The South Florida Water Management District and Lee County have partnered to bring back a vital plant in the Caloosahatchee River. Tape Grass has not flourished in the river for about 15 years. Over $100,000 will be spent on the three-year project.
Tape grass is a flowering plant found at the bottom of fresh water. It looks like half-inch wide green ribbons that can grow to more than three feet tall.
The Caloosahatchee River was lush with tape grass in the 1990s, but algae blooms, droughts and herbivores wiped out the plant around 2000.
Peter Doering is with the South Florida Water Management District. He said Tape Grass was planted along the river last week. It’s protected inside four stainless steel mesh cages to prevent grazing.
"Our hope is that the plants inside those cages will grow large enough to produce flowers, and then to produce seeds and that these seeds will disperse downstream to repopulate the populations in the river itself," said Doering.
He said Tape Grass slows and settles the water, making it clearer. It also takes up nutrients that would otherwise feed undesirable plankton or algae blooms.
Doering said it’s an extremely good habitat for the early life stages of fish and shellfish-- blue crabs, in particular. And he said this could potentially benefit local fisheries.
