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THE SUN
ISLAND NEWS
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Golf tournament to benefit scholarship fund ANNA MARIA - The AMI Chamber’s 22nd annual Golf Tournament Benefiting the Scholarship Fund will take place this Friday, May 14 at IMG Academy Golf Club. Foursomes are sold out, but dinner spots are still available at $35 per person. The Chamber also is still in need of raffle prizes and goodie-bag inserts for the tournament. If you would like to promote your business by donating a prize or a goodie-bag insert, contact the Chamber at 941-778-1541, or online at info@amichamber.org.
Bradenton Beach allows COVID-19 state of emergency to expire In response to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ recent executive order, the city of Bradenton Beach has allowed its COVID19-related declaration of a local state of emergency to expire. On May 3, DeSantis issued an executive order suspending all remaining local government mandates and restrictions based on the COVID-19 state of emergency. The Bradenton Beach Commission held its final weekly emergency meeting on May 5 and unanimously decided to allow its COVID-related local state of emergency to expire that day. That action means facemasks are now optional but not required of city hall visitors and city meeting attendees. The commission also allowed its Piney Point declaration of a local state of emergency to expire. The Anna Maria City Commission will discuss its response to DeSantis’ order on Thursday.
Anna Maria purchasing new generator The city of Anna Maria is getting a new generator to power city hall during extended power outages. The City Commission recently approved a request by Public Works Manager Dean Jones JOE HENDRICKS | SUN to replace the city’s existing Anna Maria’s diesel diesel generator that was generator will be replaced purchased used in 2017. The with a new natural gas city will purchase a new nat- generator. ural gas generator at a cost not to exceed $42,500. When presenting his purchase request, Jones said it would cost about $29,000 to repair the diesel generator. Jones said the new generator will come with 1,000 gallons of natural gas and the storage tank will be buried beneath a nearby horseshoe pit. He added that the initial supply of natural gas would power city hall around the clock for 14 days. The new generator is expected to be installed in mid-June. Hurricane season begins on June 1.
Correction The Aluna Wellness Center & Spa and the Wagner Real Estate properties that could potentially be impacted by the city’s ongoing zoning and future land use map revision discussions are located in the 2200 block of Gulf Drive North. A story in last week’s edition listed a wrong address from incorrect information provided to The Sun.
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MAY 12, 2021
Seagrass in Sarasota Bay drops to 12-year low
After a surge, seagrass is now on the decline. BY CINDY LANE
SUN STAFF WRITER | clane@amisun.com
SARASOTA BAY – Seagrass has declined by 18% in Sarasota Bay, according to a preliminary report from the Southwest Florida Water Management District. From 2018 to 2020, the reductions total more than 2,300 acres, bringing the total acreage down from 12,853 in 2018 to 10,540 acres in 2020. Levels this low have not been seen since before 2008, according to the report. Contributing factors include red tide, Hurricane Irma, and human impacts that increase levels of nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorous. While those nutrients were contained in last month’s dumping of 215 million gallons of wastewater from the closed Piney Point phosphate plant into Tampa Bay, the seagrass losses preceded that incident. However, the losses highlight the current vulnerability of the ecosystem, according to the report, as well as the importance of ongoing monitoring and the need to prevent further nutrient input. “We have an awful lot of work ahead of us, and we could very well be set back further by potential impacts from the Piney Point spills,” according to the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program’s Executive Director, Dr. David Tomasko. Seagrass is an important indicator of water quality and ecosystem health, and also supports 70% of important commercial and recreational fish species in Florida, provides food and shelter for marine organisms like sea turtles and manatees, stabilizes the seafloor, reducing wave energy and erosion, and
CINDY LANE | SUN
Seagrass in Sarasota Bay off Longboat Pass in 2014. reduces pollutants, including bacteria and pathogens, in the water. Under programs initiated by the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program, local municipalities, state agencies and others to remove human sources of nutrients to the bay, Sarasota Bay showed increasing levels of seagrass recovery until about 2016. Initiatives included upgrading wastewater treatment plants, removing treated wastewater discharges to creeks and canals and converting septic tanks to sewer systems. “Over the next few weeks to months, we will be pivoting our efforts towards finding the mix of on-land and in-the-water projects and programs that can help us recover the water quality and ecosystem health of Sarasota Bay,” Tomasko said.
Red tide remains at low levels BY CINDY LANE SUN STAFF WRITER | clane@amisun.com
ANNA MARIA ISLAND – Red tide remains at low levels in Manatee County after being detected in water samples three weeks ago. Low concentrations were detected in lower Tampa Bay at Passage Key, School Key (Key Royale on Anna Maria Island), the Rod & Reel Pier in Anna Maria and in Sarasota Bay at the Longboat Pass boat ramp in Bradenton Beach, according to the most recent Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission weekly report. Fish kills and red tide-related respiratory irritation were reported over the past week in Manatee County. Red tide produces a neurotoxin
called brevetoxin that can cause respiratory irritation, coughing, and more serious illness for people with severe or chronic respiratory conditions such as asthma, emphysema or COPD, according to the Florida Department of Health. Health officials recommend that people experiencing symptoms stay away from the water, go inside to an air-conditioned space, or wear masks, especially during onshore winds. Consuming shellfish exposed to red tide can cause neurotoxic shellfish poisoning. Health officials also warn against swimming near dead fish and advise keeping pets away from dead fish and seafoam, which can contain high concentrations of algae. Pets are not allowed on Anna Maria Island’s
beaches but are allowed on the Palma Sola Causeway on Manatee Avenue leading to the Island. Environmental officials say that the nutrients phosphorus and nitrogen, which feed toxic red tide algae blooms, were present in the 215 million gallons of polluted water discharged last month into Tampa Bay at Port Manatee from one of the closed Piney Point phosphate plant’s retention ponds, built into a gypsum stack. The emergency release, which ended April 9, took pressure off the compromised stack to avoid an accidental spill of even more of its contents. The polluted water is spreading in Tampa Bay and its estuaries and into the Gulf of Mexico, according to the University of South Florida College of Marine Science.
