In Houston, and the Texas Coast, we are fortunate to have a fresh supply of Galveston Bay, other bays, or Gulf of Mexico seafood that we can eat at home or when we go out.  In fact, this is one of the benefits for our community in living near the Texas Coast.  And if you like seafood, then you should love seagrasses.

Seagrass beds are a wetland habitat that is found in some bays along the Texas Coast.  They are a beautiful place to visit, via canoes and kayaks, and have great recreation and ecological value.  Seagrass beds are incredible nurseries for crabs, shrimp, Red Drum (Redfish), Speckled Trout, and other finfish.

Seagrasses not only help provide habitat for coastal fisheries but also stabilize sediment, improve water quality, and absorb carbon dioxide.  Seagrasses need soft sediment, sunlight, low wave energy, nutrients, and moderate salinity (20 to 50 parts per thousand) to thrive.  The five seagrasses that are found along the Texas Coast include Turtle Grass, Shoal Grass, Manatee Grass, Star Grass, and Widgeon Grass.

Some threats to seagrasses include excess nutrients, dredging, sedimentation, storms, algal blooms, and propeller scarring.  The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department requires that when you take your boat into shallow water where seagrasses are that you lift your boat motor and drift, pole, or use an electric trolling motor.

To prevent damage to seagrasses, you should get specific information about where you plan to visit, check the tide charts to ensure you stay out of shallow waters, know your boat’s limitations for running and take-off depths, watch your wake and if it is brown, you need to turn your boat around.  Finally, if you plan to drift, consider wind speed and direction and use deeper water or existing channels to access shallow water with seagrasses. 

Unfortunately, about 90% of the seagrasses that used to be in Galveston Bay no longer exist.  About 4,500 acres of seagrasses have disappeared from our Bay.  Today, in Galveston Bay, you can find seagrasses in Christmas Bay behind Follet’s Island, Drum Bay, and some other parts of West Galveston Bay.

A great book that will tell you about seagrasses and other plants in our marine waters is, “Marine Plants of the Texas Coast”, by Roy L. Lehman, published by Texas A&M University Press.  As we draw closer together in our community, let’s not forget how seagrasses help make Galveston Bay a more interesting and tasty place to live.

Here is a recent article about seagrass -- Why Seagrass Could Be the Ocean's Secret Weapon Against Climate Change | Science | Smithsonian Magazine:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/seagrass-ocean-secret-weapon-climate-change-180976235/

Author: Brandt Mannchen

Photo courtesy of Texas Parks and Wildlife