlife Foundation funded project is one of our favorites for obvious reasons.

Unfortunately, boat issues have plagued us early this spring and we are a little behind in our normal Long Island Sound rounds. Today we played a little “catch up” and hit a few sites including St. Thomas. Usually, we would have visited this site some time in late April, but this year, May 14th will have to suffice.

As usual, the site looked great. Even though we’ve been working here for nearly 5 years it is still hard to believe that this is a restoration site and all the plants were either planted by us or spread as a result of our work. Every year the meadow looks more like the natural reference meadow located 4 miles to the east at Mulford Point. Today this was most obvious at the eroded inshore edge which looked very similar to what we see at Mulford. Apparently, the noreaster that was hanging around for the last couple of days moved around a lot of sand. It didn’t seem to harm the plants, but the evidence was there in the form of exposed roots, rhizomes and cobble that is normally covered by a few cm of sand.

I have no doubt that some of the shallowest patches could have been lost, but I'm not worried about it when the meadow covers such a large area and is thriving. This is simply the price you pay for working in a high energy environment. Clearly, the benefits far outweigh the risks.

As usual, Lacuna vincta snails were present, along with their donut-shaped egg masses attached to the leaves, but not to the level that I expected. It was actually a little difficult to see the snails at first as most were VERY tiny and apparently had recently recruited onto the blades. Many of these sand-grain-sized snails were hiding near the base of the plants, just above the sheath, or in the branches of the reproductive shoots (flowers). As the season progresses these animals will grow into the 1-1.5mm animals we commonly find here in summer.

Well, we won’t need to come back to St. Thomas any time soon now that we have 120 new pictures for the files. Our next dive here will likely be in mid summer when the plants are much larger, the kelp starts to disappear and the snails are more obvious. It is nice to have at least one restoration site we don't have to worry about!

-ChrisP

Bullhead Bay: The canary lives!

2008-05-13T08:40:00.012-04:00

One of the first sites we like to visit in the Peconic Estuary (PE) every year is Bullhead Bay in Southampton. This meadow is near and dear to our hearts in that it is really an anomaly…a statistical outlier. According to what we “know” about eelgrass in the region, the Bullhead Bay meadow should not exist. This warm water, muddy bottom, stagnant site is surrounded by a golf course on two sides. It is literally a dinosaur that could go extinct right before our eyes. I hate to use the ticking time bomb analogy, but that is what comes to mind…

In fact, a couple years back we did lose most of it. Over one winter it nearly disappeared only to return in a smaller form the following year through seedling recruitment. This pattern of natural recovery has repeated itself in successive years for the last several years and we are seeing the grass expand back slowly to what it was, but it has a LONG way to go. At least Bullhead has faired better than Noyack Creek which eventually just vanished under the pressure. Bullhead is a shadow if its former self, but at least it is still there!

Bullhead Bay has the distinction of being the furthest west natural meadow in the PE. The next natural eelgrass meadow is 12miles to the east near Shelter Island! We have established a small meadow at Red Cedar Bluff, 4 miles west of Bullhead (see post), at the western edge of Great Peconic Bay, but we have yet to achieve the size and density and complexity of a natural meadow. We hope to get there soon.

As is typical our first dive in Bullhead (5-1-08) revealed some new and interesting details. As this is the furthest west and warmest meadow in the PE we expect that the flowers will be well developed and ahead of anything else in the PE. This was definitely the case as we observed both pollen release (above right) and stigma elongation. This is always a good sign and means that the meadow will likely set seed again to survive another season.

Another interesting aspect of this dive was the grazing community observed. We expect to see mud snails (Ilyanassa obsoleta) and we did see them on the bottom, laying eggs at the base of the leaves and even up on some of the flowers, but it was the other species that caught our attention. What struck me most was the almost total lack of Lacuna vincta and the presence of two other species which we do not see. The most interesting to me is what APPEARS to be the very large and orange Rough Periwinkle (Littorina saxatilis) (see top photo). Although this species is known to frequent grass in areas north of here, we have never seen this species in eelgrass on Long Island. Another interesting occurrence was a small unidentified species that looked very much like Bittium (above left), but we don’t know what this is either. This could also be a species in the Rissoidae family. Kim had seen a similar, if not the same species, in Great South Bay last year in the grass…

Other interesting sightings included isopods, grass shrimp, sea cucumbers (right) and stickle back nests. These are all kind of typical for a protected muddy bottom site like this and Coecles. This just goes to show how productive and diverse this type of meadow can be. All the more reason why we need to protect grass in these areas.

