Development of water transparency criteria for Florida seagrass

Florida newsletterThe Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is developing a new transparency standard for marine waters that will protect the seagrass species found throughout the state. The current standard does not sufficiently protect seagrasses, and the new standard will help DEP identify waters in which transparency is too low for healthy seagrass beds. A workshop of experts was convened by DEP, and facilitated by Bill Dennison and Caroline Wicks, to determine what factors affect light in seagrass beds and what transparency criteria have already been established for individual systems. This newsletter summarizes that workshop and discusses how DEP will use this knowledge to set transparency criteria for seagrasses in Florida.