NextEra Energy Donation
10-1-09: PREP received a donation from NextEra Energy Seabrook Station which has supported the organization's work to protect and restore Hampton-Seabrook estuary for 10 years.

2009 State of the Estuaries Report

A new report from the Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership (PREP) concludes that the environmental quality of the Piscataqua Region estuaries is declining. Eleven of 12 environmental indicators show negative or cautionary trends – up from seven indicators classified this way in 2006. The most pressing threats to the estuaries relate to population growth and the associated increases in nutrient loads and non-point source pollution. In Great Bay, the concentration of dissolved inorganic nitrogen, which can be harmful at high levels, has increased by 44 percent in the past 28 years. Other indicators that suggest a declining environment include historically low oyster and clam populations, toxic contaminants present in nearly 25 percent of estuarine sediments, increased prevalence of petroleum-based contaminants in Piscataqua River shellfish, poor migratory fish returns, and continued beach and shellfish bed closures due to bacteria pollution. Read Report

Restoration of Oyster (Crassostrea virginica) Habitat for Multiple Estuarine Species Benefits

The overall goal of this project was to investigate restoration methods in Great Bay that positively affect multiple species. The focus was on those organisms (mainly macroalgae, invertebrates, and fish) that spend most of their time on oyster reefs—the resident species. A 0.5 hectare (1.25 acres) area was restored in August 2007 by constructing twelve mini-reefs (each ~6 m in diameter) in an area protected from harvest using spat-on-shell (“spat seeding”) from remotely set larvae. There was a consistent trend over time of higher oyster densities on the mini-reefs and on the natural reef within the protected area compared to the adjacent unprotected natural reef. At the end of the project period (1.8 years post-construction of the mini-reefs), total oyster densities in the overall restoration area were about 26% higher than the adjacent unprotected reef.

The constructed mini-reefs also consistently had higher total densities and biomass of resident animals, which consisted mainly of invertebrates, compared to the other reef areas. A total of 15 species of invertebrates were collected from the mini-reefs compared to 10 and 11 species, respectively, from the natural reef in the restored area and the natural reef in the harvested area. The resident macroalgae community patterns over time indicated higher biomass on the mini-reefs and the protected natural reefs compared to the unprotected reef area on most sampling dates, though there was typically wide variability among replicates. Macroalgal taxonomic richness was similar in all three areas, and there was a total of fourteen species collected from the three areas. Overall, the project resulted in enhancement of oyster reef habitat within the 0.5 hectare restoration area, and characterized the substantial value of oyster reefs in providing habitat for a variety of plant and animal species. Read Report

Local Estuaries in the News

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Impervious Surface Maps for Maine Communities
10-8-09: PREP published customized maps for the 10 Maine towns in the PREP study area. The maps illustrate 1990, 2000, and 2005 impervious surfaces, conservation lands identified in the Land Conservation Plan for New Hampshire’s Coastal Watersheds and the Land Conservation Plan for Maine’s Piscataqua Region Watersheds, roads, surface waters, and impervious surface summary statistics. See Maps

Review of Local Grant Proposals
10-28-09: A four-person review team, consisting of PREP Management Committee Members, evaluated the seven proposals submitted to the annual grant program. Grant recipients will be announced in November.

Climate Change Roundtable
10-29-09: PREP attended a forum hosted by Clean Air-Cool Planet and the Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve that discussed compelling new information on projected sea level rise and national policy opportunities. More Information

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