NCCOS Project Explorer (NPE)

Development of an Optical Water Quality Model for Conservation and Restoration of Seagrasses in Massachusetts Embayments(2009)

Project Description:
The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MDEP) has partnered with experts from the National Centers of Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) and the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center to develop a bio-optical model showing how changes in water quality will affect the distribution of eelgrass beds in the 89 Massachusetts Embayments. The model will aid in site selection for restoration projects, serve as a validation tool for MDEP conservation projects, and allow MDEP to predict the impacts of potential nutrient and land use regulations. The loss of submerged aquatic vegetation from shallow embayments results in habitat destruction and sediment destabilization; it is a serious resource management problem in Massachusetts. The primary causes of this loss are eutrophication and associated reductions in light availability.

Expected Outcome:
The calibrated bio-optical model will be used to help coastal managers in Massachusetts prepare and implement land and water use management plans which will improve conditions in the embayments and allow them to be more suitable for seagrass growth and survival. The bio-optical model will be linked to a watershed-nutrient model under development by MDEP in order to relate the causal agent of seagrass decline to the conditions necessary for their conservation and restoration. The bio-optical model is also being linked to the MDEP seagrass habitat mapping effort to determine which estuaries are most stressed and to assist in the development of a long-term remediation and restoration plan.