SARASOTA NEWS

NEWS RELEASE: Grant for native plants - Volunteers

We are pleased to announce that the Southeast chapter of the American Littoral Society is the recipient of a $5000 grant from the Community Foundation of Sarasota, made possible through the Robert R. Harlan and Susan H. Lowy Harlan Fund.

The grant is for the purchase and nurture of native plants and trees for a variety of coastal restoration projects in Sarasota County.  Our first goal is to restock our native plant nursery at Osprey Preserve.

Check out our latest Bay Life Search at:

http://sealitsoc.blogspot.com/2010/03/seining-and-netting-at-blackburn-point.html

September 2009

Volunteers Needed to Survey Sarasota Seagrass: 

Sarasota County needs volunteers for its winter seagrass survey, which will run through the month of February.  Volunteers will gather descriptions of local seagrass beds from different locations throughout Sarasota’s bays.

Seagrass is vital to maintaining healthy aquatic ecosystems, improving water quality, stabilizing shorelines and providing food and cover for a variety of wildlife. The County will provide volunteer training on Saturday Jan. 31, 11:30 AM -1:30 PM at Casey Key Fish House, 801  Participants in the survey should have their own GPS and watercraft.  Those who don’t will be paired with those who do.  To learn more or volunteer, contact the Sarasota County Call Center at 941-861-5000 and ask for Amanda Dominguez, or email adomingu@scgov.net.

March 2009

Midnight Pass

In 1983, a shallow, meandering outlet to the sea, called Midnight Pass, was closed by a nearby home owner whose property was threatened.  Attempts to reopen it failed. Over the years, the subject of reopening became the single most contentious “environmental” issue in Sarasota County.  In the 1990’s the County applied for a permit to open it which was denied. The issue didn’t die and study after study went on, spurred on by the Midnight Pass Society.  The County reapplied in 2003.    

The application for a permit to open midnight pass was denied in late 2008 .  The county chose not to appeal the DEP decision and has withdrawn the application.  The list of reasons cited by the DEP was long.  The main one –the closing was not a recent event, therefore the application was to create a new pass, which is now prohibited by law- drew a comment from one of the commissioners, “why didn’t they tell us that before we spend all that money ?” The engineering work, done by an outside consultant, cost was $850,000.  Over the years I estimate the midnight pass question has cost county taxpayers well over $4 million with little to show for it.  It also stopped remediation in that area.  Fortunately it’s not easy to get to the Neville Preserve which would have been heavily impacted by the proposed opening and nature has made the best of it.  Our seining excursions in that area, the results of which we reported to DEP and FWC,   led us to believe they were about to destroy a prime nursery for fish.  DEP came to the same conclusion.  Although we got no publicity for our work, our partners in opposing an opening-Manasota 88, Sarasota Audubon, and Sierra Club and one pro-environmental commissioner- know what we did. 

North Roberts Bay

A few weeks ago the commissioners voted (3to 2) to put aside $500,000 meant to remediate spoil islands in north Roberts Bay and spend $100K of that money on selling the surrounding neighborhoods on the remediation plans.  In a letter to Pelican Press, which was published, we pointed out that replacing these spoil heaps, now covered with Australian pines, with red mangrove was the only major way to clean up those waters.  Eventually the polluted tidal creeks feeding Roberts Bay may get cleaned up but that will take many years.

Critter News

The blue crab is drawing the attention of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission.  Third on the money list of commercial trapped catches (spiny lobster and stone crab are one and two respectively), long-term catch averages are down.  Yearly totals vary widely, mainly a function of rainfall.  Down in drought years, 2001, 2003 and 2007, their continual drop in numbers may be the result of less fresh water runoff reaching the estuaries they inhabit.  Confounding the numbers are the unknowns; disease, the size of the recreational fishery, the mortality of undersized throwbacks, and the ghost fishing of lost or abandoned traps.  Annual commercial takes are large; the 2005 gulf coast landings in Florida were 7.4 million pounds and 4.2 million pounds on Florida’s east coast.  Around here, Tampa Bay landings were 822,000 pounds. 

Red drum is bouncing back, notwithstanding occasional setbacks caused by red tide as in 2005.  Hatchery releases are helping but the main reason is the one fish a day, 18” to 27”in length, limit aqnd the no-sale provision that ended the commercial fishery. 

The snook population is booming in Tampa Bay.  Total catches have continually increased since 1997.  Nevertheless, the FWC is trying to measure the effects of increasing fishing pressure.  Size limitations mean a lot are thrown back.  In 2004, FWC estimated that 42 % died. Over 80% of snook caught are undersized.  Tampa Bay is the northernmost limit for snook.  A prolonged temperature drop can send their numbers plummeting.

Spotted sea trout, almost wiped out by the 2005 red tide event, are rebounding in Tampa Bay but habitat degradation and overfishing are nagging problems. The fecundity of a mature female (one year old) is astounding.  She can shed 18 million eggs in a season.

