Why study it? Is the SAV in Barnegat Bay at risk?
Studies were conducted due to the ecological importance of seagrass and recent indications of dieback. These seagrasses are a sensitive indicator of the bay’s overall health. Comparison of the earlier maps with the 1990’s survey shows an overall decrease of approximately 2,000 to 3,000 hectares in the area of seagrass beds. While there are indications of seagrass decline, due to the great difference in mapping methods used for each of the surveys, we are cautious in directly attributing the decrease in mapped eelgrass acreage to a large-scale dieback.
