Filed at January 14, 2008 under Animals and Environment and Florida Keys/Upper Keys/Key Largo by Keys
The seventh — and largest — Burmese python to make its way into the Florida Keys since the exotic constrictors were discovered here in April was found dead on U.S. 1 at Mile Marker 112 last week.
The snake, measuring longer than 10 feet, has added to officials’ recent concerns about the invasive predator slithering its way into the island chain — and its endangered species habitats. Steve Klett, manager of the Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge, said he worries a breeding pair will establish itself here, which could wipe out the population of endangered species such as the Key Largo wood rat. To reach 8 feet in length, a python would have to consume about 75 to 80 wood rats, he said.
A new law that went into effect Jan. 1 will not help the immediate situation, but could curb the problem in the future. It requires people who buy an exotic reptile to pay a $100 fee and have a 2-centimeter microchip with their identification implanted under the reptile’s skin. South Florida has experienced an influx of the snakes as owners illegally release their unwanted pets into the wild, intentionally or by accident.
The six previously found constrictors have averaged a little over 7 feet long. They have been found near the Key Largo School, Card Sound Road Bridge and in the Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Botanical State Park, across C.R. 905 from the Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge. One was a live python in the state park that had devoured a wood rat.
Filed at January 13, 2008 under Commercial Fishing and Environment and On the Water/Fishing and Florida Keys/Upper Keys by Keys
Groups hoping to show the governor a good day of fishing and the bad algae bloom threatening Florida Bay.
January 10, 2008 Tavernier FL -A coalition of leading angling and conservation organizations today formally invited Florida Governor Charlie Crist to come down to the Keys for a day of fishing and to witness firsthand a destructive algae bloom threatening the region’s recreational and commercial fishing industry.
This is the third consecutive year that a persistent blue-green algae bloom has compromised the health of Florida Bay with potentially disastrous consequences for the region’s fishing industry, including die-offs of fish, and the seagrass and invertebrates upon which they depend. Conservative estimates in October, 2007 placed the extent of the bloom at 300 square miles. Over the summer there were reports of the bloom at the reef line off Islamorada and Long Key, and as far south as Vaca Cut in Marathon.
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Filed at January 10, 2008 under Environment and Florida Keys/Lower Keys/Key West by Keys
Smathers Beach will soon have 11,600 tons of fresh sand for locals and tourists to enjoy with financial assistance from the city of Key West and the Florida Department or Environmental Protection. The city has available $1.32 million approved by the state for Key West beach renourishment projects; $880,000 of that will be used for Smathers. That cost will be split between DEP and the city, each paying $440,000. That leaves the city $420,000 to spend on other beaches: C.B. Harvey Rest Beach near the White Street Pier is possibly the next project, city Engineering Director Roland Flowers said.
Despite Commissioner Dan Kolhage expressing dissatisfaction with the cost of the project, the rest of the commission gave the go-ahead when it met in regular session Wednesday. Commissioner Clayton Lopez pointed out that Thursday was the deadline to approve the contract, otherwise the state money “may not be available in the future,” city documents read.
Consulting firm G.M. Selby has been subcontracted for design, permitting and construction phases of the project, while E.R. Jahna will deliver the sand and Charlie Toppino and Sons will contour and grade the sand all within the year. Besides aesthetic benefits, the Engineering Department said such projects increase the likelihood of receiving post-disaster funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Kolhage doesn’t want the city to pay nearly a half a million dollars for the planning and designing phase of the Smathers project. “I’d want to see more spent on the sand and not the placement of the sand,” he said. Flowers told the commission the state says the design phase is necessary given the sensitive nature of sea grass, adding that particulars like grain size and color are scrutinized by DEP. “We are getting taken for a ride,” Kolhage said. “This is absolutely ridiculous.”
More Florida Keys Beaches.
Filed at January 8, 2008 under Commercial Fishing and Environment and Animals/Fish/Lobster by Keys
A commercial lobster diver faces an arraignment hearing in local court Friday on a count of possessing artificial-reef materials on the water.
Manuel Ravelo Jr., 35, of Key West was booked into the Monroe County jail Dec. 24 and released after posting $1,000 bond on the misdemeanor count. Ironically, Ravelo was named in 2005 to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Spiny Lobster Advisory Board as a commercial diver. The panel later voted to ask that he be removed because of missed meetings.
An information report on Ravelo’s case was filed Nov. 21 by the office of Monroe County State Attorney Mark Kohl stemming from an incident at sea June 11. According to a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission report, officers on patrol three miles north of Key West conducted a boat-safety and catch inspection aboard a 29-foot boat carrying Ravelo and another man.
Officers reported finding “many pieces of rebar approximately [3 feet] in length” along with a sledgehammer and tool bag. The iron reinforcing rods and tools were suitable for use in building an illegal underwater habitat to attract lobster, according to the FWC. Ravelo would not offer an alternative purpose for the materials aboard his boat, officers reported. Ravelo could not be reached for comment this week.
Underwater habitats, also known locally as casitas, are used to provide spaces where lobster congregate. During lobster season, divers can go to the site and collect many crustaceans rather than looking for them in their natural habitats. While commercial divers maintain such habitats are beneficial to the marine environment, biologists fear the structures could be detrimental to the lobster’s normal behavior. Hundreds of these structures are believed to have been built illegally around the Keys, according to government officials.
Under current state law, it is illegal to build such an underwater habitat without permits, or to carry on the water “any materials reasonably suited … for use and placement as an artificial reef.”
