The Tampa Bay Estuary Program and a host of partner organizations have received a major grant to assess why seagrasses in some parts of Tampa Bay are not recovering despite improvements in water quality.

The nearly $150,000 grant awarded by the Pinellas County Environmental Foundation will finance intensive monitoring and experimental plantings to determine the cause of dramatic seagrass declines in designated "problem areas" such as the western shoreline of Old Tampa Bay, where some 1,400 acres of seagrasses have disappeared in recent years.

Seagrasses are the foundation of the bay’s underwater ecology, providing food, shelter and nursery areas for a wealth of marine life.

From 1984-1996, improving water quality led to a resurgence of seagrasses in Tampa Bay at the rate of 350-500 acres a year. However, from 1996-1999, aerial photography conducted by the Southwest Florida Water Management District revealed a loss of more than 2,000 acres baywide -- essentially negating the gains of the previous decade.

Some scientists suspect that the losses are largely the result of the El Nino rains of 1997-98, which channeled huge volumes of freshwater and pollutants into Southwest Florida estuaries. Although seagrasses typically can withstand a broad range of salinities, the amount of rain and runoff brought by El Nino far exceeded normal fluctuations.

More recent aerial surveys indicate that seagrasses are rebounding in most areas of the bay. But a few areas remain bare, even though water quality is good enough for seagrasses to thrive there.

Bay managers believe it is important to find out why seagrasses are not returning in those areas if the region is to meet the Estuary Program’s adopted goal of restoring nearly 13,000 acres of seagrasses.

Specific components of the research project to be funded by PCEF include:

• intensive water quality monitoring to determine whether water clarity is significantly different over grass beds than in the open bay where most monitoring takes place.
• intensive seagrass monitoring of reference and problem sites to assess whether the type, density and abundance of seagrasses differs among those areas, and if the differences are related to water quality.
• analysis of historical maps and photographs to determine whether gains and losses are related to land use changes in problem areas
• use of a sophisticated computer model to determine whether wave energy is impairing seagrass growth, and whether creation of offshore sandbars to blunt the impacts of those waves is a potential solution.
• experimental seagrass plantings to assess which transplant methods are most successful, and what specific physical, chemical or biological factors limit the success of those transplants.

“This work will ultimately help us to design effective management strategies to assist with recovery of seagrasses throughout the bay,” said Holly Greening, Senior Scientist with the Estuary Program.

Partnering with the Estuary Program on this important project, and contributing substantial services, are the U.S. Geological Survey, the Southwest Florida Water Management District, the Pinellas County Department of Environmental Management, the City of Tampa Bay Study Group, the Florida Marine Research Institute and the Hillsborough County Environmental Protection Commission.

The Pinellas County Environmental Foundation is a partnership between the Pinellas County Board of County Commissioners and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, who share the common goals of protecting, restoring and enhancing fish and wildlife habitats, developing creative and sustainable solutions to natural resource challenges, educating the public and stakeholders and forging area partnerships to implement long-term solutions.

In a little more than a year, sales of the Tampa Bay Estuary specialty license plate have earned more than $73,000 for bay restoration and protection activities!

Information provided by the state Department of Motor Vehicles indicates that about 4,000 Tampa Bay Estuary plates have been sold since they debuted in April 2000. Sales have been steadily climbing, with more than $24,000 worth of license plates sold in the latest reporting period, from April-June 2001!

The Tampa Bay Estuary license plate features a striking illustration of a tarpon designed by St. Petersburg artist Russ Sirmons. The plate costs $17 per year - and an additional $12 if you are a first-time purchaser. The Tampa Bay Estuary Program receives 80 percent of the revenues from the license plate, while the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council’s Agency on Bay Management receives 20 percent of the tag revenues.

Both organizations have committed to spending the proceeds from the plate on projects that help to implement the Estuary Program’s Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan for Tampa Bay. The Estuary Program has elected to devote all its revenues from the plate to its popular Bay Mini-Grants program (see related article in this newsletter), which provides grants to community groups, schools and non-profit organizations for projects to restore habitats, protect natural resources or educate bay users.

Among the community projects financed last year with license tag revenues were: removal of Brazilian peppers along a tributary of Tampa Bay; replacement of buoys that alert boaters to shallow seagrass beds; and installation of small artificial reefs along seawalls to provide improved habitat for marine life.

This year, more than $45,000 in license plate revenues is available for the Mini-Grants program.

TBEP is offering small grants of up to $7,500 for bay improvement projects proposed by citizens groups, schools and organizations in Hillsborough, Manatee and Pinellas counties.

The Bay Mini-Grants Program is made possible by sales of the Tampa Bay Estuary’s “Tarpon” specialty license plate.

