79 



The greatest post-disease cover in the inner Bay occurred during 

 the mid 1960's, but eelgrass never returned to its pre-wasting disease 

 abundance. This contrasts with the outer Bay, which showed continuous 

 expansion of eelgrass cover for decades. These observations, and the 

 loss of eelgrass in inner Bay during the 1980 's suggest there have been 

 declines in water quality in the inner Bay. For example, the eastern 

 shore of the inner bay has also been closed to shellfishing for several 

 years due to high loads of fecal coliform. Sources of these coliform 

 may include failing septic tanks, waste discharges in Buttonwood Brook, 

 or feces from several thousand Canada geese that often feed on local 

 agricultural land and roost along shore. Each of these sources is 

 associated with nutrient inputs. 



Nutrient loading is implicated as the cause of the recent decline 

 because drift algae have been increasing conspicuously, and the odor of 

 decaying algae has become a public nuisance in some areas (press 

 reports) . Large sheets of Ulva or clumps of Gracillaria cover the 

 bottom of parts of the Bay. Some parts of the inner harbor is covered 

 with a rich gelatinous ooze of mud and decaying algae that has been 

 observed in other enriched embayments (e.g.. Brush, 1984). The maximum 

 depth of growth of eelgrass declines from 2.4 m MLW near the mouth to 

 1.2 m MLW by the marina, then disappears altogether in then inner Bay. 



Boat traffic may also be contributing to decreased light 

 availability to eelgrass because boat use has increased substantially in 

 this bay in recent decades (Fig. 5) . The inner bay has a shallow, muddy 

 bottom, and power boats leave conspicuous plumes (pers. observ) . This 



