{"id":154,"date":"2010-01-07T20:40:31","date_gmt":"2010-01-08T01:40:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/news\/?p=154"},"modified":"2010-01-07T20:40:31","modified_gmt":"2010-01-08T01:40:31","slug":"ocean-foundation-restoration-of-degraded-keys-seagrasses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/news\/2010\/01\/07\/ocean-foundation-restoration-of-degraded-keys-seagrasses\/","title":{"rendered":"Ocean Foundation: Restoration of Degraded Keys Seagrasses"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/idUS30271+04-Jan-2010+PRN20100104\">http:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/idUS30271+04-Jan-2010+PRN20100104<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Ecosystems Project Demonstrates Success.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div id=\"articleInfo\">\n<div>\n<div>Sun Jan 3, 2010 11:10pm EST<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\/\/ <![CDATA[\naddImpression(\"10036173_Related News\");\n\/\/ ]]><\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\/\/ <![CDATA[\nremoveImpression();\n\/\/ ]]><\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\/\/ <![CDATA[\naddImpression(\"10036174_Related News (Auto)\");\n\/\/ ]]><\/script><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\/\/ <![CDATA[\n Exception rendering module on server\n\/\/ ]]><\/script><\/p>\n<pre>The Ocean Foundation Releases Successful Monitoring Report on Its First\r\nSeagrass Restoration Project.\r\n\r\nWASHINGTON, Jan. 3 \/PRNewswire-USNewswire\/ -- The monitoring report for the\r\nfirst SeaGrass Grow project shows a successful program that is restoring\r\ndamaged seagrass meadows.  This project is designed to restore areas damaged\r\nfrom propeller scars and vessel groundings.  Unfortunately these actions by\r\nboaters will continue to impact our sensitive seagrass habitat.  It is\r\nimportant to act to restore these areas while implementing a broad public\r\ncommunications strategy to ensure that boaters are less likely to impact the\r\narea in the future. \r\n\r\n(Logo: http:\/\/www.newscom.com\/cgi-bin\/prnh\/20100103\/DC31542LOGO ) \r\n\r\n\"We are excited to see this very positive momentum and look forward to its\r\nsuccessful completion,\" said The Ocean Foundation President, Mark J. Spalding.\r\n \"This report clearly demonstrates that the project is working.  This is a\r\ncritical action toward protecting and restoring our important seagrass beds.\" \r\nWhile the first priority needs to be conservation of existing seagrass, sadly\r\nthere are many impacted areas that must be restored.  Unfortunately, impacts\r\nto seagrass beds are often unknown or go unreported.   Therefore trying to\r\nhold the perpetrators responsible is difficult or impossible.  SeaGrass Grow\r\nuses charitable donations to restore impacted areas.\r\n\r\nThe first restoration project occurred at Knights Key Bank in the Florida Keys\r\nNational Marine Sanctuary.  The project is to restore 4,000 square feet and\r\nwas funded with a gift from Absolut Vodka.  With Absolut's generous support,\r\nthe needed restoration was mapped, the permit secured, and the sediment tubes\r\nlaid.  Monitoring now confirms that the area is mostly restored.  Total\r\nrestoration typically takes 18 to 24 months.  The project is demonstrating\r\nsuccess and will likely continue to thrive.  Ongoing monitoring will confirm\r\nthis.  It has been estimated that over 30,000 acres of prop scarring exist in\r\nMonroe County alone, according to a Florida Fish and Wildlife Research\r\nInstitute study completed over a decade ago (F.J. Sergant).\r\n\r\nIn summary, the monitoring report indicates erosion has been halted and\r\nseagrass is re-establishing itself in the restored spaces.\u00a0 The data collected\r\nestablishes that 91% of the sediment tubes installed have biodegraded across\r\nthe entire set of scars restored, thus bringing the scarred places back to\r\ngrade and halting erosion that would have in many instances increased the size\r\nof the propeller scars.\u00a0 Many of the restoration areas have reached 50%\r\nrecovery or greater within 14 months; meaning that half of the entire 4,000 sq\r\nft matches or exceeds the surrounding percent coverage of the meadow.\u00a0 Natural\r\nre-colonization is occurring where the expansive species (mostly S. filiforme\r\nor commonly called Manatee Grass) is growing into the topographically restored\r\nprop scars - a key element of the restoration process. \r\n\r\nFor the full report, visit\r\nhttp:\/\/www.seagrassrecovery.com\/article_Knights_Key_Restoration_Project.htm\r\n\r\nFor information about seagrass and the jobs being created, visit\r\nhttp:\/\/www.seagrassgrow.org\/ht\/a\/GetDocumentAction\/i\/3484\r\n\r\nFor information about The Ocean Foundation, visit\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.oceanfdn.org\/index.php?ht=d\/sp\/i\/355\/pid\/355\/\/pid\/351\">http:\/\/www.oceanfdn.org\/index.php?ht=d\/sp\/i\/355\/pid\/355\/\/pid\/351<\/a>\r\n\r\nSOURCE The Ocean Foundation\r\n\r\n\r\nMark Spalding of The Ocean Foundation, +1-202-887-8992,\r\nmspalding@oceanfdn.org\r\n<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>http:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/idUS30271+04-Jan-2010+PRN20100104 Ecosystems Project Demonstrates Success. Sun Jan 3, 2010 11:10pm EST The Ocean Foundation Releases Successful Monitoring Report on Its First Seagrass Restoration Project. WASHINGTON, Jan. 3 \/PRNewswire-USNewswire\/ &#8212; The monitoring report for the first SeaGrass Grow project shows a successful program that is restoring damaged seagrass meadows. This project is designed to restore areas &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/news\/2010\/01\/07\/ocean-foundation-restoration-of-degraded-keys-seagrasses\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Ocean Foundation: Restoration of Degraded Keys Seagrasses<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-posts"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":155,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154\/revisions\/155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}