147 



Some eelgrass is apparent south of Little Neck and Hammet Cove and along 

 shores to the south. 



Sippican Meek, Marion to Great Neck, Wareham (Figs. 15 + 16) 



This map was based on 1975, 1978, and 1981 photographs and field 

 observations were made in the Great Neck-Wareham River Area 1985. 



Much of the offshore habitat in this area is within the depth 

 range of eelgrass growth and eelgrass is abundant throughout the area. 

 Bed WAGNl, one of the largest continuous beds in Buzzards Bay, was 

 sampled in 1985. Eelgrass grew to 2.4 m, leaf canopy was 70 cm. Near 

 the deeper edge of the bed Codium was abundant, attached to shell and 

 stone, often covering 20% of the bottom. In this area there were large 

 bare areas as well. The mean biomass here was 75 g dry wt m ^, and 

 shoot densities were exceed 200 m~^. Other parts of the bed have higher 

 densities and standing stocks. The sediment at the transect site was 

 composed of 30% silt and clay, 20% sand, and the surface was covered 

 with 1-2 cm gravel. 



Eelgrass is abundant at the mouth of the Wareham River. Further 

 upriver, water transparency declines, and periphyton and drift algae are 

 increasingly abundant. Most of the vegetation drawn on this map was 

 based on a 1981 survey. In 1985, the beds on the shore north of Swifts 

 beach could not be found and may have disappeared. Drift algae is 

 abundant here and may have replaced some of the beds. While eelgrass 

 grow to 3.5 m off great neck, eelgrass grows to only to 1.0 m MLW north 

 of Crescent Beach. The upper estuary limit of eelgrass distribution 



