145 



connecting Brant and Ram Islands. This is a high energy environment 

 with a sandy bottom; the eelgrass coverage consisted of circular patches 

 2-10 m in diameter spread about 1 bed diameter apart in shallow areas. 

 South of Ram Island the margin of the eelgrass was difficult to discern 

 on available photographs and is partly based on bathymetry. 



Brant Island Cove was not entered but appeared to contain some 

 eelgrass in the 1981 photograph. Eelgrass may also grow around White 

 Rock, but this area was not investigated. Small patches of vegetation 

 between 2.4 and 3.6 ra MLW in Nasketucket Bay may be unrecorded. 



Mattapoisett Harbor and vicinity (Figs. 11 + 12) 



This eelgrass map was based on 1978 and 1981 photographs, and 

 except for the Brant Island-Ram Island local described in Map 4, no part 

 of this area was examined in the field, although information was 

 obtained from the Mattapoisett shellfish warden. 



Mattapoisett Harbor is moderately developed alongshore and is 

 subject to considerable boat traffic. Until recently, a sewage outfall 

 had discharged in the harbor for many years. The slope of the shoreline 

 is steep, and much of the bottom is below the limits of eelgrass growth. 

 Eelgrass beds are easy to discern in most of this area from aerial 

 photographs, except the inner portion of Mattapoisett Harbor. Here, 

 poor water clarity, steep beach slope, and poor contrast between 

 vegetation and substrate combine to make photograph interpretation 

 difficult, and parts of the lower bed boundaries are estimated based on 

 bathymetry. 



