Blue Heron Bridge Trolls

[danvolker]

Plenty of divers flat on the bottom today- and none of them are students.

This could be an entirely separate thread, we could all enjoy arguing about for a few hundred posts......On one hand, you could say that a macro photographer has to be planted, in the same way that a nature photographer shooting an eagle with a 600 mm lens, has to use a tripod, period...Hand-hold shots would not work.....even 100% perfect GUE skill hovering would not stabilize sufficiently for macro shots....although going from shot area 1, to the next shooting area 20 to 80 feet away, really should be frog kicking 6 inches up from the bottom, with zero silt...crawling is a bad habit too many shooters have--it's being lazy. My wife Sandra is as guilty of this as most of the other shooters. I know they know better, but they get into their shooting frenzies, and their minds start melting

However, crawling and laying flat motionless on the bottom, is minimal in it's disturbance of bottom dwelling life. The students doing the catastrophic roto-tilling are another story. They leave massive turbidity in their wake, they blow nudibranchs out of their hydroid forests and in the current and water column. Some pogo up and down into the bottom with actual impacts that could injure a person if the falling student came down on a diver's head. This there is no excuse for, this there is no pretending that severe damage or deaths of marine life is not a frequent result. I don't think you can say that about the typical macro shooters.

I will say this again, I think all students should be excluded from the main BHB dive site areas, and quarantined in the area north of the west fishing bridge, until they can demonstrate that they will not roto-till or pogo on the bottom.
I think we should begin a drive for this. It would put an end to the current practice, of allowing absolute non-diving , first day students, from taking the big tour of BHB on their first day, like a resort course with 6 to 20 in a group. This is carnage. This is wrong and irresponsible use of a delicate marine resource. The videos of this are horrifying. The Dive shops should self regulate this, before government agencies feel forced to step in and do the right thing.

All we need are steps by the west side bait cleaning station, which Environmental Resource Management already said we could have. Then the new students devoid of skills, could be trained in this quarantined area, until they prove they are responsible and skilled enough to dive in the main areas of the World Famous Blue Heron Bridge Marine Park. Students may need extra instruction if they proceed too slowly, and this is more revenue for the dive shop, for the slow learners..this is the way it should be.

 

[Reck Diver]

I agree, but only for divers. Five bucks per car for a dive is still super cheap, and it might help with the parking lot security as well if there is someone walking around the parking lot. Maybe the people who dive there 5 days a week could buy a monthly or yearly pass at a cheaper rate.

I think the locals should be able to park there for free for cookouts and fishing and such.

Since 2009, boaters using Phil Foster Park Pay an annual fee to park and use the ramp. Boating Registration fees were used to pay for the snorkeling trail currently under construction. Certainly no reason why divers can pay also. Buy a permit and a cheap used jet ski trailer and have at it.

I will say this again, I think all students should be excluded from the main BHB dive site areas, and quarantined in the area north of the west fishing bridge, until they can demonstrate that they will not roto-till or pogo on the bottom.
I think we should begin a drive for this. It would put an end to the current practice, of allowing absolute non-diving , first day students, from taking the big tour of BHB on their first day, like a resort course with 6 to 20 in a group. This is carnage. This is wrong and irresponsible use of a delicate marine resource. The videos of this are horrifying. The Dive shops should self regulate this, before government agencies feel forced to step in and do the right thing.

I think it would be impossible to single out students with restricted water access. What you could see happen is restrictions placed on all diving activities. Look what happened in ENP. Well meaning environmentalists asked for slight restrictions, and now several of the Parks best areas are either totally shut down, or so restricted, they are unreachable. Please don't think it couldn't happen. Because it can. Remember a few years back when a group from Pompano was trying to close areas on the reef. They were very persuasive and almost made it happen. Luckily the fishing community took a strong stance and defeated them.

The good side is that the county commission would have to pass laws and the state and inland waterway district might have something to say, since the all have a hand in the pot.

One of the incredible things about nature is its resilience. Though we have no real science, we see day in and day out what happens at the Blue Heron Bridge. Yet the sea life abounds. Not only at the bridge, but throughout the Lake Worth Lagoon. All this occurs with the added pressures of fishing, tropical collecting, trapping plus what ever poaching occurs.

Inexperienced divers are not the enemy of the organisms at the bridge. Water quality is where the focus should be. Silt pours in the inlet on a daily basis and naturally disburses along the tidal currents. Gray water, Farm Runoff, Petroleum Products, Organic Solvents, Human and Animal waste and other kinds of pollution funnel through the waters of the Blue Heron Bridge on a daily basis. Clean up the water, maintain habitat, then worry about swim fins.

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

Inexperienced divers are not the enemy of the organisms at the bridge. Water quality is where the focus should be. Silt pours in the inlet on a daily basis and naturally disburses along the tidal currents. Gray water, Farm Runoff, Petroleum Products, Organic Solvents, Human and Animal waste and other kinds of pollution funnel through the waters of the Blue Heron Bridge on a daily basis. Clean up the water, maintain habitat, then worry about swim fins.

well said, though the students are a problem.. the bigger problem is the water quality. How fast we forget how many days last year the area was shut down because of high fecal counts..

 

[Biminitwist]

I'll second what reck diver said with the exception "Inexperienced divers are not the enemy of the organisms at the bridge" because you can't underestimate the damage hordes of buoyancy impaired divers have on the on any reef/wreck.
The sheer frequency of fin slapping, gear dragging droves of divers (students AND "pros) will have a negative impact.
I would happily pay a park fee although I already have the annual pass for our boat, but getting it to be put back into the park for protection of the resource would be the problem. County parks here in Broward all charge a fee but I couldn't tell you what it goes to.
John

 

[dumpsterDiver]

If you want to protect the benthic environment at that site, the best thing you can do is stop promoting it! It is already "over utilized" and calling for more fees, taxes, rules and government intervention and restrictions is not something I support, particularly for recereational users who have paid taxes to have the site built.

We see some commercial operators make a lot of money working this site. I support a fee for commercial use of the facility before I would want to see taxes and fees imposed on recreational users.

There is a precedent for this type of rule... There has been rules established a long time ago that commercial charter operators are not allowed to pick up divers at this site.

 

[ConchyJoe]

From today's Macro Class with Phil Rudin. Awesome times! We are having a blast.

 

[jimw]

Conchy Joe,

Nice eel pic! I don't think we met yesterday although we did talk briefly with a young guy setting up next to our group of 4. Today I tried a new Aqua Lung bc--very nice, very stable setup--it was the Axiom. I hope I can buy one cheap in the future unless the old bc feels really crappy on Monday at the bridge again....................we shall see!! No pics of the little black flounderlike thingy we saw yesterday. Another nice dive today with 83-84F water and good viz of 25-30 feet.

 

[ConchyJoe]

Thank you Jim! We will be there again today. Can't miss me.. Bald and ugly. Working with Phil has been awesome. He is extremely knowledgeable, a great teacher, and a hoot to hang out with.

 

[AnneDiver]

Yes, you got it! They are headshield slugs, Philinopsis pusa.
And for a shamless plug, page 32 of Caribbean Sea Slugs.
Anne

 

[ConchyJoe]

From today, more fun with Phil. Man there were lot's of people. Kids with on fin, some lady with no fins being dragged back to shore.