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Seagrass Integrated Mapping and Monitoring for the State of Florida Mapping and Monitoring Report No. 1

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Seagrass Integrated Mapping and Monitoring for the State of Florida Mapping and Monitoring Report No. 1 Yarbro and Carlson, Editors SIMM Report #1 Seagrass Integrated Mapping and Monitoring for the State of Florida Mapping and Monitoring Report No. 1 Edited by Laura A. Yarbro and Paul R. Carlson Jr. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Fish and Wildlife Research Institute St. Petersburg, Florida March 2011 Yarbro and Carlson, Editors SIMM Report #1 Yarbro and Carlson, Editors SIMM Report #1 Table of Contents Authors, Contributors, and SIMM Team Members .................................................................. 3 Acknowledgments .................................................................................................................... 4 Abstract ..................................................................................................................................... 5 Executive Summary .................................................................................................................. 7 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 31 How this report was put together ........................................................................................... 36 Chapter Reports ...................................................................................................................... 41 Perdido Bay ........................................................................................................................... 41 Pensacola Bay ...................................................................................................................... 45 Santa Rosa Sound and Big Lagoon ....................................................................................... 50 Choctawhatchee Bay ............................................................................................................. 56 St. Andrew Bay ...................................................................................................................... 62 St. Joseph Bay ...................................................................................................................... 68 Franklin County Coastal Waters ............................................................................................ 75 Northern Big Bend ................................................................................................................. 81 Southern Big Bend ................................................................................................................ 89 Suwannee Sound, Cedar Keys, and Waccasassa Bay .......................................................... 96 Springs Coast ...................................................................................................................... 102 Western Pinellas County ..................................................................................................... 109 Tampa Bay .......................................................................................................................... 113 Sarasota Bay and Lemon Bay ............................................................................................. 119 Charlotte Harbor Region ...................................................................................................... 127 Estero Bay ........................................................................................................................... 137 Rookery Bay ........................................................................................................................ 145 Ten Thousand Islands ......................................................................................................... 150 Yarbro and Carlson, Editors SIMM Report #1 Chapter Reports, continued Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary .............................................................................. 156 Florida Bay .......................................................................................................................... 161 Biscayne Bay ....................................................................................................................... 168 Lake Worth Lagoon ............................................................................................................. 175 Southern Indian River .......................................................................................................... 182 Northern Indian River .......................................................................................................... 191 Appendix A. Acronyms and abbreviations used in this report .............................................................. 200 Yarbro and Carlson, Editors SIMM Report #1 Authors, Contributors, and Team Members Many authors, contributors, collaborators, and Seagrass Integrated Mapping and Monitoring (SIMM) team members made this project possible. SIMM team members from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute are Paul Carlson, Rene Baumstark, Christi Santi, Dave Palandro, Kathleen O’Keife, Harry Norris, Paul Julian, Makenzie Marsh, and Laura Yarbro. Authors and contributors to each chapter patiently responded to repeated requests for interviews, data, information, figures, text, and editing during the creation of this report. The list of authors and contributors below is arranged in an order similar to that of the chapters, i.e., geographically from the Florida Panhandle to the northern Indian River on Florida’s east coast. A number of authors contributed to more than one chapter. In addition to the chapter authors and contributors listed below, Brad Peterson (State University of New York, Long Island campus), Doug Scheidt (Kennedy Space Center), Seth Blitch (Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve), Greg Blanchard (Manatee County), Ben Russell (Northwest Florida Department of Environmental Protection), Cindy Meyer (Pinellas County), Darlene Saindon (University of Florida), Lisa Schwenning and Judy Ashton (Florida Department of Environmental Protection), and Chris Gudeman (formerly of the Fish and Wildlife Commission Division of Habitat Species and Conservation) provided extensive information during telephone interviews in the early phases of this project. Affiliations and contact information for authors and contributors can be found at the end of each chapter. Chapter Authors and Contributors Ken Heck, Perdido Bay Judy Ott, Charlotte Harbor National Estuary Program Dottie Byron, Perdido Bay Heather Stafford, Charlotte Harbor region Shelley Alexander, Panhandle estuaries Peter Doering, Southwest Florida estuaries Michael Lewis, Pensacola Bay Stephanie Erickson, Estero Bay Amy Baldwin Moss, Santa Rosa Sound and Big Lagoon Victoria Vasquez, Rookery Bay Larry Handley, Panhandle estuaries Jill Schmid, Rookery Bay Alison McDowell, Choctawhatchee Bay Jim Fourqurean, Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Linda Fitzhugh, St. Andrew Bay Penny Hall, Florida Bay, Biscayne Bay Kim Wren, St. Joseph Bay Steve Blair, Biscayne Bay Ron Mezich, Franklin County Chris Avila, Biscayne Bay Kent Smith, Franklin County Pamela Sweeney, Biscayne Bay Melissa Charbonneau, Big Bend, Cedar Key Sarah Bellmund, Biscayne Bay Paul Carlson, Big Bend Paul Davis, Lake Worth Laura Yarbro, Big Bend Eric Anderson, Lake Worth Keith Kolasa, Springs Coast Becky Robbins, Southern Indian River Kris Kaufman, Tampa, Sarasota Bays, Charlotte Harbor Mary Ridler, Southern Indian River Melissa Harrison, Western Pinellas County Lorene Bachmann, Southern Indian River Walt Avery, Tampa Bay Lori Morris, Northern Indian River Jon Perry, Sarasota Bay Lauren Hall, Northern Indian River Mindy Brown, Charlotte Harbor, Estero Bay 3 Yarbro and Carlson, Editors SIMM Report #1 Acknowledgments This report culminates the successful collaboration of hundreds of people. Some provided data or wrote chapters for this report. Amber Whittle carefully edited the final draft, while Bland Crowder of FWRI and the Community Relations Office of FWC copy edited and produced the final document. Others provided and managed grant funds. Still others laid the groundwork for the Seagrass Integrated Mapping and Monitoring program and similar efforts to collate, summarize, and share data on seagrasses in Florida’s coastal waters. Efforts in Tampa Bay and the Indian River Lagoon were especially critical in demonstrating the need for regular assessment of seagrass cover, the link between water quality and the abundance of seagrass, and the effectiveness of seagrass mapping and monitoring in assessing improvements in water quality. Hundreds of scientists and managers participated in those efforts over decades. Regrettably, only the current project participants are listed in individual chapters, but they stand, as does the SIMM team, on the shoulders of those who came before. This report was funded, in part, through a grant agreement from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Florida Coastal Management Program, by grants provided by the Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management under the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, as amended, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Award Numbers NA09NOS4190076, NA07NOS4190071, and NA08NOS4190415 . Specific grants are CZ820, CZ920, and CM023. The views, statements, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the State of Florida, NOAA, or any of their subagencies. 4 Yarbro and Carlson, Editors SIMM Report #1 Abstract This
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