How Do People Threaten Seagrass Meadows?
Under natural conditions, seagrasses often represent a major submerged aquatic habitat (see “What are Seagrasses?”).4 Seagrass habitat has been lost from waters off Florida, as well as from coastal waters around the world, due to natural and human-induced disturbances. Natural disturbances that directly damage seagrasses include hurricanes, earthquakes, ice scour, animals digging through the substrate, animal grazing, and disease. However, these pressures account for less than 20 percent of the worldwide loss of seagrasses. (6) Human activities also damage seagrass directly. Dredging, construction of docks, mooring of boats, harvesting of shellfish with rakes or trawls, and use of motorboats in shallow waters all physically remove seagrass meadows and created “scarred” areas. Seagrass meadows with scars often suffer erosion and further loss of seagrass during storms. In some meadows, scarring is a significant problem, and overall approximately 6 percent of Florida’s seagrass meadows ar
