From the Falmouth Enterprise · August 17, 2023 · By Gilda Geist
Matthew H. Long, a marine chemist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution who has done much of his research in Waquoit Bay, told the Enterprise that eelgrass has vanished from the bay. Eelgrass stores carbon in seafloor sediments, shelters young fish, adds oxygen to the water, holds sediments in place and absorbs wave energy. Macroalgae and phytoplankton fed by nitrogen from septic systems block the light it needs, and warming water adds stress. Long said Waquoit Bay once supported a large bay scallop fishery that no longer exists, because scallops depend on seagrass, and that losing eelgrass can lead to low-oxygen conditions that exclude fish and shellfish.
Long said eelgrass will likely return on its own once nutrient levels come down, which requires addressing wastewater, and he pointed to sewering as a proven strategy, urging a focus on approaches with solid science behind them. He is developing a bioreactor to boost denitrification in polluted estuaries. He also described shifting baseline syndrome, in which people no longer remember what a healthy estuary looks like: eelgrass near shore, bay scallops and clear water.
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