137 



local residents. Because the photographs used were taken before these 

 changes, the distribution of eelgrass shown in West Branch, Figure 2 was 

 based primarily on field observations. Eelgrass beds in the East branch 

 could not be mapped because of lack of field observations, glare on the 

 1982 imagery of the East Branch, and low eelgrass abundance in 1979 

 imagery. 



The beds that appeared on the tidal flats in the West Branch 

 during 1984 were composed of dense, short, vegetative and reproductive 

 shoots that grew from seed in June and July. In one of these beds 

 (between Great and White Flats), shoot density was 627 shoots m ^ (n=8, 

 se=68) , and aboveground biomass exceeded 200 g m ^ (n=2, se=12) . 

 Flowering shoot densities were 179 m~^ {n=8, se=38.4), and the seed 

 production exceeded 15,000 m~^ y"-*-. Because these beds appeared late in 

 the growing season, most flowers were unfertilized at the start of 

 August, which is atypical in the region. In deeper channels, most 

 shoots were vegetative. 



The cause of this recent recolonization is unclear, and this 

 estuary has undergone sizable fluctuations in eelgrass abundance in the 

 past (Chapter 4) . These new beds accounted for at least a 30% increase 

 in eelgrass cover in this estuary over one year. Ice-scouring and 

 freezing caused moderate loss of these beds during 1984-1985, but they 

 regrew in subsequent years (D. Roach- town of Westport shellfish warden, 

 pers. coram) . Two years after the 1984 eelgrass expansion scallop 

 catches were the best in many years (Alber, 1987). Whether the 

 increased eelgrass habitat area enhanced scallop recruitment needs 

 further study. 



