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not returned to some areas. Available published descriptions of 

 eelgrass distribution around Cape Cod prior to the wasting disease also 

 match or exceed the present abundance. For example, Allee (1919) in his 

 survey of invertebrates described eelgrass in Quisset Harbor, Falmouth, 

 as growing within 5 m of shore, and "continuous throughout" the bay. 

 Today eelgrass grows primarily near the mouth and only to 2 m, and is 

 absent from the less flushed and deeper parts of the bay. Davis 

 (1913a+b) dredged eelgrass from greater depths in Buzzards Bay and Cape 

 Cod than observed today. 



In light of these observations, the assessment by Stevens et al., 

 (1950) that eelgrass cover in upper Buzzards Bay equaled less than 0.1% 

 of prior cover seems realistic, especially because the earliest 

 photographs (6 to 10 years after the epidemic) generally show that 

 surviving eelgrass beds in Buzzards Bay equaled 10% or less of the peak 

 eelgrass cover observed today. In most areas, eelgrass did not begin to 

 recolonize until the 1950's. 



As reported elsewhere, the earliest photographs from Buzzards Bay 

 show that eelgrass populations beds near streams and rivers survived or 

 recovered soonest after the disease. Not noted earlier, were that some 

 beds on the outer coast or in deeper waters survived as well. For 

 example, eelgrass beds are abundant around Little Bird Island, Wareham, 

 a shallow shoal 1 km off Great Neck where eelgrass is absent virtually 

 absent. This occurrence can only be explained if this offshore 

 population survived the disease. This bed is not unique, other beds on 

 exposed coasts, often lOO's of m from freshwater sources survived as 

 well. The absence of records of surviving offshore or deep beds in 



