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/