Top Environmental Stories

Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission will allow the harvest of up to 200 goliath grouper per year, with no more than 50 taken from Everglades National Park. DAVID GROSS/Keys Weekly

Symmetrical brain coral in the Florida Keys that has experienced bleaching. CHRISTINA KELLOGG/USGS. Biologists perform a necropsy on May 11 on a sperm whale found beached offshore of Key West. MANDY MILES/Keys Weekly

Carysfort Light, located off Key Largo, sits within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. DAVID GROSS/Keys Weekly An adult loggerhead turtle returns to the ocean. CONTRIBUTED

Michael Crosby, president and CEO of Mote, zip-ties an elkhorn coral to a small metal post. JIM McCARTHY/Keys Weekly

SAFEGUARDING WATER & WILDLIFE

Keys treasured resources saw progress and problems

JIM McCARTHY

jim@keysweekly.com

Coral outplantings, dives to collect debris, and wildlife rehabilitations dominated a busy 2022 in the Florida Keys. Meanwhile, Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary officials put the finishing touches on their recommendations on a plan to regulate and manage the waters off the Keys — better known as the Restoration Blueprint. With the good came the bad, however, as the island chain witnessed some unfortunate wildlife deaths — with blame put on human activities.

GOLIATH GROUPER HARVEST BACK ON, BUT NOT IN THE KEYS

Harvesting goliath grouper will be allowed in state waters, albeit on a limited, regulated basis, beginning in spring 2023. An abundance of goliath grouper, and more requests to reopen harvest in Florida, prompted state wildlife officials’ approval to allow 200 harvest permit tags in state waters, 50 from the Upper Keys’ backyard — Everglades National Park.

SPERM WHALE DIES NOT FAR FROM KEY WEST SHORE

A 51-foot sperm whale was the last thing one expected to see on the morning of May 11, laid out in the gravel parking lot of Robbie’s Marina on Stock Island. There it was. A striking but sad sight, with a mouth of biblical proportions.

The male sperm whale was found on May 10, beached on the northeast side of the Mud Keys about eight miles offshore of Key West. Investigation by biologists into the death found a massive intertwined line and plastic bag-type material, among other debris in the whale’s stomach.

LOGGERHEAD TURTLE KILLED ON U.S. 1

Horrific was the word Bette Zirkelbach, manager of Turtle Hospital, used to describe the reported death of a female loggerhead turtle after she was run over by a car on U.S. 1 near Sea Oats Beach in Islamorada in June. “This area continues to be a hazard for sea turtles during nesting season,” Zirkelbach said.

Sea turtle nesting season in the Keys runs from mid-April to mid-October. This means there are active sea turtle nests throughout the Keys during that period.

SOME PARTS OF THE KEYS REEF COULD BE SAVED, PER STUDY

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said roughly 85% of reefs in the Florida Keys are eroding. But assumimg restoration plans outlined in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Mission: Iconic Reefs initiative are met through the year 2040, researchers says some locations could see reef-building capacity restored.

LAND-BASED CORAL NURSERY COMES TO KEY LARGO

A new, land-based coral nursery announced in March is bringing a new kind of reef restoration to Key Largo. Community leaders and Mote Marine Laboratory staff gathered on Aug. 11 at Reefhouse Resort & Marina to celebrate Mote’s second satellite nursery in the Upper Keys.

The following day, Mote CEO Michael Crosby and Monroe County Commissioner Holly Merrill Raschein joined Mote researchers aboard Rainbow Reef’s dive boat to outplant the first 50 elkhorn and 50 staghorn corals at French Reef.

SANCTUARY OFFICIALS FINALIZE BLUEPRINT RECOMMENDATIONS

A two-day meeting to analyze and recommend changes to regulations within Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary — the Restoration Blueprint — saw Sanctuary Advisory Council members in agreement on a number of measures. Day one saw resounding support for expanding the sanctuary’s boundary, prohibiting discharges from cruise ships except cooling water and requiring single or rafted vessels 65 feet long to use designated large vessel mooring buoys, to name a few. Day two, however, saw some differences of opinion on catch-and-release trolling and bait fishing in Sanctuary Preservation Areas (SPAs). Sanctuary staff will now consult with stakeholder agencies – including FWC and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, among others – to hear additional recommendations before submitting an updated draft for final review at the state and federal levels.