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The Initiative legislation requires beginning January 15, 2024, and each January 15 thereafter until its expiration, the Initiative shall submit an Annual Report that contains an overview of its accomplishments to date and priorities for subsequent years to the Governor, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Secretary of Environmental Protection, and the Executive Director of the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Winter 2026

    • In January 2026, Mote published its third Initiative Report, a requirement of 403.93344(3)(e) Florida Statutes. It contains an overview of the Initiative’s accomplishments to date and priorities for subsequent years.

Spring, Summer, Fall 2025

  • Year 2 Request for Proposals closed January 31st.
    • Project proposals reviewed my Mote scientists, UF scientists, and DEP Aquatic Preserve Managers during February and March.
    • Meetings with PIs in April to discuss budgets and awards.
  • Due to increased proposals and positive reviews, we split funding between Year 2 and Year 3 to fund projects that applied to the Year 2 RFP.
    • All nine Year 2 Project contracts have been executed.
    • Six Year 3 Project Award Letters were sent out 9/15/25. 4 contracts for Year 3 have been sent out and executed, 2 others have been sent out and are awaiting execution, one internal Mote project has been executed.
  • Year 1 funded projects underway or completed, received all interim Progress Reports and some Final Reports.
  • A Technology Advisory Council meetings was held on February 20th at the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve. TAC members attended both virtually and in person. All Year 1 funded project PIs gave short presentation updates on their project progress.
  • Mote hosted a Technology Advisory Council Meeting at Reefhouse Resort & Marina in Key Largo, Florida on 10/01/25 and gave attendees a tour of Mote’s Key Largo Coral Nursery there.
  • Mote staff attend bi-weekly virtual meetings with Moffatt & Nichol to work on the development of the 10-year Florida Seagrass Restoration Plan.
    • Background research into 116 Florida seagrass restoration sites is complete.
    • 22 stakeholder meetings were attended.
    • Field site visits to Pensacola, Indian River Lagoon, the Florida Keys, and Tampa Bay (Mote employees were present for this one).
    • A draft framework has been completed that has implemented TAC Member’s comments and edits.
    • Began the development of a habitat suitability model for seagrass restoration.
  • Mote hosted a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony on August 25th to mark the completion of the Ron and Marla Wolf Seagrass Restoration Center for Ocean Sustainability Greenhouse Facility, Biogeochemical Carbon Sequestration Lab, and Publix Seagrass Genetics Research Hub. These new facilities comprise Mote’s Seagrass Ecosystem Restoration Research Compound (SERRC) at the Mote Aquaculture Research Park (MAP).
  • Education, outreach, and research meetings attended:
    • SCAR MAPS Stakeholder Advisory Council Meeting on March 24th, 2025 hosted by UF/IFAS Extension and Florida Sea Grant to further community collaboration, and learn about other seagrass mapping and monitoring efforts.
    • Bahia Honda’s Earth Day Outreach Event on April 19th, 2025 to engage with state park employees and visitors to talk about the importance of seagrass ecosystems in the Keys and explain the goals of the Seagrass Restoration Technology Development Initiative .
    • Southwest Florida Seagrass Meeting on March 26th, 2025 at the Fish and Wildlife research Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida.
    • Florida Oceans Day on April 1st, 2025.
  • Research supplies for the upkeep and maintenance of the raceways have continued to be purchased, as all raceways are currently in use. Additionally, research supplies for the genetics lab have been purchased for work on Mote’s Seagrass Genetic Library (SGL).
  • Mote staff have collected 1200 samples (n = 50 T. testudinum, n = 1150 H. wrightii) for entry into the SGL. In addition, the SERR program has received tissue samples from six funded projects through the Initiative. The team has performed over 400 DNA extractions, testing six methods to optimize DNA extractions for four species: H. wrightii, T. testudinum, S. filiforme, and H. stipulacae. We plan to begin submitting these samples for sequencing starting late October 2025.
  • In addition to doing the laboratory work for the SGL, the SERR program has also started contracts with two companies, Big Sea and Breedbase, to collect, organize and store the SGL metadata. Big Sea is creating a website in which partners can submit the associated metadata for each sample they collect. Breedbase is creating a website to house the metadata with the genetics data for longterm storage of each accession into the SGL.
  • In collaboration with the Gulf Shellfish Institute (GSI), the Seagrass Ecosystem Restoration Research (SERR) Program assisted in collecting Halodule wrightii and Ruppia maritima specimens. During the initial collections of H. wrightii and R. maritima, we collected 150 samples with at least three healthy shoots and the apical meristem at the following locations: Egmont Key and SeaPort Manatee (H. wrightii) and Archie Creek and Wolf Branch (R. maritima). We harvested approximately 2cm of leaf tissue from each individual and preserved it in DNA/RNA Shield (Product company, catno) for future entry into the Seagrass Genetic Library (SGL). We accompanied GSI in a second sampling effort of H. wrightii at three sites, Egmont Key, Cockroach Bay, and Bird Key. These grasses were used in a common garden experiment, led by GSI, investigating the effects of shade and the presence of clams on H. wrightii fitness at the [greenhouse name] (the greenhouse). Using the preservation methods above, we preserved 2cm of tissue from each individual at the start and end of the experiment to assess the gene expression divergence between treatments over time. These samples will also be added to the SGL.
  • The SERR Program collaborated with Charlotte Harbor Aquatic Preserve (CHAP) and Estero Bay Aquatic Preserve (EBAP) to collect 1150 H. wrightii samples across seven sites for a common garden experiment planned to start on December 15th. This experiment will quantify the resilience of genotypes to three stressors: increased temperature, reduced salinity, and decreased light availability. Tissue samples will be collected at 4 time points for each individual to track the effects of the stressors on each genotype’s gene expression and microbial community shifts.
  • Finally, the SERR program and the Ecotoxicology program at Mote Marine Laboratory collaborated on a pilot study examining the effects of clay mitigation on red tide on the fitness of Thalassia testudinum. Results from this pilot study will inform the design of a larger study investigating the effects of red tide and clay mitigation on benthic ecosystems.

