[Coral-List] Endangered sea turtles killed in Florida

[Mcguire,Maia Patterson]

Hi Sarah,

Not taking sides, but in the interest of making sure people understand how these projects work...the news article references "incidental take"--my understanding is that in order to get permits to do activities like beach nourishment, dredging and even beach driving--activities that might harm listed species--the group that will be conducting the activity has to file for an incidental take permit with the federal government. They have to estimate the potential "take" and show what efforts they will take to minimize that take. Unfortunately the permitting agencies have to try and balance the demand (often by the public) for the activity against the potential impact on listed species and it ultimately often comes down to a compromise. I'm not an expert on this topic, but it sounds like the beach nourishment project below is operating under permit and has permission for a certain level of "take." The time for people to get involved is when the permits are being requested (I receive notice from my local Army Corps of Engineers office when those are happening in my area--I'd guess anyone can request those notifications...) 

Maia

Maia McGuire, PhD
UF/IFAS Extension Florida Sea Grant Agent
150 Sawgrass Road
Bunnell, FL 32110

386-437-7464

http://stjohns.ifas.ufl.edu/sea/seagrant.htm
http://facebook.com/NEFLSeaGrant
Educational videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/IFASCDistrict

________________________________________
From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov <coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml..noaa.gov> on behalf of Sarah Frias-Torres <sfrias_torres at hotmail.com>
Sent: Friday, May 8, 2015 1:36 AM
To: coral list
Subject: [Coral-List] Endangered sea turtles killed in Florida

I just want to bring to the attention of the Coral-List community at large, including the NOAA-Southeast Fisheries Science Center, Protected Resources Division in Miami, Florida, that a beach re-nourishment project on Palm Beach, Florida, is killing endangered sea turtles.
There is no report so far on what happened to whatever Acropora palmata or A. cernivornis might be there. The newspiece only covers the sea turtles. Not covered in the newspiece also (but circulated through Facebook) are the sea turtle nests that have been dug out and disposed off by the bulldozers on the beach. I cannot share the Facebook postings through this forum.
I urge the appropriate institutions to take action immediately.
Here's the newscast.http://www.wpbf.com/news/sea-turtles-killed-by-beach-renourishment-project/32826512

Sarah Frias-Torres, Ph.D. Coordinator Reef Rescuers ProgramIsland Conservation Centre Nature Seychelles,Amitie, Praslin, Seychelleshttp://www.natureseychelles.org/what-we-do/coral-reef-restoration-and-Research CollaboratorSmithsonian-National Museum of Natural Historyat Smithsonian Marine Station, Fort Pierce, FL, USATwitter: @GrouperDocBlog: http://grouperluna.wordpress.comhttp://independent.academia.edu/SarahFriasTorres

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