Forget fossil hunting at Venice Beach

[ReefGuy]

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050316/NEWS/503160619/1060

The city of Venice, former "Sharks' Tooth Capital of the World" has decided, in their infinite wisdom to destroy an ecosystem so that the snowbirds have plenty of white beach. I guess nature just isn't up to task:

(exerpt):This month, the city is scheduled to begin its second beach restoration project, which involves dredging tons of sand from several miles offshore, bringing it in by barge and pumping it onto the beach and about 100 feet out into the Gulf. The first restoration occurred in 1996.

If we're lucky, this won't affect the reef that's about 300ft out. It's not much (the gulf isn't exactly known for its stunning reefs), but there is a large area of gargonians, an array of sponges, and some other hardy softies out there.

On my last dive at Venice beach, I found three megs in the first nice bed I was able to locate since the hurricanes. Care to guess how far out I was?

Ironically, the sharks tooth festival is next weekend. Guess it's the last hoorah.

 

[CBulla]

Welcome to FL - If its natural habitat, we destroy it so you can live on it!

This basically means that any shore diving for fossils will be shot.. on the other hand we'll be 200 feet closer to the bone yard!

 

[DennisW]

They do this every few years. This isn't the first time the beach has been "restored". The finds close in and on the beach will go away for a while. The finds out where you normally dive should be ok.

 

[ReefGuy]

Actually, this is only the second time at this particular beach. After the first the teeth became a lot more scarce. I'm afraid that after this, they will become rare.

And notice that they're not just dumping on the beach, but also 100' out. This is exactly where the beds have been re-exposed by the hurricane.

The boneyard may be ok (It's about 1/2 mile out), but I think beach diving is totally shot for a long time.

 

[Walter]

The saddest part is beach restoration projects don't work.

 

[diver doh]

The saddest part is beach restoration projects don't work.

Hey, it works... Until the next big storm or furycane!

and it makes the city fathers (and mothers) feel SOOOOOO good about themselves...

 

[2TH DIVR]

The Shark's tooth fest. is April 8-10

 

[adurso]

We were planning on hitting Venice in July. Last year we dove from the beach out to the reef and had a blast. We did not recover huge amounts of teeth from the beach dives, but it was fun. So by this July our only option will be charters to get to the boneyard, no teeth left off the beach?

 

[ReefGuy]

Keep watching the board. I'll be going out there until there's no point.

Also, Capserson beach (which is a couple of miles south) will NOT be renourished, as it's out of the city limits. I haven't dove this site yet, but a lot of people have good results there.

So by this July our only option will be charters to get to the boneyard, no teeth left off the beach?

 

[CBulla]

For anyone interested, all of the info for the Mayor of Venice Beach, found on the city website http://www.venicegov.com/:
Mayor Dean Calamaras -Linda Depew -486-2626, Ext. 2010 - ldepew@ci.venice.fl.us

An interesting fact from the chamber of commerce about the last "renourishment": In addition, a $18.7 million nourishment program was completed and the project has widened the beaches by 150 to 300 feet along a mile stretch of Gulf front from the Venice jetties to the fishing pier.

The chamber of commerce website: http://www.venicechamber.com/Index.html

My theory is just dont talk about it, tell them what you think.