Victory at Sea; Staghorn and Palm Beach Florida

[Ocean Rehab]

reefcheck.org :: View topic - Victory at Sea: Staghorn Coral and Palm Beach Florida

Victory at Sea: Staghorn Coral and Palm Beach Florida
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
The Town Council voted 4-1 Tuesday to accept a consultant's recommendation that the town go on record in favor of extending a critical habitat designation zone for staghorn coral from the Boynton Inlet north to The Breakers.

Several known "Ocean Activists" were in attendance including:
Ed Tichenor of Reef Rescue
Connie Gasque representing the Ocean..
William Djubin of Ocean Rehab and EarthRehab
Dan and Stephanie of Cry of the Water, and +50 more divers, it was standing room only....

 

[Toddms]

Great news!

 

[dumpsterDiver]

The newspaper said today that the Town fought the designation and won. Disregarding the presence of the coral will facilitate the dredging of sand for beach nourishment. Sounds like Reef Rescue got their asskicked.

 

[Ocean Rehab]

The Palm Beach Post article:
Palm Beach fends off coral protections, favoring beach renourishment


"Sounds like Reef Rescue got their asskicked."

not only Reef Rescue but also:
Cry of the Water
Southeast Florida Coral Reef Initiative
Palm Beach County DERM
Palm Beach County Reef Research Team
Reef
and Ocean Rehab

But the biggest looser was the Staghorn Coral..
Hopefully a team like Earth Justice will file a Federal Lawsuit demanding that this Endangered Species be protected.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Did we really think otherwise? Those people have some money you know. They get the federal government to provide millions of dollars to dredge and dump sand on beaches, many of which they try very hard to prevent public access by removing parking and by other means.

Last time they did this it was a disaster. Huge turbidity plumes, no attempt to control it, dedging of improper sand which was incompatible with turtles and the ecosystem. The sand was way too fine and hard. There was no enforcement, no fines or anything done about it as far as I know.

That coral has no value to the town.

 

[Ocean Rehab]

Victory at Sea; Staghorn and Palm Beach Florida

Query ??
What if we could teach these Palm Beach locals the importance of Staghorn Corals, enough that they understood that:
-if an area of Ocean, from their view, was announced as a "Critical Habitat" and possibly a gain World Heritge Site recognition or a Biosphere designation their property values would benefit.