Staff from the Delaware Center for the Inland Bays collect seed shoots from submerged aquatic vegetation in South Bethany in May 2024.

Innovative approach to waterway management

Article by Adam Thomas Photos courtesy of Brittany Haywood June 18, 2025

Delaware Sea Grant works with residents to address submerged aquatic vegetation in South Bethany canals

Widgeon grass, a form of submerged vegetation (SAV), has appeared in the canals of South Bethany, Delaware — and nobody is quite sure how it got there.

The presence of SAV reflects improving environmental conditions and brings with it a range of ecological benefits — providing crucial habitat for fish and serving as sediment traps, which lead to enhanced water quality and help erosion control by stabilizing the canal bottom.

But as SAV continues to thrive, it can also introduce problems for boaters, interfering with propellers or becoming entangled in jet skis.

This emerging interaction between ecological recovery and recreational use presents a unique opportunity to explore innovative management approaches that balance habitat benefits with safe waterway access.

Brittany Haywood, coastal ecology specialist for Delaware Sea Grant at the University of Delaware, works with the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) and the Delaware Center for the Inland Bays to study the widgeon grass and help the town of Bethany manage the species.

“We’re not sure how it got there and why it is doing so well as opposed to all the other locations it could have settled,” Haywood said. “Those canals are man-made, and it’s an unusual place for the plant to settle. Since the canals are an engineered habitat, the widgeon grass most likely wasn’t there to begin with and could have been transported from ducks, fish or even boats.”

Brittany Haywood, coastal ecology specialist for Delaware Sea Grant at the University of Delaware, is pictured processing seeds in June 2024 at the UD hatchery.

Haywood said they were informed about the SAV bed and its plentiful flowering and seed shoots a few years ago. Ever since, the organizations have been harvesting the seeds from the SAV bed and processing them.

Doing this serves two purposes: The researchers can take the flowering and seed shoots, process them and plant the seeds in other locations throughout Delaware, and it helps to keep the SAV beds from getting larger and posing a greater hazard to boaters.

“We’ve gone out with a bunch of people and pulled up these flowering and seed shoots, because you can pull it up without removing the plant,” Haywood said. “That is the key. State protections of the underwater plant mean we can’t remove the plants, but we can remove the flowering shoots because they just break off naturally.”

The collected shoots have been processed at the oyster hatchery located on UD’s Hugh R. Sharp Campus in Lewes and are slated to be processed at a new DNREC facility in Lewes for 2025.

Haywood explained that processing involves arranging the shoots in baby pools located at the DNREC Lewes facility so they can mature. After a few weeks, the shoots are moved into big water tanks and air is vigorously pumped through the tanks to separate the seeds from the plant material. The organizations then collect the seeds, store them and use them in restoration projects.

Delaware Center for the Inland Bays has been the primary user of them thus far, having put the seeds out in Assawoman Bay and Pasture Point off the James Farm Ecological Preserve property and trialing fall and spring planting seasons.

Widgeon grass is collected in tiny pools to be replanted in locations throughout Delaware. The shoots are placed in the pools until they mature. After a few weeks, the shoots are moved into big water tanks and air is vigorously pumped through the tanks to separate the seeds from the plant material. The seeds are then collected, stored and used in restoration projects.

Because the Delaware Inland Bays have almost no SAVs, the organizations want to figure out why the SAVs are thriving in the South Bethany canals and apply it to future restoration projects.

“We want to figure out why that is happening so we can figure out the best spot to plant this grass,” Haywood said. “The preliminary results show that this widgeon grass is growing in water with higher temperatures and higher turbidity or lower light available at the bottom than other areas like the Chesapeake Bay.”

Planting more SAVs in the Delaware Inland Bays would be a boon for the region, as it would help to shore up coastline and improve water quality.

“SAVs in general, no matter what species, are great habitat for fishes,” Haywood said. “The commercial fish species rely on it for a nursery habitat or to find food. It is good at erosion control and helps clean the water. They are just a great resource that will benefit the Delaware Inland Bays.”

Delaware residents interested in learning more about SAVs should visit delawaresav.org for more information.