bottom (tig. 10). Mean wet weights of infauna in 

 areas A, B, C, and D were 912, 560, 128, and 80 

 g./m.-, respectively. Tims, the density of sea grass 

 and abundance of infauna were positively corre- 

 lated. If 85 percent of wet whole weight is weight 

 of contained water and inert structures, dry 

 weight of infauna from luxuriant beds of turtle 

 grass in the lower bay was about 137 g./m.- This 

 figure is high in comparison with other biomass 

 figures for estuarine waters (Sanders, Goudsmit, 

 Mills, and Hampson, 1962). Bayfills in Boca 

 Ceiga Bay have reduced the standing crop of bot- 

 tom invertebrates by alx>ut 1,812 metric tons (1,993 

 tons) — calculated from relatively low infaunal 

 biomass of area C. 



Figures for the annual production of infauna 

 are much higher. .Sunders (1956) estimated infau- 

 nal production at two to five times the standing 

 croj) and indicated that the larger factor very 

 likely applied in tropical situations. We arbitrar- 

 ily selected four as a multiplier, and calculated in- 

 faunal production in the best stands of turtle grass 

 at about 548 g./m.Vyr. (5,466 kg./ha./yr., or 4,87T 

 Ibs./acre/yr. dry weight ) . E\"en in poor grass beds 

 at area C infaunal production would l)e about 768 

 kg./ha./yr. or 685 Ibs./acre/yr. This figure multi- 

 plied by the 1,400 hectares (3,500 acres) now in 

 bayfills puts the loss of infaunal production at 

 about 1,091 metric tons (1,200 tons/yr.). If more 

 refined collecting had been done (screening at less 

 than 0.701-mm. mesh), the addition of biomas 

 from meiobenthos would have added considerably 

 to the figures reported for macrobenthos alone, and 

 the annual production of meiobenthos would very 

 likely be equivalent or somewhat greater than the 

 estimate for macrobenthos ("Weiser, 1960; Mcln- 

 tyre, 1964). 



ESTUARINE EVALUATION 



Products and other values provided by the Na- 

 tion's tidewaters are so numerous and diverse that 

 their true worth is difficult to compute. Nonethe- 

 less, a number of attempts ha\-e been made to esti- 

 mate the cash value of estuarine acreage. In the 

 northeast, notable contributions were made by 

 Shuster (1959) ; Fogg (1964) ; Jerome, Chesmore, 

 Anderson, and Grice (1965) ; Jerome, Chesmore, 

 and Anderson (1966) ; and Cain (1966). Pertinent 

 details of estuarine evaluations along the Gulf of 



Mexico were abstracted and annotated by Wood- 

 burn (1965). 



On the basis of these estimates, we conclude that 

 fishery production alone in Tampa Bay estuary 

 has an annual value of about $741/ha. ($300/acre) . 

 In addition, these waters are used by public utili- 

 ties, industry, and commerce and serve recrea- 

 tional requirements of nearly a million residents^" 

 and IVo million annual vacationers." Hence, total 

 worth of each water acre in the estuary can be 

 conservatively estimated at $988/ha. ($400/acre) 

 l)er year. At this rate, the 1,400 hectares (3,500 

 acres) covered by bayfills in Boca Ciega Bay rep- 

 resent an annual loss of about $1.40 million, which 

 if capitalized at 6 percent would total a natural 

 investment of $23.3 million. This accounting is not 

 complete becaiise the undesirable aspects of coastal 

 development extend well lieyond bulkheads and 

 outfalls. 



LITERATURE CITED 



Allen, Donald M. 



1963. Shrimi) farming. U.S. Fish Wildl. Serv., Fish. 

 Leafl. 551, 8 pp. 

 Armstrong, P. A. J. 



1965. Phosphorus. In J. P. Riley and G. Skirrow 

 (editors). Chemical oceanograi>h.v 1, pp. 32.3-.364. 

 Academic I'ress, Inc.. London. 

 Arnold, E. L., .Jr. 



1967. Man's alteration of estuaries by dredging and 

 filling a grave threat to marine resource.?. Proc. 

 Southeast. Game Fish Comm., 18th Annu. Ses.s., pp. 

 269-273. 

 Baas Becking, L. G. M., and M. Mackay. 



1956. Biological processes in the estuarine environ- 

 ment. Va. The influence of Entcnnorpha upon 

 its environment. Kon. Ned. Akad. Wetensch. Proc. 

 Ser. B Phys. Sci. 59 : 109-123. 

 Bader, Richard G. 



1954. Role of organic matter in determining distribu- 

 tion of pelecypods in marine sediments. J. Mar. 

 Res. 13 : 32-47. 



Barnard, J. Laurens, and Olga Hartmtan. 



1959. The sea bottom off Santa Barbara, California : 

 Biomass and community structure. Pac. Nat. 1 

 (16) : 1-16. 

 Blinks, L. R. 



1955. Photosynthesis and productivity of littoral 

 marine algae. J. Mar. Re.s. 14: 363-373. 



BONET, A. D. 



1965. Aspects of the biology of the seaweeds of eco- 

 nomic importance. In F. S. Russell (editor). Ad- 

 vances in marine biology, vol. 3, pp. 10.5-2.53. Aca- 

 demic Press, Ina, London. 



•» Tampa data. Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce. Tampa, 

 Fla. 



" St. Petersburg Times. July 10. 1966. 



EFFECTS OF HYDRAULIC DREDGING AND COASTAL DEVELOPMENT IN BOCA CIEGA BAY, FLA. 237 



