| SCIENTISTS AND DIVERS URGENTLY PETITION STATE OF FLORIDA AND THE FEDERAL
GOVERNMENT TO SAVE NORTH AMERICA'S LAST HEALTHY NEAR SHORE CORAL REEFS
January 5, 2003 TO: We, the undersigned coral reef scientists, conservationists, divers, fishermen, and other concerned members of the public, urgently appeal to the US Government, the State of Florida, and Governor Bush to immediately designate the remaining healthy shallow coral reef in Broward County as Outstanding Florida Waters, establish a management plan, and provide the same level of protection as the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. This coral reef (lying between Lauderdale by the Sea to Port Everglades in Broward County, Florida) is the last North American near shore coral reef still in excellent condition. It is threatened with imminent destruction by the effects of unnecessary dredging and beach filling. The Segment II permit (Permit Authorization #0163435-005-JC) that will allow the destruction of this reef is awaiting a final decision by Governor Bush and the Cabinet of the State of Florida. A hearing is scheduled for January 28 2003. We call for the permit to be denied because it violates Executive Order 13089 (Coral Reef Protection), and common sense. These Florida coral reefs are a priceless national treasure. They are the only healthy coral reefs in North America that one can swim to from the beach, and the only coral reefs directly in front of a major urban area. They represent the only place in Florida that corals and reef fish can spread northward if global warming continues. The Broward County reefs that lie closest to the beach are several miles in length and, amazingly, are covered with between thirty and forty percent of healthy, live coral, including many ancient corals up to a thousand years old. They contain the largest forest of Staghorn coral (a rare and rapidly vanishing species) known to remain in the entire Caribbean reef region. Dense fish populations pack these reefs which are essential habitat for juvenile fish. This nursery will surely perish without protection. These particular reefs are the last known of the once abundant shallow reefs that bordered Southeast Florida. Only by accident have they survived. They lie in front of the only large remaining stretch of Southeast Florida beach not already filled with dredged materials, which killed most of the other shallow reefs in the region. Those old reefs were equally magnificent. But they remain only in the memories of the oldest divers who watched them suffocate and die when dredged mud and sediment washed over them. No assessment studies were done until almost all of these old corals had been killed. It is unthinkable that the State could allow history to repeat itself by permitting the destruction of the last remaining stretch of healthy near shore Florida corals. Incredibly, these threatened Broward County reefs were unknown to scientists until very recently, even though they have been the crown jewel for local divers and fishermen for many years. Because they were unknown, they were never identified as a coral reef habitat, or designated as Outstanding Florida Waters, and have no protected status of any kind. This proposed dredging project is completely unnecessary. There is little beach erosion taking place in the stretch still protected by the living reef. By contrast, in all the areas where reefs were killed by previous beach dredge-filling projects, there is strong beach erosion. Those beaches can be more cheaply re-nourished by bypassing sand blocked by jetties from reaching them than by dredging the last available offshore sand supplies. Dredge fill material will directly bury some 13.6 acres of near shore hard-bottom that are feeding areas for endangered Green Turtles. Supporters of dredging point out that the dredge material will not be deliberately dumped directly on the reefs. But because the reefs lie in only 10-15 feet of water, 150 to 500 yards offshore, the pipelines from the dredge boats must cross them to get to the beach. There have been repeated and inevitable accidents in previous dredging projects as barges, anchors, chains, pipes, and suction pumps have damaged corals, despite the best of intentions. The mitigation plan requires 600 ton capacity barges with a loaded draft of approximately 7 feet to go over the reef to dump 152 million pounds of 4 to 6 foot boulders in the surf zone near the inner edge of the reef. Worse, the reefs will inevitably be smothered by mud plumes from the dredged material that will be re-suspended by wave action for years to come. Coral reefs are the most sediment-sensitive of all marine ecosystems. Staghorn corals, which lie closest to the beach, are the most sensitive species. The turbidity standard that is being applied (29 NTU) in the monitoring plan for this project is many times too high for these corals. This dredging project is as economically wasteful as it is environmentally irresponsible. According to the recent (2001) NOAA Socioeconomic Study of Reefs in Southeast Florida, Broward County earns some 2.069 billion dollars per year from reef related diving, fishing, and other marine activities that employ 36,000 people. This is more than any other Florida county including Monroe County (the Keys) and Dade County (Miami). Each dollar spent to destroy these reefs will eliminate many more dollars per year of income to the people of Broward County. Broward County is the shore diving capital of the continental United States and the only place where healthy coral reefs can be dived or snorkeled to from land. To allow this marvelous marine habitat to be destroyed is unconscionable. To destroy it in the name of widening a beach that is not eroding is like burning down the last Giant Redwood forest in the process of roadside weed clearance. Therefore, we appeal for immediate emergency action to save North America's last healthy near shore coral reefs from imminent threatened destruction. We call on all responsible Florida State, County, and Municipal officials to reject the Segment II dredging permit application and to fulfill the responsibilities designated under Coral Reef Protection Executive Order 13089 to protect all coral reefs in US waters. Further, we call on all responsible State and Federal Agencies to immediately begin the process to designate these reefs as Outstanding Florida Waters, to establish a proper management plan to ensure that they receive the same level of protection as those in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, and to save them forever as a unique part of the natural heritage of the American people.
SIGNATORIES: Cry of the Water Global Coral Reef Alliance Sierra Club
Save Our Shoreline Reef Relief Greater Ft. Lauderdale Dive Association PADI Project Aware Coast Alliance
The Broward County Beach Dredge Project is scheduled to go before the Governor and Cabinet as they serve as the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund on January 26, 2003 for approval of the use of our State submerged lands. Cabinet Aides meeting on January 22, 2003 Ask Governor Jeb Bush to deny the application at this time. Governor Jeb Bush, 210 The Capitol, Tallahassee, FL
32399 FAX 850-488-9578; Attorney General-Elect Charlie Crist, PL01 The Capitol,
Tallahassee, FL 32399 FAX 850-487-2564 ag@oag.state.fl.us; Chief Financial Officer-Elect Tom Gallagher, LL27 The
Capitol, Tallahassee, FL Agriculture Commissioner Charles H. Bronson, LL28 The
Capitol, Tallahassee, Cry of the Water, P.O. Box 8143 Coral Springs, FL 33075 reefteam2@yahoo.com visit our web site at cryofthewater.org |