The Islander Newspaper E-Edition: Wednesday, May 22, 2019

Page 1

Tracking turtles.

Time capsule reveal. 17 Astheworldterns reflect on Memorial Day. 6

VOLUME 27, NO. 30

Congrats for cops. 19

AMITW reports May 19: 33 nests and 59 false crawls on AMI.

Have a safe and fun Memorial Day

MAY 22, 2019 FREE

Walkway construction next at AM City Pier. 3 Depositions continue in BB Sunshine suit. 4

Meetings

On the government calendar. 4

Op-Ed

The Islander editorial, reader letters. 6

10-20 YEARS AGO

From the archives. 7

HB weighs center funding request. 8

Save a date. 9

Happenings

The Best News on Anna Maria Island Since 1992

www.islander.org

Brown algae interrupts environmental respite

By Sandy Ambrogi Islander Reporter “The scientists can talk, but they are not out here on the water 200 days a year. It’s the worst brown drift algae I’ve ever seen here.” So says Capt. Scott Moore, who has been fishing Sarasota Bay and the waters of Anna Maria Island for almost 40 years. He knows what should and should not be here. According to Moore, Lyngbya wollei, the scientific name for the brown algae, is

rare in such large concentrations. “We get this brown drift every spring — some call it gumbo — but not like this. It’s common in small doses,” Moore told The Islander May 17. “But this has been horrific.” Moore has his theory on the algae: nutrients. He pointed to all the dead sea life that sank and decomposed in the gulf of Mexico and the bays during the red tide of 2018. “It all just ferments at the bottom, makes

all those nutrients as it decomposes and then feeds algae, such as the brown drift, and we get this huge bloom that rises,” Moore said. “Eventually, it all sinks again, but not before the smell, and it can take the oxygen levels in canals down to zero.” Larry Brand, a professor of marine biology and ecology at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science at the University of Miami, is an expert on red tide, but he hasn’t really weighed in with much PLEASE SEE aLGae, PAgE 2

ISLANDER TAKES ‘TRIP OF A LIFETIME’

Community announcements, activities. 10 Juvenile manatee rescued in marina. 12

Streetlife. 14 Video prompts new enforcement policy. 15 AME students jump into field day. 16

Gathering. 18

Obituaries. 19 AM plans Memorial Day ‘Salute.’ 19 Island rehab caring for fawns. 20

Beachgoing for the birds. 23 Youth soccer championships set. 24 Reputation for great fishing holds strong. 25 BIZ NEWS. 26-27

PropertyWatch. 28 CLASSIFIEDS. 28 NYT crossword. 31

Mary Ann Brockman of Holmes Beach takes a cellphone photo May 7 of an approaching lion in South Africa. Brockman went on safari May 6-12 in South Africa with her son, Kevin, of Los Angeles. Islander Photos: Courtesy Kevin Brockman

Kevin Brockman, left, and Mary Ann Brockman await breakfast May 8 beside a large watering hole on the Manyeleti Private Game Reserve in Tintswalo, South Africa. The preserve borders the Kruger National Park. For more pics and the story, turn to page 13.

Cortez stone crab season — one of the worst

By Kathy Prucnell Islander Reporter The 2018-19 stone crab season was one of the worst in Florida history and “a lot of it is due to the red tide.” That was Fish and Wildlife Research Institute researcher Ryan gandy’s assessment May 16. The research arm for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the FWRI, among other researchers and fishers, placed blame on the toxicity of red tide and the stranglehold of low oxygen in the water that resulted from high concentrations of Karenia brevis. The stone crab fishery closed for the season May 16. FWC limits the season to

five months annually to sustain the fishery. It will reopen Oct. 15. “Most fisherman stopped by the first of the year,” gandy said about the stone crab harvest. “There were no crabs to be caught from the mouth of Tampa Bay to Marco Island,” he added. John Banyas, who owns the Swordfish grill & Tiki Bar, n.E. Taylor Boatworks and the Cortez Bait & Seafood market in Cortez, is licensed for about 2,500 crab traps, but didn’t put them all out after testing and suspecting a bad year.

checks and harvests the stone crab claws from the traps set in the gulf of Mexico, agreed with gandy’s assessment in a May 15 interview with The Islander. “There was nothing off our local shore,” said Moore, who started crabbing 39 years ago with his father, fishing between St. Pete and Boca grande for the now-defunct family business, Moore’s Stone Crab Restaurant on Longboat Key. Different this season, he said, was the lack of stone crabs in local waters. Moore spoke to others in Sarasota, Venice and Fort Myers, he said, who faced similar issues. no crabs found along local shore “Anywhere red tide went, the crabs were Paul Moore, who, with Banyas, prepares, PLEASE SEE stone crabs, PAgE 3


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