Prop Scar Prevention - Sailors for the Sea

Prop Scar Prevention

Help prevent damage to seagrass beds by taking proper precautions while navigating shallow waters.

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Healthy seagrass beds have a wide range of positive impacts for our waterways. The dense underwater meadows provide spawning and nursery habitats, areas of refuge, and feeding grounds for many fish and invertebrates. Marine animals, including green sea turtles and manatees, rely on seagrass for sustenance.

Seagrasses enhance water quality by absorbing excess nutrients and filtering water of pollutants and sediments. Many seagrass species produce an extensive network of roots and rhizomes that stabilize sediments to help protect the shoreline from erosion. These underwater plants also help mitigate climate change by capturing and storing significant amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

seagrass, prop scarring, boating

Seagrass meadows are among the most productive ecosystems in the world, however, boating can have a devastating impact on these sensitive habitats if boaters don’t take the proper precautions while navigating shallow waters.  

What is prop scarring?

Seagrass scarring is caused by boats entering shallow waters where propellers, motors and hulls come into contact with seagrass beds. As the propeller slashes into the seafloor or the hull and motor drag across the bottom, it creates physical damage to the crucial root systems of the seagrass and leaves a visible scar.

seagrass, prop scarring, boating

Over time, erosion and scouring from waves and currents in damaged areas can result in scars expanding, causing additional loss of seagrass. Recovery and growth of the seagrasses in scarred areas can take years, or may never occur if damage continues. Prop scarring is a significant, but also preventable, threat to crucial seagrass bed habitats.

How to protect seagrass beds?

  • Use navigational tools: Review charts, fishing maps, or local boating guides to become familiar with your local waterways and learn where shallow waters are located. Operate your boat in marked channels or deeper water while under power.
  • Read the water: While on the water, wear polarized sunglasses to reduce the surface glare, which will help you see seagrass beds. Whenever possible, avoid those shallow areas.
  • Know your depth and draft: If boating over seagrass in shallow water, be sure to trim your motor up and idle to a safe depth before getting on plane. Keep the times for low and high tides handy.
  • Stop the engine: If aground, do not proceed under power. Turn off and trim up your motor. Pole or push your boat to a safe depth.

Did you know?

  • In south Florida alone, more than 30,000 acres of seagrass have been damaged by boat-generated scarring.

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Learn more about prop scar prevention and other Green Boating topics in our video series.

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