The Importance of Seagrass in the Gulf

“As a kid playing in the rivers and in the bays there was plenty of (sea)grass, and now there is nothing but mud,” said David Barber, owner of Barber Seafood in Eastpoint. “Spending most of my time around Eastpoint and Carabelle, I can see there is not as much seagrass.”

Manatee grass is common to the gulf coastal waters.
Photo credit: National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration/Department of Commerce

Seagrass plays a very important role in the development of several forms of sea life in Florida’s gulf coast. Of the many recreational and commercial fish and crustaceans that live off the coast of Franklin and Gulf counties, more than 70 percent of them depend on seagrass beds and their shallow waters at some point in their life cycle. Some of those include red fish, pink shrimp and stone crab. This seagrass disappearing act affects anyone in the seafood or tourism industries in the Panhandle and Big Bend areas of Florida.

The river basin area alone is home to 186 species of fish, and the bay system serves as a critical nursery for more than 95 percent of all species harvested commercially and 85 percent of all species harvested recreationally in the Gulf of Mexico.

According to data from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), seagrasses experienced significant declines in acreage, as well as changes in species and in the density and size of beds. Franklin and Gulf counties lost over 50 percent of their seagrass beds from the early 1960s to the late 1980s.

“The Big Bend region of Florida has the second largest seagrass bed in North America, and it serves as habitat for many economically and ecologically important fish and invertebrates,” said Randall Hughes, assistant scholar scientist of the FSU Marine Lab in Panacea. She added, “I think that if (seagrass loss) is a consistent trend over time, that it’s continuing to decline, this is cause for concern.”

Visit Florida Research counted 85.9 million tourists who visited Florida in 2011, many were attracted to the state's 1,197 miles of coastline—its warm, clear waters, colorful coral reefs, and unique marine life. Seagrass helps support all of this, cleaning the water by stabilizing seafloor sediments and acting as a filter, absorbing nutrients from land run-off.

The FloridaDepartment of Environmental Protection has established that the value of an acre of seagrass beds is close to $20,500 per year. Franklin County alone has 14,450 acres of seagrass, while Gulf County and St. Joseph's Bay have another 6,672 acres of seagrass.

Dan Tonsmeire and other volunteers post
warning sings in boating waters.

In these areas, two of the leading causes of seagrass loss are nutrient-laden runoff and propeller scarring. Land clearing is one of the greatest contributors to runoff, in which exposed soil full of fertilizers and pesticides is eroded into the sea.

Efforts to disrupt these detrimental trends have been challenging for local authorities and state agencies. Previous work by the FWC to curb the destruction includes the posting of “Shallow Seagrass” signs in an area of St. Andrew’s Bay. The signs served as a warning for boaters to carefully navigate their vessels to avoid damaging the vegetation. The signs were posted in an area where there was a lot of traffic from recreational boaters as well as commercial fishing crews. Although the results were not as significant as expected for the St. Andrew’s Bay area, a similar effort for Franklin County was put together by the Apalachicola Riverkeeper organization with the approval of the FWC.

On January 25th, members of the Apalachicola Riverkeepers along with volunteers, including members of AMIkids (formerly Associated Marine Institutes), Panama City Marine Institute and AMIkids West Florida placed “Caution: Shallow Seagrass” signs from Carrabelle to the east end of Lanark Reef.

Don Tonsmeire, an Aplalachicola Riverkeeper, added, “There is definitely an educational component that is necessary in this kind of situation. It’s been the local effort more than the state that has helped protect our waters and get the knowledge out to the people.”

The Apalachicola Riverkeepers, along with local volunteers, are also helping spread the word by handing out boaters’ guide pamphlets to marinas and other locations from Carrabelle to Alligator Point. The guides provide information on how to help protect seagrass—from understanding water depths and tide tables to reading the waters and always being mindful of vegetation.

Popular fishing in the "flats," seagrass beds, are Red Drum
 like this one.

According to the Smithsonian Marine Institute, a single acre of seagrass can produce 10 tons of leaves per year. These leaves provide food and habitat for 2,000,000 juvenile grouper and other Gulf species that spend part of their life cycle in shoreline waters and return to the Gulf when more fully grown. Without food and habitat, the sea life will move to other coastal areas, thus decreasing the fishing for both commercial and recreational fishermen.

