8. Will coral reefs and turtles be affected?
The County has taken extraordinary measures to protect coral reefs and sea turtles.
Coral Reefs: The borrow sites designated as sources of sand for the project are located between and in proximity to coral reefs. The County has instituted comprehensive monitoring programs designed to detect adverse impacts to corals before serious harm occurs. In addition, highly precise vessel navigation and logging systems are mandatory, stringent offshore operations procedures are required, and specific dredge steaming corridors and operations areas are laid out such that reefs will be avoided as much as possible. In the nearshore, adjacent to the beach, narrow zones of sparsely populated hardbottom (much of which became exposed by erosion of the beach) will be covered over time by the equilibration of the new beach. To compensate for the impacts to these nearshore hardbottoms, the County has constructed 10.1 acres of new nearshore hardbottom using limestone boulders, and has transplanted hundreds of hard corals from the impact zones to the mitigation substrate. Sea Turtles: Sea turtle nests along the beaches of Hallandale Beach, Hollywood, and Dania Beach are routinely relocated to protected hatcheries each year during nesting season. This practice will continue during the beach nourishment project. Additionally, a sea turtle monitor will be on duty every night, all night, whenever and wherever beach construction activities take place at night. Should a sea turtle come ashore to nest in the vicinity of construction, activities will stop until the turtle returns to the ocean. Finally, a qualified endangered species monitor will be on station on the dredge at all times to ensure that no sea turtles or marine mammals are harmed by the project. At John U. Lloyd Beach State Park, beach nourishment will be conducted outside of sea turtle nesting season.
