83 



large portions of shore had been replaced by piers, revetments, and 

 warehouses. Beach slopes are steep, and the zone where eelgrass grows 

 is often too narrow to be interpreted from photographs. Water 

 transparency is poor on most available photographs, especially in the 

 inner harbor. Algae covered rock and cobble are abundant in some areas, 

 making it difficult to delimit eelgrass bed boundaries. Finally, 

 eelgrass never became abundant in this area after the wasting disease. 



Even with these limitations, there are some areas where eelgrass 

 is visible on aerial photographs during the 1950's or 60's, but no 

 longer present today (Fig 6). Only in two areas (tip of Clarks Point, 

 So of Moshers Point) did eelgrass abundance increase after 1966 (Fig. 

 6). 



Other changes in vegetation are also visible on the photographs. 

 For example, Codium is now abundant between Fort Phoenix, Little Egg 

 Island, and Sconticut Neck, and probably accounts for the vegetation to 

 increase in this area between 1966 and 1981 photographs. In some areas 

 (such as south of Fort Phoenix) , it is difficult to identify vegetation. 



These observations are fragmentary, but eelgrass did not colonize 

 this area appreciably after the wasting disease, and the few beds that 

 became established were destroyed by the late 1960's. Whether the lack 

 of recovery and new losses were the result of burial, changing 

 hydrography, declining water quality, or buildup of toxic substances in 

 the sediments is unclear. The absence of eelgrass over such a large 

 area, is unique in Buzzards Bay and suggests that there have been large 

 scale effects of human perturbations around New Bedford. 



