E e on eelgrass 
     
    
   
   
    
     (The following is excerpted by permission from a story by Ken Kelley 
     
     that appeared in the September issue of Rural Delivery. The problem is 
     
     one that we should all be aware of and keep an eye out for.) 
     
    

    
     The disappearance of 
     
     eelgrass beds, first no— 
     
     ticed in New Hampshire in 
     
     1983, has now spread to 
     
     parts of Massachusetts and 
     
     Maine. The current dieoff is 
     
     showing alarming similarities 
     
     to the blight which deva— 
     
     stated eelgrass beds along 
     
     the North Atlantic coast in 
     
     the 1930's. That so-called 
     
     I "wasting" disease first ap— 
     
     3; peared in high salinity areas 
     
      of the U.s. in 1931, and with— 
     
     “ in three years wiped out 90 
     
     ; percent of the eelgrass from 
     
     "the Carolinas to the Canadian 
     
     Maritimes, as well as Europe. 
     
    

    
     The small patches of 
     
     eelgrass which survived were 
     
     found in brackish or low- 
     
     salinity waters. While the 
     
     cause of the dieoff was gen— 
     
     erally blamed on a slime 
     
     mold infection which attacked 
     
     the plants, other researchers 
     
     attributed the disease and de- 
     
     cline to abnormally high water 
     
     temperatures in the North At— 
     
     lantic in the early '303. 
     
    

    
     The current outbreak was 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     H You Find Evidence ollntecied Eeigrass Q firSt deteCtEd in high salinity 
     
     5 areas of New Hampshire's Great 
     
     CONTACT: Dr. Frederica 1'. Short. . Bay by Dr. Frederick Short of 
     
     jacxson Estuarine Laboratory _: the University of New Hampshire 
     
     arnz AdamsPMnt x (UNH). Since then Dr. Short 
     
     mflham.NH0362& F has confirmed an eelgrass de— 
     
    
   
   
    
     w03)6024175 ‘ 1 cline as far south as Boston 
     
    

    
     ' : Harbour, and north to Casco 
     
     Bay in Maine. In response to 
     
     a flyer distributed for infor— 
     
     mation on sightings of eelgrass declines, Dr. Short has received reports from 
     
     people from Long Island to Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia. 
     
    

    
     Eelgrass, Zostera marina, is a seagrass or flowering plant found in 
     
     shallow coastal waters from the Carolinas to Nerfoundland. It performs a 
     
     numbers of vital functions in the marine food chain, especially acting as a 
     
     nursery for juvenile life forms of marine animals.The 19308 dieoff resulted 
     
     in a drastic loss of ish, waterfowl and shellfish along the East Coast. 
     
    

    
     Gradually through the 19403 and '505 eelgrass slowly began recolonising 
     
     the North Atlantic coast. Most areas have had a complete recovery of eel— 
     
     grass, but in some places there has been a disappearance of eelgrass due to 
     
    
   
   
    
     _ 11 _