It’s the first time Tampa Bay has experienced seagrass losses in three consecutive map studies, according to state water managers.
Tampa Bay lost 12% of its seagrass in recent years, a survey shows, leaving the upper bay with an all-time low amount of the plant crucial to life in Florida’s largest open-water estuary.
Seagrass in Tampa Bay declined by more than 4,100 acres between 2020 and 2022, according to mapping results unveiled Monday by the Southwest Florida Water Management District. Now harboring 30,100 acres of seagrass, Tampa Bay is at its largest deficit since 2010 after nearly a decade of restoration progress peaked at 41,600 acres in 2016.
The bay has lost nearly 30% of its seagrass since then.
This is the first time scientists have logged a decline in Tampa Bay’s seagrass in three consecutive studies since biennial tracking began in 1988, according to the district’s data.
https://www-tampabay-com.cdn.amppro...reas-historic-low-study-shows/?outputType=amp
Tampa Bay lost 12% of its seagrass in recent years, a survey shows, leaving the upper bay with an all-time low amount of the plant crucial to life in Florida’s largest open-water estuary.
Seagrass in Tampa Bay declined by more than 4,100 acres between 2020 and 2022, according to mapping results unveiled Monday by the Southwest Florida Water Management District. Now harboring 30,100 acres of seagrass, Tampa Bay is at its largest deficit since 2010 after nearly a decade of restoration progress peaked at 41,600 acres in 2016.
The bay has lost nearly 30% of its seagrass since then.
This is the first time scientists have logged a decline in Tampa Bay’s seagrass in three consecutive studies since biennial tracking began in 1988, according to the district’s data.
https://www-tampabay-com.cdn.amppro...reas-historic-low-study-shows/?outputType=amp
