Sea & Shoreline fights to restore seagrass in lagoon, New nursery will allow for more to be planted

Posted on: March 19th, 2024

Original Article: https://www.hometownnewsbrevard.com/news/sea-shoreline-fights-to-restore-seagrass-in-lagoon/article_04c3da80-5381-5827-a927-20c6720e77be.html

MELBOURNE BEACH — Sea & Shoreline recently opened a new nursery, in hopes of strengthening their seagrass planting program, which has already successfully implemented 13 grass beds.

The nursery is the second of its kind to be opened by the organization, thanks to help from IRL Council and Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program (IRLNEP). It will allow for a more controlled environment for the seagrass to grow.

“Seagrass can be fragile. It’s very susceptible to changes in temperature and salinity. So, at the Melbourne Beach nursery, we have built greenhouses to protect raceways from a lot of those elements,” said Ryan Brushwood, biologist and VP of environmental science for Sea & Shoreline. “We’re utilizing a flow through system so we’re actually taking water right there from the lagoon, which helps us acclimate those plants to the conditions that they will ultimately be planted into. That really helps us to manage temperature, salinity, nutrient levels and things like that.”

According to Brushwood, the new nursery is huge because it essentially doubles their capacity, which opens the door for more seagrass to be planted.

As far as upcoming projects go, there are already three locations selected to receive a seagrass bed: Titusville Causeway, Preachers Hole, and Big Slough.

“We try to choose sites that are protected from wave energy, sites that don’t get a lot of boat traffic, sites that don’t have people trampling around and enjoying the sandbar on the weekend and things like that,” Brushwood said.

Due to all the work that goes into keeping seagrass healthy, site selection is an arduous process.

“A lot of these projects are planned several years in advance. It starts with identifying a site where seagrass historically occurred but has been lost due to one reason or the next,” Brushwood said.

Brushwood also mentioned that the team is looking to experiment utilizing the nursery as well.

“We are working on some outplanting in areas like Fort Pierce and Indian River County, where we’re taking the seagrass that’s being grown in nursery and really directly planting it out, but we’re also working on some experimental projects as well.” he said.

After the team plants a seagrass bed, they need to monitor it to ensure that it continues to thrive, due to its delicacy.

“Monitoring is very important to capture the results and learn from things that work and and for things that don’t work as well to help guide future restoration efforts,” Brushwood said. “Maintenance is very important as well to give these plants the best chance that we can for them to survive and hopefully thrive in these systems.”.

The levels of success with the planted seagrass has been variable.

“There are some areas in Florida where we’ve planted about 100 acres of submerged aquatic vegetation,” said Heather Herold, chief sales and marketing officer for the organization. “It reaches a tipping point where it expands on its own and 100 acres becomes 400 acres.”

In the case that a seagrass bed doesn’t see the success they hoped, there are a few metrics they look at.

“Some of the things we look at are sediment composition, wave energy, and anthropogenic impacts. Maybe it’s an area that we didn’t anticipate being a hotspot for building but it turns out it is,” Brushwood said.

Brushwood stressed the importance of work like what their team is doing for the health of the lagoon.

“Historically, it was covered with seagrass. Sea grasses provided habitat for juvenile fish or crustaceans and vertebrates that depend on it. It provided a food source for herbivores, whether it be sea turtles, manatees, etc. It really helps to promote just overall healthy water. The sea grasses are the basis of the future,” he said.