Website

http://www.sarasota.wateratlas.usf.edu/seagrass/

Region(s)

SW

Summary

The Seagrass Scallop Archive feature layer stores point locations of sample seagrass locations in and around Sarasota County bay waters. The survey began in 2006, and has been conducted annually each winter during January and February. No survey was completed in 2018 due to red tide conditions. A partial / incomplete survey was completed in 2019 for the same reason. Prior to 2020, most information on algae refers to the level of Drift, as opposed to Rooted Algae types. After 2020, survey teams began to add information on rooted algae's present per site. Algae information can be recoded during all survey types and efforts. Lemon Bay data are limited to the upper portion of the bay which is in Sarasota County. Lower Lemon Bay is in Charlotte County and is not sampled by this program.

Parameters

Presence/absence of seagrass species, species percent composition, blade length, and percent cover, depth, transparency (secchi depth), presence of algae (drift and attached), epiphyte cover on seagrass blades, sediment composition. Prior to 2020, most information on algae refers to the level of Drift, as opposed to Rooted Algae types. After 2020, survey teams began to add information on rooted algaes present per site.

Notes

Sarasota County Public Works also coordinates an annual volunteer monitoring program to supplement these data, primarily in Sarasota Bay.

Application

To provide scientists, resource managers, legislators, and other stakeholders a summary of the status of seagrasses in Sarasota Bay.

Publications

Sarasota County Public Works. 2016-present. NPDES Annual Report on Seagrass. https://www.sarasota.wateratlas.usf.edu/seagrass/#seagrass-report

Start

2006

End

Current

Frequency

Annual

Method

field monitoring at 40 fixed and 120 random points

Discontinuity

No survey was completed in 2018 due to red tide conditions. A partial / incomplete survey was completed in 2019 for the same reason.

Data Location

https://data-sarco.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/sarco::seagrassscalloparchivelayer/explore/

Data Format

Habitats

Submerged Aquatic Vegetation

SEACAR Citation

Sarasota County. (2025). Sarasota County Seagrass Monitoring. Updated 08/14/2025. Distributed by: SEACAR Data Discovery Interface, Office of Resilience and Coastal Protection, Florida Department of Environmental Protection. https://data.florida-seacar.org/programs/details/568

Alternative Citation

indicates priority attributes