“It affects how I've found fish and where I've fished. Less seagrass equals less spawning and then less fish,” said Apalachicola charter fisherman David Heinke. Heinke added, “Should all the seagrass disappear, this would change our business drastically. We might even go out of business. It would certainly change our waters and our way of life.”

For more information on seagrass visit the DEP website: www.dep.state.fl.us/coastal/habitats/seagrass/

Bringing Seagrass Into the Open

Environmental issues grab plenty of headlines. Save the rainforest. Ban whaling. Protect the ozone. Celebrities and musicians flock to these headline-grabbing causes but, unfortunately, saving seagrass is not the most glamorous cause on the planet. Sting is not writing songs about the disappearance of seagrasses from Florida’s coastline.

A lush bed of Turtle grass provides shelter and food for
many species of fish and invertebrates in the Panhandle.
Photo credit: National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration/Department of Commerce

A submerged aquatic vegetation, seagrass acts as a home and feeds over 70 percent of sea life at in the Gulf of Mexico, according to the Florida Wildlife and Fish Conservation Commission. It is a vital resource for many fish and invertebrates essential to commercial and recreational fishing, including pink shrimp and grouper. Seagrass also plays an important ecological role by stabilizing the seafloor, preventing erosion and recycling nutrients. However, is the state of Florida doing enough to inform the public and protect this critical natural resource?

Dan Tonsmeire, executive director of Apalachicola Riverkeepers, doesn’t think so. Tonsmeire understands the importance of seagrass to the environment, and he has an idea of how to best communicate the message of seagrass awareness.

The Apalachicola Riverkeepers and local volunteers are spreading the word by supplying boaters' guide pamphlets to marinas and at other locations from Carrabelle to Alligator Point. The guides provide information on how to help protect seagrass. They include tips on water depths and tides as well as carefully reading the waters and being mindful of vegetation.

“It's the local effort that has had an effect. It has not been the state, at least not as much, that has helped protect our waters and get information out to the people.”

Tonsmeire does not hide his feelings about apathy toward this issue, “I wouldn't want to fault anybody in particular...other than the governor and the legislature.”

The first "Seagrass Awareness Month" was declared by the Seagrass Outreach Partnership, an informal group of citizens, educators, law enforcement officers and marine resource managers. Finally, two years later in March 2001, Governor Jeb Bush issued the first seagrass awareness proclamation on behalf of the state of Florida.

The latest 2001 state proclamation signed by Governor Rick Scott states, “Awareness of the problems facing this vital natural resource will help to create an understanding of the ways seagrass damage can impact both the economic and ecological value of our marine resources.”

This month of awareness should be a time for educating Florida's citizens and visitors. It should be a time for public events hosted by local governments and organizations, and there should be a boost in media attention. Although in its fourteenth year, Seagrass Awareness Month remains unheard of by many Florida residents. Usually held in March, very few events were held statewide this year to mark the occasion, with Biscayne Bay, Gulf Breeze and Gulf County offering the only festivals.

Some of the fish found in the gulf as seen at the ANERR.

Kim Wren is a stewardship coordinator at the Apalachicola NationalEstuarine Research Reserve (ANERR). Wren is working to get the word out. She has created a seagrass awareness event for Gulf County schools called Bring the Bay to School Day.

“It's a program I started to teach kids about the value of the seagrass habitat.” Wren says the program seeks to educate youth, and she hopes it will spread the word beyond the schools' walls to adults and other stakeholders.

Along with her work at the research reserve, Wren adds the school program to her list of efforts educate people about the importance of Apalachicola's estuaries. The list includes research reserve brochures and signage, outreach workshops, and the ANERR's Coastal Training Program's Panhandle Habitat Series classes for environmental professionals.

With few Floridians talking about seagrass and even fewer public events scheduled annually, Florida's seagrasses continue to dwindle. Dan Tonsmeire is quick to offer his opinion about the slow pace of getting out the message.

“I don't think our government has made protecting natural resources a priority. If there were more patrols on the water enforcing and educating like when we first started protecting manatees, well, you don't have to write that many tickets before word gets out that we’re serious about protecting our waterways.”

A Disappearing Act

Ask David Heinke about the loss of seagrass near Apalachicola, and he will tell you just how devastating this loss is to the local economy.

