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Done.
Sad day for Blue Heron Bridge
- Thread starter uncfnp
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Wookie
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Comments made.
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You are welcome to copy and change to meet your needs..
Hi,
I am a scuba diver with well over 200 dives at Blue Heron Bridge, I read with horror and shock the atrocities that happened last week at the site. As you are probably aware by now, Moody Aquarium and Texas A&M were awarded a permit to collect specimens from 4 diverse locations for their breeding program. Instead the divers, who claimed to be graduate students and collectors, only went to Phil Foster Park and collected hundreds, if not thousands of animals, including sea horses, octopus, batfish, frogfish, angelfish and many invertebrates.
I understand FWC amended the permit immediately effectively stopping the collection. And throughout the week, I have read that FWC has been on board and proactive towards BHB, moving the consideration of a Marine Protected Habitat off the agenda next spring and moving it to this December. I applaud FWC on the swift action.
Divers from around the globe come to BHB, as we affectionately call it, to photograph the concentration of unique animals in a small area. Now, because of the lack of ethics and very poor collection practices by these individuals, animals are gone. It would not be a far stretch to assume many died in the trip back to Texas. Gone forever. BHB will take years, if not more to recover. It hurts my heart to think that so many animals that are unique to BHB are gone.
Thank you for your swift action. I look forward to the results of the meeting in December, and hope you continue to be proactive.. for the divers, snorkelers, and most importantly, for the animals.
Best Regards,
Jenny Wuenschel
Hollywood, FL
You are welcome to copy and change to meet your needs..
Hi,
I am a scuba diver with well over 200 dives at Blue Heron Bridge, I read with horror and shock the atrocities that happened last week at the site. As you are probably aware by now, Moody Aquarium and Texas A&M were awarded a permit to collect specimens from 4 diverse locations for their breeding program. Instead the divers, who claimed to be graduate students and collectors, only went to Phil Foster Park and collected hundreds, if not thousands of animals, including sea horses, octopus, batfish, frogfish, angelfish and many invertebrates.
I understand FWC amended the permit immediately effectively stopping the collection. And throughout the week, I have read that FWC has been on board and proactive towards BHB, moving the consideration of a Marine Protected Habitat off the agenda next spring and moving it to this December. I applaud FWC on the swift action.
Divers from around the globe come to BHB, as we affectionately call it, to photograph the concentration of unique animals in a small area. Now, because of the lack of ethics and very poor collection practices by these individuals, animals are gone. It would not be a far stretch to assume many died in the trip back to Texas. Gone forever. BHB will take years, if not more to recover. It hurts my heart to think that so many animals that are unique to BHB are gone.
Thank you for your swift action. I look forward to the results of the meeting in December, and hope you continue to be proactive.. for the divers, snorkelers, and most importantly, for the animals.
Best Regards,
Jenny Wuenschel
Hollywood, FL
Done.
OP
uncfnp
Solo Diver
From Moody Gardens...
Moody Gardens – Galveston Island
From the locals...
Exotic fish removed from waters near Blue Heron Bridge
Fight to protect native fish under Blue Heron Bridge escalates
Moody Gardens – Galveston Island
From the locals...
Exotic fish removed from waters near Blue Heron Bridge
Fight to protect native fish under Blue Heron Bridge escalates
Is there any way to get FWC's report on how many fish were *actually* in the truck? There seems to be all sorts of different numbers being tossed around, from 12 to hundreds.
Wookie
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I can’t imagine that the permit conditions don’t require a report to FWC of what was collected.
So.. according to Moody Gardens, the divers were at 3 sites, 7 days of diving, and got 50 fish and 11 invertebrates. Those numbers seem pretty low. Sounds to me like Moody either is lying, or they hired some incompetent divers!
It would appear that Moody Gardens believes that they are large enough, and the interested dive community small enough, that the aquarium can bluff or lie it's way past this atrocious behavior, and any negative attention will simply go away.
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