TBEP is spearheading an innovative $560,000 research project that seeks to restore natural sandbars to areas of the bay where they once existed.

Scientists hope that re-creating the sandbars will facilitate the recovery of underwater seagrasses vital to the bay’s health by buffering wave action that may be preventing seagrasses from growing.

Between 1950 and 1980, Tampa Bay lost nearly 20,000 acres of seagrass as a result of poor water quality. More than 30 miles of longshore bars disappeared during the same time frame. Scientists speculate that these sandbars helped soften the impacts of waves, allowing seagrasses to flourish in the quiet, protected waters behind the sandbars. An alternate hypothesis is that the loss of seagrasses led to the loss of the longshore bars.

The research project TBEP is coordinating will install four 100-foot-long bars in various areas of the bay, testing different construction techniques – such as riprap or geo-tubes filled with dredge material. Scientists will monitor how well the bars survive and whether seagrass regrows behind them.

The project also is testing whether transplanting seagrass might actually promote the natural creation of sandbars, since seagrasses help to trap and stabilize bottom sediments. Scientists from the city of Tampa and volunteers with Tampa Bay Watch transplanted seagrass in summer 2006 at one site adjacent to MacDill Air Force that historically contained a sandbar. After one year, the holes where the seagrass was taken from the donor area have completely refilled with seagrass, and the transplanted grass plugs also are growing and expanding.

The overall objective of the project is to restore 50 acres of seagrass in Hillsborough Bay. If this technique is successful, it may be used in other parts of Tampa Bay where longshore bars and seagrass have been lost.

A variety of partners are participating in this project, including the Coastal Resources Group; the city of Tampa’s Bay Study Group; the Tampa Port Authority; Tampa Bay Watch; U.S. Geological Survey; USF College of Marine Science; Mote Marine Laboratory; MacDill Air Force Base; and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Funding agencies include the Pinellas County Environmental Fund/National Fish and Wildlife Foundation; Gulf of Mexico Program; Environmental Protection Commission of Hillsborough County; and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.