Winter 2025

    • In January 2025, Mote published its second Initiative Report, provided below, a requirement of 403.93344(3)(e) Florida Statutes. It contains an overview of the Initiative’s accomplishments to date and priorities for subsequent years

Summer, Fall, and Winter 2024

    • Significant progress towards the completion of the seagrass greenhouse at the Mote Aquaculture Research Park (MAP).
      • This greenhouse will serve as an experimentation area for funded partners, as well as a space to store and grow seedlings for genetic work.
      • All electricity work completed.
      • All 24 raceways installed and plumbed in September 2024.
    • Supplies and equipment for genetic research and the outfitting of the genetics lab have begun to be purchased.
    • Two Mote employees travelled down to multiple sites in the Florida Keys to collect Thalassia seedlings for holding at Mote. These seedlings will be used to aid in genetic research.
    • Received Thalassia seedlings from Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) for University of Georgia’s Initiative funded project.
    • Second Seagrass Restoration Technology Development Initiative Technology Advisory Council Meeting was held at Brevard Zoo on 08/26/24, this meeting also included a visit to Brevard Zoo’s seagrass nurseries at the Hubbs SeaWorld Research Institute in the Indian River Lagoon.
    • Dr. Dominique Gallery was hired in August 2024 as the new Seagrass Postdoctoral Research Fellow.
      • They are coming in with a Ph.D. in Ecology, Evolution and Behavior from the University of Texas at Austin, with a background in genetics.
      • Dr. Gallery will work with funded partners to collect seagrass samples for genetic analysis and research, as well as for the creation of the genetic library of Florida seagrasses.
    • DEP Year 2 Contract Executed.
    • First Request For Proposal closed January 31, 2024.
      • Review process conducted; held numerous partner/proposer meetings; award letters and contracts sent out.
    • Supplies and equipment for genetic research and the outfitting of the genetics lab have continued to be purchased.
    • Moffatt & Nichol has been doing background research on seagrass restoration in Florida. They have reviewed 116 management documents:
      • 21 Aquatic Preserve Management Plans
      • 7 Estuary Program Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plans
      • 11 SWIM Plans
      • 3 Basin Management Action Plans
      • 6 National Park plans
      • 23 State Park Management Plans
      • 1 County Comprehensive Plan
      • 1 SIMM Report
      • 45 Supplemental Reports
    • All eight funded projects from the Year 1 Request for Proposals are underway.
      • Received some technical and financial reports from partners who have hit the halfway point.
    • Initiative Technical and Financial Reports submitted.
    • Year 2 Request for Proposals released December 13th, 2024 (closed on January 31st, 2025).
    • Synergy of state funded objectives with philanthropic funding under the Ron and Marla Wolf Seagrass Restoration Center for Ocean Sustainability ($750K) and Publix Supermarkets for the creation of the Publix Seagrass Genetics Research Laboratory-Hub (400k).
    • Synergy of state funded objectives with federal government funding from a Congressional Community Funding Project ($750K).

Winter 2024

    • ​In January 2024, Mote published its first Initiative Report, provided below, a requirement of 403.93344(3)(e) Florida Statutes. It contains an overview of the Initiative’s accomplishments to date and priorities for subsequent years

Summer and Fall 2023

    • In July 2023, the Seagrass Restoration Technology Development Initiative was passed in the Florida House of Representatives and the Florida Senate, then signed by Governor Ron DeSantis.
    • In September 2023, Mote received funding from NOAA to begin the “Using Land-Based Seagrass Nurseries and Genetic Approaches to Increase Seagrass Restoration Success” Project.
    • Mote Seagrass Postdoctoral Fellow, Jamila Roth, has begun to build up and stock Mote’s lab space to prepare for genetic and restoration research.
    • Land at Mote’s Aquaculture Research Park (MAP) has been cleared and is being prepped for the building of the Ron and Marla Wolf Seagrass Restoration Center for Ocean Sustainability.
      • This center will include a new greenhouse with 24 raceways for experimentation and restoration.
    • ​In December of 2023, the first Seagrass Initiative “Request For Proposals” was published on the Mote website. This “Request For Proposals” will bring in the first wave of genetic-based and restoration focused project proposals that could be funded from the Seagrass Restoration Technology Development Initiative.