Barley Field Cove & Critical Habitat

I find myself again writing about Eelgrass, which hasn’t always been my intention, but this New Year I feel it should be my “Attention” and maybe even yours.

While science students and I can learn and share facts about this flowering underwater plant named Zostera Marina, and the museum curator might inform me that early settlers banked houses and barns, and covered cellar storehouses with dried eelgrass – my work outdoors is teaching me daily that eelgrass meadows surrounding Fishers Island are a HUGE component of its unique environment.

Experts on the topic will tell you:

Eelgrass maintains shoreline stability and helps prevent erosion

Eelgrass supports several commercial fisheries by providing shelter and structure to ecosystems supporting foraging habitat.

Lobster, mussels, clams, razor clams, periwinkles, rock crabs, winter and summer  flounder, striped bass, bay scallops, blue crab (and more!) all need eelgrass  to survive and hopefully flourish.

Scientists know that Nutrient Pollution is detrimental to Zostera Marina.

Discharges from sewage, septic systems, fertilizer run off from lawns, golf courses, and agriculture fields stimulates algae growth, clouding the seawater and reducing necessary sunlight to promote healthy growth of eelgrass meadows.

While I am not an expert in the “field” of eelgrass, I continue to submit photos in hopes Islanders will, like myself, pay ATTENTION.