I could go on, but that’s enough about Bullhead. We’ll be sure and check back later in the season to observe seed production and also for our regular PE SAV monitoring in August. Another site where swimmers itch is almost guaranteed in summer…joy!

-ChrisP

Coecles Harbor Natural Meadow Redux

2008-05-09T16:11:00.005-04:00

Following up on our first dive of the year in January at Coecles I decided it was just about time to check the status of this interesting meadow we had observed 3 months ago. We are very interested in this site for a couple reasons. First, the Town of Shelter Island may be interested in funding restoration work in town waters and this may be the only candidate site (actually an unvegetated area across the Harbor would be the focus if we were to undertake any work). As part of this, we need to find out the relative contribution of seeds vs. lateral shoot recruitment in meadow maintenance. If seeds are the primary means of meadow maintenance then it would not be a good idea to collect seeds from this site.

Second, and more importantly, we are VERY interested in learning more about the ecology of muddy bottom protected sites like this. Based on recent historic losses, these sites are becoming very rare and if we are to preserve what is left and possibly return grass to other similar areas, we must first understand how these systems function. The more we can learn about how these meadows survive under multiple stressors such as high temps, fine sediments, low light and high bioturbation, the closer we can come to re-establishing grass in other similar areas in the region.

On April 30th we anchored at the same site where we had first observed all of the seedlings in January, luckily this time it was much warmer! Once in the water I was surprised to see the number and size of the reproductive shoots floating above the canopy. On closer inspection the flowers proved to be very large and even the vegetative shoots were taller and had wider blades than I had expected. Even more interesting was the fact that there were many more seedlings than there were adult shoots; even more than I had observed previously. Apparently this meadow really does rely on seedling recruitment for maintenance. It almost appeared to be a case of forced annual expression although it is difficult to say this for sure. We have seen similar things in Noyack Creek and Bullhead Bay.

In some areas there were no adult shoots to be found, only seedlings. In these areas it was a little difficult to distinguish adult shoots form seedlings, but excavating (and replanting!) a few individuals and comparing leaf width with nearby adult shoots made this possible. Seedlings were so dense is some areas it appeared that they were almost chocking each other out. This close proximity appears to also have assisted the spread of wasting disease from neighbor to neighbor as evidenced by the large numbers of infected leaves in these dense patches.

Other interesting observations included the huge number of stickleback nests observed (photo at right), mostly on the taller reproductive shoots. In the past I have seen these nests on natural grass in Noyack Creek and on our plantings in Sag Harbor Cove, but never in the numbers we found in Coecles. It really was amazing. Since it was so long since I had seen a nest I wasn't sure what they were at first and actually poked a little inside one just to see if it had eggs...oops it did! (see above and left) Usually, we see the males (?) guarding the nest, but I didn't. Steve said he did.

Some other points of interest included a couple false angel wing siphons coming up out of the bottom and numerous mantis shrimp burrows (see top photo) that looked like miniature volcanoes. As far as snails, there wasn't an overabundance of mud snails or mud snail eggs, but they did seem to be concentrated in certain areas resulting in lots of eggs on some plants.

I look forward to getting back to Coecles as the season progresses, but I don't look forward to what will likely be a bad case of swimmers itch next time...

-ChrisP

Sag Harbor Test Plots

2008-05-09T11:37:00.004-04:00

On April 25th we were able to check out our Sag Harbor test plantings on the east side of North Haven, Southampton. This work is part of our site selection work for the Suffolk County Eelgrass Restoration Initiative. Steve got in and took pictures starting with plot 1 (shallow) and working out to plot 4 (deep). All plants looked excellent once he removed the heavy covering of drifting macroalgae. This covering is typical for this time of year, especially at a site like this where the current runs strong (see photo below) and transports all kinds of floating material to our plots.

We were missing many shoots, probably the result of erosion or, more than likely, from crab burrowing. Shoot densities ranged from 20 in the deepest plot to 120 at the second shallowest plot (we planted 200 shoots per plot last fall). Although plot 1 looked the best in the photo (see above) plot 2 actually had the highest density with 120 shoots remaining.

If these plots are not dug out by burrowing crabs or whelks I am fairly confident that we should have long-term survival here given the presence of grass nearby, but there is no guarantee of this. Over the coming months we will track to progress of these plantings. I doubt plot 3 and 4 will make it through June given our experience with this area in the past...

