Rooting for the Shoots: A Strong Start to NCBN's Seagrass Resilience and Restoration Project

Wrapping up our year...

Highlighting the work of the Northeast Coastal and Barrier Network in FY24.
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Michaela Compo / NPS Photo

Text Description for Infographic

Seagrasses are often an undervalued key component of the interconnected coastal mosaic.

The beds harbor vast biodiversity, strengthen shorelines, store carbon, improve water quality, and support fisheries and coastal food webs.

From 1995 - 2021 Fire Island, Assateague Island, & Cape Cod National Seashores, combined, lost 4,000+ acres of seagrass habitat, an area > 4 Central Parks in New York City.

Seagrasses offer an opportunity for building coastal resilience through nature-based solutions. We aim to enhance the resilience of seagrass meadows through restoration and rehabilitation, and to halt declining trajectories across seven coastal parks from Maine to North Carolina.

Key species: eelgrass (Zostera marina)

Assisted gene flow: is an innovative approach adapted from coral, oyster, and terrestrial restorations that involves moving seeds from resilient seagrass populations to restoration sites.

All aspects of the project are scalable, and the benefits of the project will extend beyond target meadows as these resilient populations spread into adjacent waters in the coming decade.

This process yields the best chance to halt or even reverse seagrass decline and offers the opportunity for co-stewardship through engagement and partnerships with agencies, Tribes, academic institutions, NGOs, youth, & Justice40 communities.

Genomic sampling is currently underway to determine genetically appropriate populations for seed sources (i.e., exhibiting high thermal tolerance and adaptive genomic diversity), and optimal areas for recovery.