87 



refuge populations in deeper water survived the disease. The loss of 

 eelgrass in Little Bay may be due to enrichment because drift algae and 

 periphyton are very abundant there today. Photographs of Little Bay 

 from the 1950 's and early 1960 's shows a light colored, sandy mud 

 bottom, later photographs show a darker bottom suggesting an increase of 

 organic matter or silt. 



East Bay, West Island, Fairhaven 



Like Nasketucket Bay, East Bay is a good example of an isolated, 

 relatively undisturbed, well flushed coastal area. Unlike the former, 

 it is very shallow, and exposed to moderate wave scour. This bay, like 

 other undisturbed areas on the outer coast show continuous expansion for 

 decades after the wasting disease. Because of local hydrography, wave 

 scour, and longshore sand transport, eelgrass beds growing here have a 

 "banded" or granular appearance. 



Early records or descriptions of eelgrass abundance are not 

 available for East Cove. Lewis and Taylor (1933) state that eelgrass 

 was abundant on Sconticut Neck prior to the wasting disease. It is 

 likely eelgrass also grew along West Island because eelgrass is equally 

 abundant in both areas today. 



The beds that colonized the shallow areas of East Bay were derived 

 from deep beds offshore the rocky island mid-bay (Fig. 8). The process 

 of colonization here was similar to other moderate to high energy 

 coasts: new, discrete patches of vegetation appeared on bare areas 

 during the 1950's and I960' and available habitat was saturated by a 

 combination of vegetative growth and recruitment of new beds. The 



