ACFHP Endorses National Park Service (NPS) Large-Scale Seagrass Restoration Project.

The Atlantic Coastal Fish Habitat Partnership (ACFHP) works to address the numerous threats impacting Atlantic coastal fish habitats and applauds the implementation of tools, techniques, and approaches to address these habitat threats.

ACFHP supports the National Park Service’s plan to reverse declining eelgrass trajectories and reduce population-scale climate change vulnerability. This will be done by applying an adaptive-capacity informed approach to seagrass restoration and management across the National Park system from Maine to North Carolina. The seagrass restoration project will improve water quality, integrate estuarine habitats across habitat mosaics and benefit fish species throughout the affected region. Additionally, it will provide unmatched opportunities to integrate genomic data into conservation and management strategies across a broad geographic range of national parks. Seagrasses are a foundation species, creating habitats that serve as important nursery grounds for many recreationally and ecologically important fish and invertebrate species.