2006 Eelgrass Survey for Eastern Long Island Sound, Connecticut and New York. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Wetlands Inventory Program, Northeast Region, Hadley, MA. National Wetlands Inventory Report.

摘要

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services National Wetlands Inventory Program (NWI) is the nations leader in wetland mapping. To date, wetland maps have been produced for over 90% of the coterminous United States. In 2001, the State of Connecticuts Office of Long Island Sound Programs approached the Service about doing a special inventory of eelgrass in Long Island Sound. The Service initiated this study in 2002 and produced a report on the distribution of eelgrass beds in the eastern portion of Long Island Sound: Eelgrass Survey for Eastern Long Island Sound, Connecticut and New York (Tiner, et al. 2003). This survey was intended to be the baseline study for monitoring the status of eelgrass in this area of Long Island Sound. In 2004, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency provided funding to update this survey in 2005. This report outlines the methods used in the survey, summarizes inventory results, compares the findings with the 2002 survey, and provides detailed maps showing the location of eelgrass (Zostera marina) beds detected during the 2006 survey. The project area encompasses the eastern end of Long Island Sound, including Fishers Island and the North Fork of Long Island (Figure 1). It included all coastal embayments and nearshore waters (i.e., to a depth of 15 feet at mean low water) bordering the Sound from Clinton Harbor to the Rhode Island border and including Fishers Island and the North Shore of Long Island from Southold to Orient Point and Plum Island. The study area includes the tidal zone of 18 sub-basins in Connecticut: Little Narragansett Bay, Stonington Harbor, Quiambog Cove, Mystic Harbor, Palmer-West Cove, Mumford Cove, Paquonock River, New London Harbor, Goshen Cove, Jordan Cove, Niantic Bay, Rocky Neck State Park, Old Lyme Shores, Connecticut River, Willard Bay, Westbrook Harbor, Duck Island Roads, and Clinton Harbor, and two areas in New York: Fishers Island and a portion of the North Shore of Long Island.