Wildlife Refuge and the Great White Heron National Wildlife Refuge. The Sanctuary’s focus is its’ zoning and boundary plan which includes areas such the Ecological Preserves and Sanctuary Preservation Areas but the public can make recommendations on other issues related to it management and regulation.This is your opportunity to have a say in the future management and regulation of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and the backcountry management of the Florida Keys by the USFWS. Public comments are being accepted Through June 29, 2012. Comments may be submitted electronically and via mail, and during five public meetings.By Chris Sweeney Thursday, May 3 2012. Miami New Times
Kate Lunz didn’t know what to expect as she piloted her white Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission truck to the Port of Tampa in July 2010. The day before, customs authorities had called the 32-year-old, PhD-toting marine biologist and asked her to inspect the contents of two 40-foot shipping containers that had been sent from the Solomon Islands and pulled for investigation.
This marked the first time Lunz had been summoned to the port to do her job. To look official, she wore her white FWC shirt, pulled back her short blond hair, and packed an employee badge, a professional accouterment she rarely used. A federal escort met Lunz at the port’s entry and led her past rotund oil tanks and looming smokestacks toward a secure Customs and Border Protection warehouse the size of a football field. Lunz walked inside to find piles of what appeared to be white rubble wrapped in damp beer boxes and foreign newspapers. She snapped on a surgical mask to stave off the stench of mold and dust and began surveying the haul. Read the full story at http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2012-05-03/news/coral-reefs-are-being-decimated-all-for-a-few-gaudy-trinkets/
By DAN JOLING, Associated Press. Thursday, April 19, 2012
Three environmental groups are taking aim at how federal agencies approve dispersants to break up oil spills in marine waters.
The groups on Wednesday sued the Environmental Protection Agency and the Coast Guard, claiming the agencies have failed to make sure they know how chemicals in dispersants, and the reconstituted oil they target, affect endangered species.
“If chemical dispersants are going to be used after an oil spill, we have to know whether they’ll hurt or kill whales, sea turtles and other wildlife. So far, the EPA has no idea,” said Deirdre McDonnell, an attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, in announcing the lawsuit filed in San Francisco. “Unprecedented amounts of dispersants were dumped into the sea during the Deepwater Horizon disaster, and they’re likely still affecting the Gulf of Mexico, where dead dolphins continue to wash ashore.”
A dispersant approved for the Gulf of Mexico, she said by phone, may have a far different effect on a polar bear off the coast of Alaska.
by Underwatertimes.com News Service – April 26, 2012 19:11 EST
SILVER SPRING, Maryland — The recent rise in sightings of non-native Asian tiger shrimp off the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts has government scientists working to determine the cause of the increase and the possible consequences for native fish and seafood in those waters.
Asian tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon) David Knott - SERTC
Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are working with state agencies from North Carolina to Texas to look into how this transplanted species from Indo-Pacific, Asian and Australian waters reached U.S. waters, and what the increase in sightings means for native species. Read more at http://www.underwatertimes.com/news.php?article_id=10017893564
Learn more about Asian Tiger Shrimp at http://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/FactSheet.aspx?speciesID=1209 and Nonindigenous Aquatic Species at http://nas.er.usgs.gov/
Wildlife and Wetlands Two Years into the Gulf Oil Disaster
National Wildlife Federation
04-10-2012 // Jaclyn McDougal
As the two-year mark of the Deepwater Horizon blowout approaches, the National Wildlife Federation issued a new report today examining the health of the Gulf’s wildlife and wetlands. Impacts from the Gulf oil disaster will be unfolding for years, if not decades, and many species of wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico will need the combined efforts of scientists, policymakers and regulators to recover.
A Degraded Gulf Of Mexico: Wildlife and Wetlands Two Years into the Gulf Oil Disaster (pdf) was written by National Wildlife Federation Senior Scientist Dr. Doug Inkley. The report is also available as an interactive graphic at www.nwf.org/OilSpill
Major highlights include:
The poor health in dolphins in the most heavily oiled areas and the spike in dolphin deaths suggest possible ecosystem-wide effects of the oil.
The Gulf’s already-endangered sea turtle population has been dealt a severe blow by the oil disaster. Already strained bluefin tuna, deep sea coral, Gulf wetlands and coastal habitats were also impacted.
“It’s important to remember what we don’t yet know. Previous catastrophes like the Exxon Valdez have shown that impacts of oil disasters last many years or even decades,” Inkley said. “Little action has been taken to address the long-term species threats and wetlands habitat degradation exacerbated by the oil disaster. Much more needs to be done to ensure a complete recovery.”
Other oil disasters have taken years to reveal their full effects, and often recovery remains incomplete after decades.
“It will be critical to monitor these key species in the months and years ahead, especially given the unknown impacts of weathered and ‘dispersed’ oil remaining in the Gulf,” said Dr. George Crozier, retired director of Dauphin Island Sea Lab. “This disaster hit an ecosystem already weakened by years of wetlands degradation, including coastal areas around the Mississippi River Delta losing a football field worth of land every hour.”
The April 20, 2010 blowout on the Deepwater Horizon rig killed 11 workers and the Macondo well would eventually release nearly 206 million gallons of oil, providing a new setback to a Gulf ecosystem already struggling with years of wetlands degradation and the destructive power of Hurricane Katrina.
“It is essential for Congress to pass the RESTORE Act to reinvest penalties and fines to restoring the Gulf,” said David Muth, state director of NWF’s Mississippi River Delta program. “Without legislation to direct fines and penalties from the oil disaster to restoring the Gulf Coast’s wetlands and coastal ecosystems and a comprehensive Gulf Coast restoration program, the outlook for Gulf recovery will remain uncertain.”
photo:NOAA
Reef Relief has been invited to participate in the 2012 Green Awards. We need 10 positive reviews (4 or 5 stars) by April 30, 2012, to get added to GreatNonprofits Top-Rated Green Nonprofits List. Please submit your story about Reef Relief. Your stories will help us promote our program to over 2 million donors on GreatNonprofits.org, and syndicated to GuideStar, CharityNavigator,GlobalGiving, and JustGive.
Do it now at http://www.greatnonprofits.org/reviews/write/reef-relief-inc/green-2012/
MEET THE LOCALS!
8 Q’s & A’s for South Florida
MEET THE LOCALS introduces us to the local, dedicated & inspiring people out there working in some capacity for the Environment. Each month South Florida Green News will feature a different person -usually a local. We will ask each interviewee the same set of five questions, plus three more that they chose from a list we provide! In January it is Mill McCleary
Mill is the Executive Program Director at Reef Relief in Key West. Reef Relief got to work in the Keys protecting reef in 1987 and their history is impressive and their outreach is far and wide. Any friend of the reef is a friend worth having! Here is a mini interview with Mill.
PLEASE ANSWER THESE FIVE QUESTIONS…
1) What is your website or is there one you would like to recommend? www.reefrelief.org
2) What environmental policies would you like to see Florida adapt tomorrow? Stronger water quality standards, shutting down ocean sewage outfalls, expanded storm water treatments, permanent protection from offshore oil and gas drilling
3) What green policy have you seen adapted in a place outside of Florida that you liked? Permanent protection from offshore and inshore oil drilling in Chesapeake Bay
4) Favorite beach or outdoor spot in Florida? Florida Keys Barrier Reef
5) Please finish the following sentence, I Love the Ocean because…. it supports all life on Earth.
6) Biggest change you have made in your life to lessen your carbon footprint? Riding my bike or walking everyday
7) Book or Film you like to recommend? The Cove
8) Favorite local place to revive yourself and charge your batteries? Fort Zachary Taylor State Park