Projects must address priority issues - such as water quality, habitat restoration, and fish and wildlife conservation - identified in Charting The Course, the Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan for Tampa Bay. Projects can involve restoration or protection of natural resources, pollution prevention programs and environmental education initiatives.

Approximately $45,000 from the sale of specialty license plates is available for grants ranging from $500-$7,500. Applications will be reviewed by TBEP’s Community Advisory Committee, and grants awarded based on a competitive ranking process.

TBEP’s Senior Scientist Holly Greening has been elected to the Governing Board of the Estuarine Research Federation. Holly will serve as one of two Members-at-Large for ERF, a prestigious international professional society for estuarine scientists and managers. ERF fosters an international dialogue among scientists on estuarine issues, promotes a variety of student programs, publishes the respected scientific journal "Estuaries" and sponsors a biennial conference -- to be held November 4-8 in St. Pete Beach, Florida.

TBEP is offering a free brochure that addresses a variety of issues intended to help anglers and seabirds co-exist in harmony.

The brochure, developed by Save Our Seabirds, Inc. with a Bay Mini-Grant from the Estuary Program, explains why feeding seabirds such as pelicans, herons and cormorants is dangerous to their health. The brochure seeks to educate anglers about the dangers posed to seabirds by leaving fishing rods unattended, or throwing catfish or other unwanted fish or carcasses to pelicans.

It also shows, through illustrations, how to safely remove hook and line from seabirds without further injuring the bird - or yourself.

Save Our Seabirds is a volunteer, non-profit organization devoted to rescuing and treating native and migratory birds. SOS founder Lee Fox is a licensed wildlife rehabilitator who has extensive experience in caring for sick and injured birds. Injuries related to feeding of seabirds, or entanglement in fishing line, are among the most severe, common - and preventable -- problems she encounters, and served as the catalyst for the creation of the brochures. Lee and her volunteers also are launching a campaign to install large signs at popular fishing piers and boat ramps showing hook-and-line removal techniques.

On Friday, September 28, National Estuarine Research Reserves and National Estuary Programs across the country will be joining the North Carolina Reserve to provide Estuary Live, in honor of National Estuaries Day.

This Web-based school program will feature live guided tours of estuaries in New Jersey, North Carolina and South Carolina, as well as pre-recorded tours of estuaries in Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Ohio, New England and the Chesapeake Bay region. Click on http://www.estuarylive.org to tune in. You can even e-mail a question during the tour and have it answered live over the Internet!

TBEP also is working with The Florida Aquarium in Tampa and The Pier Aquarium in St. Petersburg on special National Estuaries Day activities to be held on Saturday, September 29. The Guest speakers on bay ecology will highlight The Florida Aquarium’s Eco-Tour boat excursion on National Estuaries Day, while The Pier Aquarium will offer “Tampa Bay Walks The Talk,” an interactive and fun family learning experience at The Pier’s Education Station.

The Tampa Bay Estuary Program is sponsoring a “Water Budget Workshop” on December 4 and 5 at the Florida Marine Research Institute in St. Petersburg.

The purpose of the workshop is to characterize what is now known about how, when and where freshwater is delivered to the bay; how freshwater flows have changed over time and will change in the future; and what factors - natural and manmade - are contributing to these changes.

The final afternoon of the workshop will be devoted to a facilitated discussion of next steps. Participants will summarize the current “state of our knowledge” regarding freshwater flows to the bay and prioritize research needs to fill “gaps” in that knowledge. TBEP will implement a research project based on the priorities identified by workshop attendees.

Adequate and timely flows of freshwater are crucial to the health of the bay and its inhabitants, and this workshop marks the first regional forum on this important topic. Ensuring that the bay has a sufficient supply of freshwater is among the key goals of Charting The Course, the Estuary Program’s Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan for Tampa Bay.

The following videos are now available for loan through TBEP’s Video Lending Library:

• "Coastal Wetland Nursery”
  This 12-minute video produced by Chamberlain High School students offers instructions for designing, building and maintaining a salt marsh nursery as a school project. The High School Wetland Nursery Program is conducted by Tampa BayWatch.
  
• “After The Rain”
  This 30-minute film explores the importance of water, the pressures our growing cities are placing on this precious resource, and ways that individuals can protect local drinking water supplies and waterways. Produced by Oregon State University Extension Service.
  
• “Seagrass: A Tropical Rainforest In Our Bay” and “Seagrass Monitoring: BayWatch for the Real Florida”
  The first video is a short, 4-minute primer on seagrasses - what they are and why they’re so crucial to the health of Florida estuaries. The second, a 15-minute video, provides an overview of a seagrass monitoring program that uses trained volunteers. Both videos were produced by the St. Andrew Bay Resource Management Association.
  

Videos are free and may be borrowed for up to a month. Instructions for returning the videos, along with a free postage strip, are included with each video.