-ChrisP

Noyack Creek Restoration Work

2008-05-09T07:56:00.003-04:00

On April 30th we checked on the status of our seeding effort in Noyack Creek. This project is part of a Peconic Estuary Program Eelgrass Restoration initiative (North Haven Project). Last December Kim, Ali and I broadcast approximately 60,000 seeds (see photo below) in an area on the NE side of the creek where grass most recently occurred. This dive was MY first check on the seedling recruitment here; Steve and Kim had confirmed there were seedlings and deployed a temperature logger on April 17, but I had to see for myself.

I was happy to see that the seedlings were still there and was able to get a few good pics with my hand in the shot for scale. The seedlings were a little smaller than I expected, but they looked good and didn't have too many mud snail eggs attached. As usual the distribution was VERY patchy and there were areas with large numbers of seedlings and areas with no seedlings between the buoys we had set out to mark the site last year.

We will be closely monitoring the seedlings to see how they progress through the spring and into summer. I have concerns that they may die as the water temperature increases and dissolved oxygen levels decrease at the sediment surface at the VERY muddy site. Noyack Creek is a model for other creeks in the Peconic Estuary and if we can figure out how to get the grass re-established here, we might be able to make headway in other similar creeks. We might have to think about manipulating the sediment texture/organic matter.

Stay tuned for some ideas I have about this...

-ChrisP

The Red Cedar Bluff Restoration Site

2008-05-08T10:51:00.005-04:00

On April 23, 2008 Kim and I did a first recon dive of the Red Cedar Bluff restoration site located in western Great Peconic Bay near Squire Pond, Southampton. This one acre transplant site, funded by the Natural Resources Conservation Service, involved planting adult shoots gathered from various Peconic Estuary site in groups of 8-12 on 1m centers throughout the entire site.

The first transplant work at this site was initiated in 2006 when we established multiple 1m circular plots (perpendicular to shore) across the depth contours to target the most appropriate planting depth. Within the first growing season we lost the two shallowest and one of the deeper plots leaving behind two mid-depth stations. Eventually, the shallower of these also succumbed to disturbance from crabs and was lost.

I have to say that it is not unusual to lose most of these plots, or at least the shallow and deep stations as our intention is to push the limits of water depth and light penetration in the deep stations and physical disturbance and exposure in the shallow stations. If we don't lose at least the shallowest and deepest stations than we haven't successfully tested the limits of this site!

Once we got in the water it was nice to see that one of the original plots (see top photo) was still intact and looked very good indicating that water quality is still sufficient here to support grass. Based on the "long-term" (2 yrs.) survival of this initial planting we are fairly confident that the large-scale effort will succeed.

During our dive, we were happy to see that most of the clumped plantings had survived this past winter and appeared to be thriving (above right). A few clumps were missing among the hundreds, but this is not a concern. Mud snails could be seen laying bending over the shoots and laying eggs, but this is typical for this time of year. In another couple weeks the eggs should hatch and there should be few egg cases to be found. As always, we like to see the snails at our sites as they are key to grazing epiphytes off the leaves and maximizing light to the plants.

ChrisP

The New York State Seagrass Taskforce

2008-05-07T21:20:00.002-04:00

During this spring the NY State Seagrass Taskforce has been meeting to discus issues relating to the mapping, management, restoration and protection of eelgrass in NY waters. For a list of taskforce members, meeting agendas and to view the enabling NYS legislation see the NYS Seagrass Taskforce web page. Laura Stephenson (lbstephe@gw.dec.state.ny.us) from the NYSDEC is responsible for providing all content for this site.

Much of the work of the taskforce is being guided by information gathered at a New York State Seagrass Experts Meeting held on May 22, 2008. See the meeting report here. Recent agenda items for the taskforce have included mapping protocols, research topics, boat mooring alternatives and funding for various projects. See the web page for a link to all agendas, to date.

ChrisP

Robins Island and Hog Neck Bay test plots

2008-05-07T15:57:00.004-04:00

On April 17th Steve and Kim headed out to check on the status of several test plots off Great Hog Neck and Robins Island in Southold. These plots were planted out in fall of 2007 and are part of the site selection work underway for the "Suffolk County Eelgrass Restoration Initiative" funded by Suffolk County. Site selection involves conducting test plantings in fall/winter and following the progress of these transplants over the following year. Plots that make it through August are deemed worthy of further planting scale-up, if not full scale (acre size) plantings. We typically plant out a series of 1m diameter (200 shoots each) circular plots perpendicular to shore running from just below MLLW to a depth of about 2m at low tide. In this way we can determine the most appropriate planting depth at each site. Initial site selection is based on historic presence of grass, water quality, fetch and bottom characteristics.

