80 percent success in germination and establishment of seedlings. Seed 

 application rates varied from 19 to 0.09 per square foot (200 to 1 

 per square meter) . Success rates did not differ for the varying appli- 

 cation rates. 



2 . Sprigs, Plugs, and Sprigs Woven Into E-Z Fabric . 



There has not been extensive research into determining optimal 

 spacing for seagrass transplants; however, several successful spacings 

 have been reported (see Literature Cited] . 



Churchill, Cok, and Riner (1978) planted sprigs and plugs of eel- 

 grass spaced at 13-inch (33 centim^eters) intervals on dredged materials 

 in Great South Bay, New York. Fonseca, et al. (in preparation, 1980) 

 planted sprigs of eelgrass woven into 8- by 8-inch squares of E-Z fabric, 

 spaced at 3-foot (0.9 meter) intervals. When planted in October the 

 eelgrass extended bottom coverage 400 percent in 3 months. 



Phillips, Vincent, and Huffman (1978) planted shoalgrass plugs at 

 3-, 6-, and 9- foot (0.9, 1.8, and 2.7 meters) intervals on dredged 

 materials at Port St. Joe, Florida. The shoalgrass planted at 3-foot 

 intervals joined together from adjacent plugs within 9 months. Growth 

 at 6- foot intervals was also good. 



The number of plant units (sprigs, plugs, or E-Z fabric squares) 

 required for a given project is based on spacing requirements. For 

 example, 18- and 36-inch (46 and 91 centimeters) spacing requires 

 19,400 and 4,840 units per acre, respectively. 



VII. ESTimTING LABOR AND MATERIAL COSTS 



Estimated costs of transplanting seagrass, from four sources, 

 are given in Table 2. Although costs on planting the Gulf of Mexico 

 seagrasses by plugs are not available, it is assumed that the costs 

 would be similar to those for eelgrass (Table 2) . The same holds true 

 for transplanting by sprigs or sprigs woven into E-Z fabric mesh. 

 Caution should be taken in using these estimates. The costs relate to 

 the year the research was done, the hourly wages of the workers, and 

 the experience of the workers. The costs have been developed by small- 

 scale field intensive research rather than by large-scale projects. 

 Therefore, the cost of transplanting can be extremely variable. 



VIII. FERTILIZATION AND HORMONE TREATMENT 



The use of fertilizer is discouraged in transplanting seagrasses. 

 No improvement in transplant success or growth from adding fertilizer 

 was observed by Churchill, Cok, and Riner (1978) and Phillips (1976) 

 for eelgrass and Eleuterius (1974) for turtle grass, shoalgrass, and 

 manatee grass. 



Thorhaug (1974) reported substantial root growth in turtle grass 

 seedlings, which led to more successful establishment, when the seedlings 

 were dipped for 1 hour in naphthalene acetic acid (NAPH) . However, 



22 