The Florida Wildlife Research Institute is testing a model that includes all the major fishes in Tampa Bay, their habitats and interactions.  This has led to some surprising conclusions. For example, reducing red snapper losses by limiting or banning shrimp trawling to reduce by-catch would not increase the number of adults.  The model predicted a decline in bottom trawling would increase the numbers of catfish, a major predator of juvenile snapper. 

October 2008

Seawalls on their way out

The Sarasota County commissioners have just revamped the County coastal setback code to all but make it impossible to build a seawall on the Gulf side of the County shoreline.  Seawalls along an active coastline are an invitation to future disaster.  They are eventually undermined and fall into the water and almost immediately enhance rapid erosion at one end or the other on someone else’s property. 

The new rules require that the seawall be in the public interest; (1) it cannot impede public access to the beach,(2) it cannot harm adjacent property, and (3) it must be unfeasible to move or elevate the structure to be protected and to replace lost sand or other habitat.  The new code bans walls, groins or other protective structures for any new structures.

Sixty years ago, most local people understood the dangers of building so close to active shores.   Beach homes were small and built to move or lose and put as far back from the waterline as feasible.  As wealthy people from inland arrived with no storm experience (and a lull in intense storms) the Mac Mansions went up along the Gulf.   Our filled-up barrier islands are a catastrophe waiting to happen.  Consider this; in the 1920’s when practically no one except a few fishermen lived there, the surge from a hurricane went over the tops of the red mangroves, about 14 feet in height.    Caveat emptor.

September 2008

...and in the aftermath of Hurricanes Ike and Gustav ...

Southwest Florida experienced only the backlash of these two hurricanes, but considerable shoreline erosion was caused by huge waves hitting the coast.  If you have photos of shoreline erosion to share, please send them to web@sealitsoc.org .  The question is whether continuing beach renourishment at public expense is wise or should those who wish to live close to the shore foot the bill.

Anna Maria Island - articles from the Anna Maria Island Sun
    - http://www.amisun.com/archives/2008/09-17-08/headlines.htm  
    - http://www.amisun.com/archives/2004/sept22/ivan.htm
    - http://amisun.com/archives/2005/apr27/news.htm
    - http://www.amisun.com/archives/2006/09-20-06/islandnews.htm#three

Turtle Beach
These Turtle Beach photos were taken 9-9-2008 while Hurricane Ike was progressing across the Gulf of Mexico.  Photos of the same area were taken December 2007 and appear further down on this web page.

Surfers are having a great day.
      

                                                           

The following 2 photos were taken in front of the pink house which can be seen in December 2007 photos below.
              

South Lido
Big Pass appears to be closing up more rapidly.  Sand from the latest renourshment seems to be helping the closure.
In the opinion of one lifeguard, "It will have to be renourshed again".

   Looking east, one can see the old shoreline :
 

   Big Pass is filling in to the south:


Just north of Big Pass, sand near condos has washed away.
                               

Looking north from Shell Beach on Siesta Key to Big Pass and South Lido Beach
         ...the sandbar extends far out into the Pass.

In the circle above, people walk on the sandbar far out into Big Pass.  See closeup below.

North Lido Public Beach
   The recent hurricanes appear to have redistributed the new sand into sandbars which the birds just love.

                     Looking north at low tide:
                      
Looking south at low tide:
 

April 2008

Sand Dollars

     The Sarasota County commissioners have decided to pour nine million dollars into the sea by replenishing a rapidly eroding shoreline south of Manasota Key public beach. Although not yet classified as “critically eroded” - a state term that is required for their funding - a number of homes too close to the sea are at risk. Those homeowners face a bill of $36,000 each ($1.7 million for the lot); the rest from tourist tax dollars and maybe $2.3 million from the state. 
     This is just the beginning of expenditures for new sand unless the commission comes to realize that the long term costs of trying to keep dynamic barrier islands intact will greatly exceed their property tax value. Shoreline homeowners know the risks they face.  Why the rest of the County must face infrastructure inadequacies to subsidize those foolish enough to build in harm’s way is one of those mysteries that defy logic .

December 2007

Temporary Reprieve at Turtle Beach, Sarasota, Florida

The sand was recently replaced and the surroundings repaired.  
We estimate the whole problem will recur within a decade.  
For the time being, however, you can now park at Turtle Beach and walk to Palmer Point (Midnight Pass).

       
October 2007

Oysters in Sarasota Bay

Although it has been some time since oysters from Sarasota Bay were harvested for human consumption,they still grow in patches here and there and are valuable to humans for their remarkable filtering ability.

In 2001, several ALS members got interested in the idea of increasing their numbers in Roberts Bay (north) to offset the incoming pollution from Philippi Creek.  In 2002, oysters from the mouth of Philippi Creek were moved to nearby locations as part of a dredging plan. Monitoring how they dealt with that stress, we found both depth and location were significant to survival.