The Hog Neck site (left) had suffered some losses during early winter that we were already aware of so we knew that the shallowest plots would not be intact. The deeper plots (3&4) were found however and the the plants looked excellent. In addition to the circles, Steve had also added some clumped plantings (see below) in early winter to see how these would fair compared to the circular plots. These also looked good. There was lots of brown drift algae attached to the shoots, but this is to be expected during this time of year when the water is still cold.

The Robins Island plots probably looked better than we have EVER seen for overwinter survival and health in eelgrass in the Peconic Estuary. All plots were intact and the density was very good, especially for the two shallower plots (see "RI2" in top photo). Shoot densities ranged from a low of 181 to a high of 217 with the two shallower plots coming in over 200, actually adding shoots overwinter. It is interesting to note that you can see that plot #2 had lost about 2-4cm of sand just recently (within the week?). If you look close you can see the white sheaths and roots at the base of the plants. These would not normally visible.

As the season progresses we will follow these plots closely to see how they fair in response to lower water clarity and higher water temperatures.

ChrisP

Grass in Coecles Harbor, Shelter Island

2008-05-07T13:33:00.001-04:00

Our first dive of the season took place on January 10th 2008 in Coelces Harbor, Shelter Island and involved looking for whatever eelgrass could be found. I had received a call from the Shelter Island Town Attorney asking that I come in and make a brief presentation to the Town Board on the status of eelgrass in Town waters. The Board was considering funding habitat related work to support their shellfish restocking efforts (also part of CCE) and knew that we had been working with eelgrass in the waters just off Cornelius Point, SI. Since I was not aware of any grass in town waters I figured that we had better get in and take a look at the long-fabled grass meadows in Coecles regardless of how cold the water was.

After making a couple calls, I was able to narrow down the search to an area just south of the marina. A quick look at recent aerial maps on Google Earth confirmed what looked like grass in this area, but the Goolge images are old so there was no guarantee that what I saw on the aerials was still there. Since our normal boats were layed up for the winter our only alternative was the aquaculture barge, named the "ShellStar". Kevin Cahill the ShellStar's captain was more than happy to accommodate us on our venture.

Upon anchoring in Coecles, we did find grass right where we saw it on the aerials and looked great. One interesting aspect of the grass here is that it is growing in extremely muddy bottom in about 8-10ft of water. There was no grass to be found on the sandier shallow bottom where I would have expected it. This is interesting because we have lost most of the grass in our muddy bottom harbors and creeks throughout the Peconic Estuary. Most of our existing grass in the Peconics grows in higher energy sandy sites that are exposed to some wave energy and currents. Bullhead Bay in Southampton is the only other known exception to this rule that we are aware of.

Another interesting aspect of the Coecles Harbor meadow was the fact that once I started pulling away the dense macroalgae layer that surrounded the grass I found thousands of small seedlings poking out of the bottom. Although the adult shoot density was fairly low and somewhat patchy, seedlings appeared to cover much of the open bottom (see above). I was so intrigued by the seedlings I had to take a few back to the lab to have Kim take close-up pictures and document what we had observed (right). Apparently, seedling recruitment is an essential part of meadow maintenance at this site. It is not often that we see this many seedlings in the field. The only other sites where we have seen this include Noyack Creek and Bullhead Bay in Southampton.

Stay tuned for a spring recon dive to further our understanding of this interesting site.

ChrisP

My First Post!

2008-05-07T11:46:00.002-04:00

Well, here I go! I figured I would try a new way to reach those interested in our work here in the CCE Eelgrass Restoration Program. I had looked into an online newsletter and even mentioned that this is what I would be developing in our most recent Seagrass.LI newsletter, but didn't like the format and costs involved. The blog format would seem to be a much better vehicle for what I want to do...that is, to share with you daily observations and results from our field work involving the monitoring and restoration of eelgrass around Long Island, NY.

As you probably already know, we are out on the water every day that weather will allow and during those dives we always see something interesting and learn something new. We could put these things on our webpage, but that would be cumbersome and way too much work for Kim, so I decided to take on this responsibility myself. I have always tried to keep project funders and local resource managers up to date with regular emails and pics and now anyone can see the same information. Kim will continue on with her periodic project update pages on the website, but that will be on more of a monthly schedule.

If you will bear with me I am going to add new things to make this blog more useful and interesting as well as post observations from our 2008 field work beginning in January and running up until May. Once I am caught up, I will only cover new work. I hope you enjoy it. If you have any comments please send them to me at cp26@cornell.edu.

Thanks!
ChrisP