The reduction of nutrient pollution and other environmental measures instituted in recent years has resulted in some portions of the Bay showing marked increases in areas covered by underwater grasses—also called submerged underwater vegetation (SAV). But success has been limited, and those increases that have occurred have resulted largely from expanding existing beds.

To promote restoration in areas that are suitable for SAV, different replanting methods are used. As a part of NOAA's effort to restore SAV in the Chesapeake Bay, the National Marine Fisheries Service's Restoration Center (Office of Habitat Conservation) awarded $35,000 to the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay to evaluate how best to use volunteers in restoring SAV. A volunteer-based restoration program was used to meet two goals: to assess the effectiveness of transplanting SAV at sites where water-quality requirements are met but no grasses exist, and to evaluate the feasibility of increasing public involvement in SAV restoration projects.

	A volunteer diver sorts plant shoot material and bundles them together in preparation for planting. The water can become quite murky during the initial planting, so as much above-water preparation is done as possible to simplify and expedite the planting process.
	Volunteer divers check equipment and coordinate their plan prior to submerging and planting the tender plant shoots. Small bamboo stakes are used to anchor the shoots into the sandy bottom.

Using funding from NOAA’s Restoration Center, the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay mobilized its citizen monitoring volunteers to provide an opportunity for the community to become involved in SAV restoration. The goal was to show that citizen activism could be harnessed to produce tangible restoration results and to heighten awareness and understanding of water quality, land-use practices, and individual actions on watershed protection. Volunteers were used for all aspects of restoration field work, including water-quality monitoring, planting, and follow-up monitoring. Volunteer divers were recruited and trained in various planting techniques, while other volunteers began a water-quality monitoring program.

Early indicators showed high survival of the newly planted SAV, but later monitoring how persistent the SAV was over the winter showed significant declines in long-term survival. But the project has been a complete success in involving local communities. The project enabled local citizens to become active participants in the monitoring and restoration of SAV habitat, and empowered individuals to take stewardship of their watershed. The use of volunteers, once choice of location, plant source, and water habitat requirement issues are resolved, will be a very viable tool and workforce to assist in restoring SAV throughout the Bay.

A volunteer diver surfaces to obtain another bundle of plant shoots for transplanting. Shallow depths of two to three feet make it possible to complete plantings using snorkeling gear if SCUBA is not available, but use of SCUBA allows divers to plant more quickly, placing more potential transplant shoots into the project area.

Although some portions of the Bay have showed marked increase in SAV coverage, success has been limited in many areas. Increases that have occurred have resulted largely through expansion of existing beds. Scientists have suggested that a lack of propagules may hinder recolonization in many areas that have suitable habitat requirements—but not extensive SAV beds. Availability and regulatory constraints often limit the ability to transplant from existing beds. As a result, growing plants in laboratories specifically for transplanting has been suggested as an alternative method for obtaining transplant material.

A restoration project was designed to test this method, and to continue the use of volunteer divers in SAV restoration efforts. The novel approach of using "micropropagation," a laboratory-based method of reproducing numerous propagules from one parent plant, was the first step to provide the needed plant material. Following grow-out of the plant shoots in a controlled setting, material was transplanted to sites selected as having conditions that would support SAV survival.

Although propagules grew very well in sterile lab conditions and developed extensive roots throughout the cocoa mat planting medium, staking the large mats successfully to the soft bottom to counteract wave energy proved troublesome, and roots did not grow down through the mats into soft bottom substrate as well as hoped.

A volunteer diver prepares one of the 3-foot by 5-foot cocoa mats for transport out to the planting area and staking to the bottom. Extensive growth of young SAV shoots can be seen on top mat.