A seagrass tank in Southwest Florida

[Twolabs443]

Maybe try touching base with @brad908 . Not excaty what you are trying to do, but his build thread https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/brads-natural-reef-mangroves-macros-and-more.181378/ is very interesting and worth a read. He created a beautiful slice of the ecosystem that exists right at the lagoon/mangrove barrier. Might be able to pickup some insights there.

 

[SeagrassDude]

Curious what collection permits or stores you are buying grasses from. Here in Florida they are protected and you can't just go take what you want. Johnson's is a federally protected species...

 

[Tiburon_100]

Curious what collection permits or stores you are buying grasses from. Here in Florida they are protected and you can't just go take what you want. Johnson's is a federally protected species...

I'm not buying the seagrass in any stores, nor am I buying them from online vendors. Based on what I've read, the Johnson's seagrass is the only listed species, so collecting other species should, in theory, be legal. The big 3 common species (T. testudinum, S. filiforme, & H. wrightii) aren't individually listed, but all the locations where you can find them are in some way protected (marine preserves, national marine sanctuaries, etc.), so I was stumped on how I could legally collect.

My solution was actually accidental. As I walked along the beach at Bokeelia during a low tide this past January, I noticed piles and piles of pieces of T. testudinum and H. halodule that were already uprooted and washed ashore (see screenshot of my collection video). There were a lot of green, turgid pieces with rhizomes still intact so I thought I would see if I could successfully transplant them to the tank since they weren't dried out yet. Also, since they were already uprooted and not a protected species, I new I wouldn't need any collection permits.

Most survived for at least a couple of weeks, but then there was the inevitable die-back. A few have thrived though and are consistently shooting out new blades. I'll post an update on the tank soon.

 

[SeagrassDude]

Very familiar with seagrasses being protected via state and federal, I have been in the marine conservation field for almost 20 years now and own a company that provides consulting for mitigation projects etc... and all seagrass in the State of Florida is not legal to harvest, damage, or destroy without a permit. That being said I have private land that I was able to get a collection permit to collect all of the species you mentioned except Johnson's (it was not on the property). When you collect seagrass that has been floating and washed up the chances of survival are slim because the sunlight and UV rays damage the rhizome. this has been proven in prop scars and channel dredging where sediment is removed and the seagrass dies back to where the rhizome is not exposed. When you get collect floating wrack you have no idea how long it has been exposed and therefore if it does not survive that is probably the issue. I posted a few pictures on a response yesterday, however since I don't pay to advertise the forum police removed it. We will be working on a project off Captiva in July that has some impacts to seagrass, I am planning on taking most of it back to my nursery. But if you are using something for classes let me know and I may donate some of the good material to you!
Cheers and Happy Friday!!!
Beau

 

[Kamden Uelton]

Curious what collection permits or stores you are buying grasses from. Here in Florida they are protected and you can't just go take what you want. Johnson's is a federally protected species...

After a Storm go to the Sebastian Inlet area and you will see all kinds of seagrass floating.

 

[Ruben's Reef]

!!! Welcome to R2R !!!

 

[Reefing Madness]

 

[Tiburon_100]

Very familiar with seagrasses being protected via state and federal, I have been in the marine conservation field for almost 20 years now and own a company that provides consulting for mitigation projects etc... and all seagrass in the State of Florida is not legal to harvest, damage, or destroy without a permit. That being said I have private land that I was able to get a collection permit to collect all of the species you mentioned except Johnson's (it was not on the property). When you collect seagrass that has been floating and washed up the chances of survival are slim because the sunlight and UV rays damage the rhizome. this has been proven in prop scars and channel dredging where sediment is removed and the seagrass dies back to where the rhizome is not exposed. When you get collect floating wrack you have no idea how long it has been exposed and therefore if it does not survive that is probably the issue. I posted a few pictures on a response yesterday, however since I don't pay to advertise the forum police removed it. We will be working on a project off Captiva in July that has some impacts to seagrass, I am planning on taking most of it back to my nursery. But if you are using something for classes let me know and I may donate some of the good material to you!
Cheers and Happy Friday!!!
Beau

Fortunately, at the time when I found the washed up seagrass, it was very overcast and cold, so most of the rhizomes were spared the full wrath of the sun. Much of it has survived, so they must have either just been uprooted or were never really exposed at all to the sun.

I would be very grateful for anything you could donate to the class. I'm going to a workshop in Miami June 30th that's sponsored by the FWC and the Florida Marine Science Education Association. It focuses on collecting for educational purposes and will not only train the participants how to collect, but will also give us a permit to do so. I research the FWC website before I go collecting, but I'm always nervous that I'll miss something and then collect something illegally. This workshop will hopefully give me all I need to avoid that in the future.

I live in Ft. Myers, so if you need any volunteers for the work you're doing I'd be really interested in helping. I am a biologist and went to grad school for marine biology, so scientific research is in my blood. I'm actually trying to initiate some research projects in Estero or Pine Island sound for my students. Even though I teach and am not actively involved in research institution, I would like to implement real research into my lesson plans. I believe it's much more effective at educating the students than cookie cutter lab activities out of a book. It will also satisfy my scientist itch, which helps keep me sane during the monotonous chaos of teaching. If you have any research ideas for a high school marine biology class, I'd also be grateful for any advice there too.

 

[Tiburon_100]

Maybe try touching base with @brad908 . Not excaty what you are trying to do, but his build thread https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/brads-natural-reef-mangroves-macros-and-more.181378/ is very interesting and worth a read. He created a beautiful slice of the ecosystem that exists right at the lagoon/mangrove barrier. Might be able to pickup some insights there.

Thanks, but after looking at his tank, it makes mine look like garbage. At least I have something to aspire to, but I have a lot of work to do.