HELP!!!! make Blue Heron Bridge Public Meeting to Discuss Proposed Marine Sanctuary in Riviera Beach

I'm posting this info to let everyone who has ever dove BHB that the county is considering asking the state of Florida to designate Phil Foster Park a Marine Sanctuary... Please help us by signing the petition in the link provided below.....

Public Meeting to Discuss Proposed Marine Sanctuary in Riviera Beach

Blue Heron Bridge Dive Club

Petition

Tanks....

The list of signees makes for interesting reading. So help me out here. Is the bridge already protected to some degree?

Steve

This is the exact same petition we authored and signed years ago (in 2008). Is the difference only in the delivery destination?

Designating an area as a Sanctuary is only part of the issue. The word "sanctuary" in the eyes of government often doesn't mean protection. There are marina sanctuaries where fishing is allowed - good example being the Keys National Marine Sanctuary - parts of it are off limits to fishing, and parts are even off limits to diving. Much of it, though is available to fishing and lobster trapping - even on a commercial basis. So, the question is, what protections are being sought with this effort? This is a can of worms that should opened carefully - for example, I would not want BHB diving to be required to be done with a commercial operator - and there are example of sanctuaries where this is required.

Cheers,

Cp

I'm posting this info to let everyone who has ever dove BHB that the county is considering asking the state of Florida to designate Phil Foster Park a Marine Sanctuary... Please help us by signing the petition in the link provided below.....

Public Meeting to Discuss Proposed Marine Sanctuary in Riviera Beach

 

Blue Heron Bridge Dive Club

Petition

 

Tanks....

Hi, the folks who have been working to put this idea in motion, are backed by the Scuba association, and the very same folks who put the Petition together to protect the wild life from unnecessary shlooshing. By the way that petition here- is the old one and it did its job and did get over 800 signatures, allowing the city to make this a "no-take-zone" in 2009.

I think by turning up for the meeting will be important to hear the proposals. I do believe they have the intent to qualify this in such a way that we will always be able to keep it as a beach dive, and add markers to help designate safe zone for divers, and boaters - you all stay over there, and fisherman you can fish over here. It makes for a happy family. I think it will be very worth while to attend.

Please note that the Blue Heron Bridge is a very special area blessed by creatures on journey and some that are residential. Being so close to the Gulf Stream current brings in a polithera of unusual creatures and marine migrations of many many varieties.

-Suzan

Designating an area as a Sanctuary is only part of the issue. The word "sanctuary" in the eyes of government often doesn't mean protection. There are marina sanctuaries where fishing is allowed - good example being the Keys National Marine Sanctuary - parts of it are off limits to fishing, and parts are even off limits to diving. Much of it, though is available to fishing and lobster trapping - even on a commercial basis. So, the question is, what protections are being sought with this effort? This is a can of worms that should opened carefully - for example, I would not want BHB diving to be required to be done with a commercial operator - and there are example of sanctuaries where this is required.

 

Cheers,

Cp

Hi, the folks who have been working to put this idea in motion, are backed by the Scuba association, and the very same folks who put the Petition together to protect the wild life from unnecessary shlooshing. By the way that petition here- is the old one and it did its job and did get over 800 signatures, allowing the city to make this a "no-take-zone" in 2009.

 

I think by turning up for the meeting will be important to hear the proposals. I do believe they have the intent to qualify this in such a way that we will always be able to keep it as a beach dive, and add markers to help designate safe zone for divers, and boaters - you all stay over there, and fisherman you can fish over here. It makes for a happy family. I think it will be very worth while to attend.

 

Please note that the Blue Heron Bridge is a very special area blessed by creatures on journey and some that are residential. Being so close to the Gulf Stream current brings in a polithera of unusual creatures and marine migrations of many many varieties.

 

-Suzan

Hi Suzan,

Don't get me wrong - I am totally in favor of protection. It's just that I have seen other "sanctuaries" and what they do and do not protect, and am cautiously hopeful that this effort will result in protection but not silly restrictions, i.e. "no gloves". There are some interesting questions that need to be answered, for example, what happens to the boats that are currently moored there? Do those moorings come out and get replaced with the mooring types we see in other sanctuaries? (and how will removing those old moorings affect the life that uses them for shelter?). Will private boats be able to use the moorings for diving? Even banning fishing has issues... the folks who fish there are not the rich guys for pay thousands to go hunt sailfish - some of those people probably get part of their daily subsistance from fishing there.

I was planning to go to the meeting, but not it sounds like no one will be allowed to speak. So I think I will just read the proposals after it's over and then decide where to put my effort into this.

I'm going to go get ready to dive BH right now as a matter of fact... have a new prototype housing in my hands that I need to try out... :-)

Cheers,

Chris