He mapped the eelgrass each summer.
"This used to be solid eelgrass.
Lesions on eelgrass in an underwater meadow.
Plans for restoring the eelgrass are still being devised.
Divers suited up to take sediment cores inside and outside eelgrass meadows and collected samples of eelgrass.
Of the 14 soil-landscape units sampled for eelgrass cover, 52% had virtually no eelgrass cover (<10%), while 18% had high eelgrass cover (>90%).
Predation on tethered cod was highest at the edge of eelgrass patches, compared with barren and eelgrass locations; predation generally decreased with distance from the eelgrass boundary.
Therefore the spread of A. marina into former eelgrass areas is critical, since eelgrass recovery may be severely impaired, even when water quality favors eelgrass recolonization.
Eelgrass landscapes exposed to wave dynamics were less aggregated with more elongated patch shapes than the sheltered eelgrass areas.
"My little creek here used to be full of eelgrass," he said.
The loss of eelgrass habitats, though serious, was only one of many factors affecting scallop beds.
