To local fishers, the importance of mangroves is evident. Intertwined with the twisted roots, there’s a web of life that’s inextricably bound to the snook, redfish, trout, flounder, grouper and a plethora of other gamefish that they seek. What can be less apparent to those that make a living elsewhere is the importance of mangroves as a critical source of food and protection for fish and people.
These ancient coastal forests provide an abundance of food for manatees, dolphins and sea turtles as well as sustenance and nesting areas for critically endangered seabirds. All these links in the chain of life provide the ineffable sense of beauty and wonder that continue to attract people to this region. They also protect and sustain a vibrant economy in ways that might not be as apparent.
What’s less well understood, and just beginning to be appreciated, is the protection mangroves provide against powerful hurricanes and rising waters that longtime residents have seen firsthand. With all that mangroves provide for us and our quality of life, it would seem they would be revered and protected at all costs.
Unfortunately, just the opposite seems to be the case.
When local fishing guides began to question me about what they considered extensive mangrove trimming along the Sarasota Bay shoreline, I went to investigate. What
I observed shocked and angered me. That was April 4 of this year, and I flew a drone and walked the shoreline to document what I witnessed. There were numerous large mature mangroves that had been cut, were denuded of leaves and appeared dead. There also was a large amount of cut debris in the water, including branches that were of greater diameter and longer than allowed under Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) guidelines.
When I reached out to FDEP in April to file a complaint, I was informed that Karen Willey, a local environmental advocate and business owner, had filed a protest two months earlier in February 2022. When I questioned Willey, she said she had been reading the Washington Post and had seen an ad for Aqua by the Bay that featured an image looking west with an unobstructed view of Sarasota Bay she had never seen before.
When I called FDEP to inquire why no actions had been taken, the response I received indicated that they had sent a letter to the permit holder about the complaint and had not heard back from them. They also stated that they couldn’t get on the property to inspect without permission from the property owner. After raising the issue with Florida state Rep. Will Robinson, Sen. Jim Boyd and the Manatee County Commission, an inspection was done which claimed that the conditions of the permit had been met.
Astonished, I sent an email challenging the FDEP inspection report with images showing my concerns.
At her request, I sent GPS-tagged images to Hannah Westervelt, FDEP Compliance Assurance Manager, and received a reply indicating that inspectors were being sent back to the site to investigate.
Subsequently, Westervelt contacted me to say that two inspections were conducted that confirmed our concerns. The permit holder was given until Aug. 12 to reply to the letter and we are currently waiting for the response.
It’s unfortunate and ill-advised that state regulators are not performing their duty in a timely manner to protect the citizens and businesses of Florida, present and future. But it wouldn’t be fair to lay the blame only with the FDEP. People I have spoken to who deal with state regulators on a regular basis fault prior Gov. Rick Scott with eviscerating the FDEP and spawning a mass exodus of the brightest and most committed regulators.
The people I spoke to at the agency, including Westervelt, were responsive to my questions and concerns and ultimately addressed the issue. My guess is the agency is struggling with a limited budget and staff. That’s where we the voters come in. It’s incumbent on the citizens of Florida and Manatee County to elect officials with a proven record of protecting our most important and vulnerable resources.
How this is resolved is still to be seen, but rest assured that groups like Suncoast Waterkeeper will make sure it doesn’t become just a cost of doing business for the developer. I don’t have a crystal ball but I’m guessing that future developers, builders and your children and grandchildren will judge us for the decisions we make and actions we take.
