Charting sea grass growth in the bay
Bob Clousson, a retired biology teacher from Cincinnati, Ohio, enjoys refreshing his seagrass survey skills at a recent Sarasota County training session at Turtle Beach Community Center. He takes a long look underwater with a viewfinder, called an Aqua-Scope II, provided to survey volunteers in February and August.
By ERICA NEWPORT Correspondent
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Twice a year, in February and August, people of all ages and backgrounds join in a mission to observe a sanctuary of life-giving sea grasses submerged in marine and estuarine waters.
On a recent Saturday, Sarasota County's seagrass survey training brought out community volunteers of all ages who were seeking to have fun in the water and participate in vital environmental research. They included Jim Adams, left, Corinne Adams, and Sarah Hirsch, all checking out an area seagrass map at the Turtle Beach Community Center. About 40 people have been trained to collect data about the area's seagrasses A new group of 10 volunteers, including a few returning ones, met at the Turtle Beach Community Center on a recent Saturday to get hands-on training in surveying sea grass species, growth and anything biologically unusual around the coastal areas.
"We want to get volunteers involved with our sea grass monitoring program," said Jon Perry, a six-year environmental specialist for Sarasota County and a volunteer training instructor. "We are teaching them how to conduct a sea grass survey, giving them some background information and hooking them up with what they need to do the survey throughout February."
Volunteers brought to the workshop their GPS devices, kayaks and flippers, for those surveying via swimming, and the county provided instructions, underwater viewfinders and field books for tracking sea grass data.
Perry said members of the group will join 30 other volunteers already trained and out in the field.
Amanda Dominguez, another environmental specialist for the county, helped Perry train the volunteers and talked about various sea grass species and conservation and preservation efforts, and directed the group on how to collect sea grass observation data for the research project.
The county's winter survey efforts correspond with the Southwest Florida Water Management District's sea grass mapping project.
"They make their maps in the winter, and so we capture on the ground what they are capturing from the air," she said.
The research is submitted to the water management district so the data can be incorporated into aerial maps of the area to ensure accuracy.
At the workshop, retiree Bob Clousson, who taught high school biology in Ohio, refreshed the survey skills needed to head out in his kayak twice a week to compile his sea grass data.
"This is something I know about, and I'm bored and retired, so I am looking for things to do," Clousson said. "I tell people to come out and try this. It's not very difficult; it's easy to do, it's educational and it's definitely fun."
Mote Marine biologist Sarah Hirsch, who also trained to volunteer as a surveyor, said she plans to head out onto the water often to collect sea grass data for the county.
"I'm big into science and helping the community," she said. "What better way than to go out and kayak and have fun while donating to science?"
The baseline data the volunteers gather and record helps the county's environmental specialists figure out where the local sea grass beds are, what they are composed of and how well they are doing.
Although Perry and Dominguez are specialized, trained sea grass surveyors, Perry said they cannot do the biannual sea grass data collection without their volunteers, due to the massive areas of water throughout the county.
"Sea grass is an incredibly bio-diverse species, and it's compared to the rainforest for the sea," Dominguez said. "Sea grass beds are habitats for juvenile fish, feeding adult fish, wading birds and all different kinds of animals.
"Sea grasses help with our commercial fishing industry that we have in Florida and if it wasn't for the sea grass beds, we wouldn't have those desired commercial fish that are heavily sought after."
Sarasota Herald Tribue
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