What is eelgrass and why is it important?
Loss of eelgrass is an early indicator of declining health in an estuary. Eelgrass is an important aquatic plant that provides critical habitat for a variety of fish. Eelgrass used to be very common in all of the estuaries but has declined greatly over the past 30 years in estuaries as nitrogen loading has increased. Permanent mats of algae have replaced eelgrass in many of Falmouth’s estuaries.
