This polygon shapefile represents eelgrass beds in the Northeastern United States. Eelgrass (Zostera marina) beds are critical wetlands components of shallow coastal ecosystems throughout the region. Eelgrass beds provide food and cover for a great variety of commercially and recreationally important fauna and their prey. Eelgrass and other seagrasses are often referred to as "Submerged Aquatic Vegetation" or SAV. This distinguishes them from algae, which are not classified as "plants" by biologists (rather they are often placed in the kingdom protista), and distinguishes them from the "emergent" saltwater plants found in salt marshes. In addition to the term SAV, some coastal managers use the term SRV or submerged rooted vegetation. EelgrassBeds was created from five separate datasets for the states of Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine. Where possible, polygon datasets depicting the most recent eelgrass surveys were used. Attributes with common themes for each dataset were integrated in order to better represent eelgrass density and year sampled. The data user is encouraged to read this and the metadata of each individual state’s data carefully, as geometry, attribute details, and timeliness are not necessarily consistent among datasets used to develop this layer. Details of each state’s data source are described in the data processing section of the metadata. The purpose of mapping the distribution of eelgrass (Submerged Aquatic Vegetation - SAV) is to determine areas where eelgrass is present throughout coastal New England waters.