Florida Keys Lobster
Filed at January 6, 2008 under Environment and Florida Keys/Upper Keys/Key Largo and On the Water by Keys
A ‘Dennis the Menace’ cartoon from 1976 shows the characters discovering John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park in Key Largo. A program on local park history will be presented Monday.
Experts talk of Pennekamp, Everglades
Concern for the Everglades and Florida Keys environment has left South Florida with a bounty of unique national and state parks. The history of how Everglades National Park, the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park were created will be the topic of a 7 p.m. Monday program at the Key Largo library in Trade Winds Plaza.
The Historical Preservation Society of the Upper Keys hears Mary Tagliareni, education coordinator for the marine sanctuary, lead the free discussion of park development. “For anyone who has ever wondered when, why and where it all began, this is a chance to learn,” society President Jerry Wilkinson said. “South Florida is a special place, so special that for the past 60 years concerns for protecting it started a movement that would leave an environmental legacy.”
Also taking park in the program will be Bob Showler, Florida Bay district interpreter for Everglades National Park; and Elena Muratori, education specialist at Pennekamp.
Filed at January 5, 2008 under Environment and Florida Keys/Lower Keys by Keys
Wetlands damage apparent as crews remove casino boat
The jinxed life of the ill-named Lady Luck casino boat should come to an end within weeks. Work has started on cutting the metal hull of the 80-foot vessel into pieces to be carted away. The Lady Luck has spent more than two years sitting high and dry on a gulfside flat off mile marker 13. You can’t miss it looking bayside as you drive U.S. 1.
“It’s a very complicated project because of the location but at Day 8 of the mobilization, we’re exactly where we planned to be,” John Coffin, owner of Coffin Marine of Big Pine Key, said Friday. It’s always kind of a shock when that happens,” he laughed, “but it is going well. The devil is in the details, but barring weather or mechanical problems or some kind of accident, we should stay on schedule.”
The Lady Luck was grounded in Florida Bay by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 but freed. Then Hurricane Wilma hit that October - shoving the vessel onto a shallow grass flat where it has remained since, becoming an environmental hazard, eyesore and nuisance.
The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary tapped its shipwreck fund to pay for the $500,000 removal. Normally we don’t have to deal with a vessel this size,” sanctuary Superintendent Dave Score said. “We’re hoping it comes in under budget.” Typically owners of large vessels that go hard aground in the federally protected sanctuary pay for the salvage operation and environmental restoration. Read more »
Filed at December 14, 2007 under Animals and Florida Keys/Lower Keys/Big Pine Key and Environment by Keys
In a letter to the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), The Humane Society of the United States asks the federal agency to immediately halt a trapping program in the Florida Keys because it is needlessly killing raccoons and other native wildlife species. Local residents and wildlife advocates have expressed outrage over the senseless trapping of native wildlife. In its letter to USFWS Southeast Director Sam Hamilton, The HSUS points out that the Fish and Wildlife Service may be violating federal law by carrying out this reckless and indiscriminate killing campaign.
Last March, the USFWS hired USDA Wildlife Services to humanely trap feral and free-roaming cats and bring them to animal shelters, which then would place them in colonies or return them to their owners. The stated goal of the program is to reduce predation upon the endangered marsh rabbit. However, instead of removing cats, it turns out that Wildlife Services has been trapping and killing large numbers of raccoons and other wildlife under a program which costs taxpayers $50,000. “The irony is that the main species they are trying to protect – the Lower Keys marsh rabbit – is rarely preyed upon by raccoons,” explains Laura Simon, field director of urban wildlife for The HSUS. “The federal government is killing dozens of raccoons and other species indiscriminately, for no good reason, and taxpayers are footing the bill.” Read more »
Filed at November 4, 2007 under Animals and Environment and Florida Keys/Upper Keys/Islamorada by Keys
A Gambian pouch rat found dead on Upper Matecumbe Thursday, 11-1-07, is the first ever confirmed sighting of the raccoon-sized exotic rodent in the wild outside of Grassy Key. Wildlife officials fear if the world’s largest rat establishes itself in other parts of the Florida Keys, it could out-compete endangered native rodents such as the Key Largo and Lower Keys marsh rabbit. Of greater long-term concern is its potential to wreak havoc on agriculture should it make its way to the mainland.
“They have the potential to be a huge pest for agriculture in South Florida and they could also establish themselves throughout the southeastern United States,” said Scott Hardin, exotic species coordinator for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Since 2004, when officials documented the Grassy Key breeding population as the first of its kind in the United States, the wildlife commission, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Department of Agriculture have spent about $250,000 on eradication efforts. “We think we are down to a few rats,” Hardin said. Read more »
Filed at September 3, 2007 under Environment by Keys
Environmentally minded organizations and individuals are to celebrate Florida Coastal Cleanup Day Saturday, Sept. 15, by beautifying the near-shore waters, shore and grounds of Harry Harris County Park, mile marker 93 oceanside in Key Largo. Activities are to begin at 9 a.m. and continue until noon. Visiting and resident volunteers are invited to participate by picking up trash and debris from land and water areas. Several local businesses are donating the use of kayaks to facilitate the collection of floating trash and debris. Marine patrol officers will be on hand to offer assistance.
Volunteers should wear sturdy shoes and bring sunscreen, insect repellant and water to drink. Additional water is to be donated by local businesses. Read more »