“[Losing the seagrass] affects how I've fished and where I've fished,” said Heinke, a fishing guide with Robinson Brothers Charters. “Change the fishery and it affects our business drastically—we potentially even go out of business.”

Some might consider seagrass a weed. So why is its preservation so vital to the economy of Apalachicola?

Randall Hughes discussing the importance of local
seagrass at the FSU Marine Laboratory in St. Teresa.

Randall Hughes, assistant scholar scientist at the FSU Coastal & Marine Laboratory in St. Teresa, explains that seagrass is what scientists call an “indicator species,” basically an aquatic canary in a coal mine. If seagrass disappears, then the rest of the environment is in trouble.

“Seagrasses do a lot of photosynthesis. They store carbon created when other plants die  in the water,” Hughes says. Seagrass beds act like rainforests by processing excess carbon dioxide and emitting helpful oxygen back into the water.

According to the United Nations Environment Program, “Fifty-five percent of the atmospheric carbon captured by living organisms is taken up at sea. Between 50 and 71 percent of this carbon is captured by the ocean's vegetated Blue Carbon habitats—mangroves, salt marshes, seagrasses and seaweed.”

Development is a major cause of seagrass depletion. Land development causes stripping of nutrient-rich topsoil. Through rain and irrigation, the soil eventually runs off into gulf waters, creating hazardous mineral imbalances. The process of utrophication, or nutrient enrichment in coastal waters, significantly alters the water column in such a way it hinders seagrass growth.

Author of many books on nature and co-owner of the Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory, Anne Rudloe explains the dire situation, “These grasses depend on clear water. If you get excess nutrients, sewage, or fertilizer in the water, it creates plankton blooms and the water turns murky green. Then algae starts growing on the blades of grass, which blocks sunlight for photosynthesis, and pretty soon there are no grass beds.”

Heinke has seen this in action, “I've seen a seagrass bed the size of a football field disappear and turn into a sand pit in just a few years.”

State and local government have attempted to enact laws and regulations that protect seagrasses. Local ordinances in both Franklin County (Subdivision Ordinance 89-7) and Gulf County (Subdivision Plat Approval Process) were created to help protect the natural resources in these counties.

The state has also tried to develop programs. According to the Florida Coastal and Ocean Coalition's January 2012 report, “Florida has failed to ensure the long-term protection and resiliency of its beaches by continuing to allow—and even subsidize—high-risk development adjacent to (and directly on) the most critical eroding beaches in the state.”

Another source of seagrass bed destruction comes in the form of scarring caused by careless boating. As the Gulf Coast becomes a more popular destination for vacationers and recreational fishing, more boats are launched in coastal waters. Florida Statute 253.04 was created to protect state lands, including seagrass beds, by establishing fines for boaters “carelessly causing seagrass scarring.”

Shoal grass is one of the more popular types of
grasses found in the Panhandle.
Photo credit: National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration/Department of Commerce

Kent Smith, biological administrator for the Aquatic Habitat Conservation and Restoration Section of the Florida Wildlife and Fish Conservation Commission (FWC), says that the law is difficult to enforce.

“You have to actually demonstrate [an offense],” Smith says. “The only way a law enforcement officer will catch you doing that is if your boat has run aground. So it's a bit of a challenge for officers to make the case. You have to relate a boater's actions to the actual damage.”

Since enacting this legislation, no citations have been written and only two warnings have been issued in the entire state.

According to the FWC, Florida lost more than 50 percent of its seagrass acreage between the 1960s and the early 1990s. “Seventy to eighty percent of recreational and commercially important species spend some portion of their lives in those estuarine habitats. Without seagrasses, those animals cannot exist,” Smith said.

These organizations are working in the Big Bend and Panhandle area to protect seagrasses and other natural resources on our coastlines. To learn more about them, visit their websites:

Apalachicola Riverkeeper: www.apalachicolariverkeeper.org/

1000 Friends of Florida: www.1000friendsofflorida.org/

Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory: www.gulfspecimen.org

Big Bend Seagrass Aquatic Preserve: www.dep.state.fl.us/coastal/sites/bigbend/

To learn more about seagrasses visit the Department of Environmental Protection's Seagrass Page: www.dep.state.fl.us/coastal/habitats/seagrass/ or
check out the FWC site: www.myfwc.com/research/habitat/seagrasses/