Service Description: The decline of eelgrass (Zostera marina L.) in the Peconic Estuary over the last 70 years has contributed to the degradation of the estuary as a whole. This submerged, marine plant is inextricably linked to the health of the Estuary. Eelgrass provides an important habitat in near-shore waters for shellfish and finfish and is a food source for organisms ranging from bacteria to waterfowl. To better manage this valuable resource, the Peconic Estuary Program’s Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP) had recommended regular aerial over¬flights of the estuary to map the distribution of eelgrass meadows and to allow managers to identify trends in the coverage of eelgrass meadows over time. The data collected from the aerial surveys will assist the Peconic Estuary Program, the New York State Depart¬ment of Environmental Conservation (NYDEC), and local town governments in planning for future conserva¬tion/management, permitting, and restoration activities throughout the Peconic Estuary.
Service ItemId: 8728f0a5971a4ddfb6c29e54c3a774e6
Has Versioned Data: false
Max Record Count: 2000
Supported query Formats: JSON
Supports applyEdits with GlobalIds: False
Supports Shared Templates: True
All Layers and Tables
Layers:
Description: Due to wasting disease, nuisance algal blooms, human disturbance of the near shore environment, and increasing water temperatures eelgrass has suffered numerous acute and chronic die-offs over the last century. There were over 8,700 acres of eelgrass (a conservative estimate) in the Peconic Estuary during the 1930s. Of the submerged aquatic vegetation beds delineated by the FWS using 2000 aerial photographs, only 1,550 acres of eelgrass (comprised of 119 beds) remained in 2000. The 2014 aerial survey identified less than 90 eelgrass beds covering less than 1000 acres. All the eelgrass beds remaining in the Peconic Estuary are located east of West Neck Bay, Shelter Island, except for the meadow in Bullhead Bay, Southampton.
Copyright Text:
Spatial Reference: 26918 (26918)
Initial Extent:
XMin: 695105.99526
YMin: 4515920.74712365
XMax: 766132.12274
YMax: 4577904.91807635
Spatial Reference: 26918 (26918)
Full Extent:
XMin: 698334.4556
YMin: 4530147.5977
XMax: 762903.6624
YMax: 4563678.0675
Spatial Reference: 26918 (26918)
Units: esriMeters
Child Resources:
Info
SharedTemplates
Supported Operations:
Query
ConvertFormat
Get Estimates