We then staked out “shell kabobs” (oyster shells with a hole drilled in each shell and stacked on a stiff wire) in likely spots around Little Edwards Island and environs just as ambient water temperature reached 82 F and mature oysters began to spawn. Within a few months we found the undersides of the shells were heavy with settled spat and the best were about six inches off the bottom.

Roberts Bay has many shallow areas where sea grass is patchy to non-existent.  In 2003, in some of those areas,we placed nylon mesh bags of dead shell.By 2004 the bags had burst open with new growth.  To proceed with larger numbers of bags we required permission from the Florida DEP and the Army Corps of Engineers which was not forthcoming.

In 2003, Sarasota County began monitoring oyster populations in Dona and Roberts Bay (south) as an indicator of environmental health.   They found oyster reefs were adversely affected by larger than usual influxes of fresh water.They have recently expanded to other watersheds including Lemon Bay and Little Sarasota Bay.   Results are available in an online report released in April 2007.

Sarasota Bay Estuary Program began a study of existing reefs in 2004 via a grant to Mote Marine. Later, they put in two sizable reefs in Little Sarasota Bay and intend to expand into Roberts Bay (north) in 2007.

January 2007

Lemon Bay in the Past:  While preparing to move the "Cookie House ",home of the former Bass Laboratory in the 1930 ’s boxes of records of environmental information on the local watershed were found.

Dr. E. Estevez of Mote Marine Lab and volunteers are going through the 26 boxes of logbooks and papers hoping to reconstruct the natural ecology of Lemon Bay in the 1930 ’s.Already the records show the Bay was .lled with scallops.Saw .sh,now on the endangered species list,were so common as to be a nuisance.

October 2006

Red Tide: As this is being written, coastline red tide is upon us again.  Dead fish are washing up on beaches and beach walkers are complaining about the irritating air.  A recent forum on red tide at Mote Marine brought together seventy or so scientists who are working on it plus a few observers.  One evening was open to the public.  Activists chided the scientists for not linking coastal pollution with its tendency of late to linger longer and persist inshore.  Although all scientists feel we should be striving for cleaner water in our estuaries, they have had to point out the link between runoff carrying nutrients and red tide persistence has yet to be made.  The mitigation methods presented didn’t go over too well either.  Spraying a slurry of fine clay on the surface of a bloom will entrap the organisms and sink them.  This might work if you could find an initial bloom area offshore but by the time it spreads, the area that would require treatment would be enormous.  The other suggestion, for containing a red tide entering an estuary, was the release of prodigious amounts of fresh water. There were comments that either scheme might cause more problems than they cure.

Beach Access: County commissioners wanted to expand and enforce the publics right to beach access.  After discussing whether to write a local ordinance to that effect, the County attorney advised against it.  He said nowhere in the state (Florida) had a court upheld such a “sweeping decision” to open beaches and suggested the County simply do it one beach at a time.  The State constitution says that all “wet’ beach, below the mean water line, is open to the public.  The public right to dry sand can be made through a “prescription easement” or “customary use” where the beach has been used by the public for a long time.

Midnight Pass:  The Midnight Pass Opening permit application, filed with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, rolls on.  DEP's third "request for additional information" was answered in July and the fourth request, fifteen pages in length, has just been received back.  Aside from further paperwork,  RA#4 calls for more data and details on the natural environment that will have to be gathered by field work.  Just how extensive this will be is hard to tell but it is hard to see why much of what DEP wants was not foreseen a half million dollars ago.  We anticipate Erickson Engineering Associates will be back to the County for more funds.

July 2006

Stretches of the Gulf side of the Manasota Key shoreline have severely eroded.  Sarasota County commissioners face a multi-million dollar repair bill with little or no chance of outside help.  Federal funding is a thing of the past and state help would likely be nominal.  Thus the burden will fall either on County residents or its visitors.  If the commissioners choose county residents, what segment of the citizenry should bear the burden?  There are too few affected homes to put it all on the coastal homeowners.  That quandary is now being debated. 

There is another option.  Do nothing.  Whether by violent storm or day-to-day littoral drift, barrier island sand is continuously on the move.  Rising sea level and the relentless movement of  the barrier beach is a fact of nature that must eventually be accepted.  Sarasota County has 31 miles of barrier island coastline.  Two-thirds of that is eroding.  Given the growing scarcity of sand close by and the escalating cost of doing anything on the waterfront, it is time to plan and commit to a strategic withdrawal. 

If Manasota Key devolved into a long, natural, unfettered beach free of homes with only partial access, it would soon turn into a major tourist attraction.  The drawing power of large, undeveloped seaside parks brings people back year after year while providing habitat for those non-human critters who are losing more and more places to call home. 

The present County struggle to keep public beaches intact, passes open, navigable and marked as well as responding to either a direct or glancing blow from a tropical storm is more than a full plate. 

As nature destroys shore structures beyond rebuilding , the County should have a reasonable compensation plan and return that private property back into the public domain.

                                                                                                        Updated:   06/05/10 10:23