http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/06/21/assignment_america/main6604513.shtml
KEY WEST, Fla., June 21, 2010
Assignment America: Local Residents Unite to Protect Mangroves, Beaches and Coral Reefs Free from Oil Pollution
       
By Steve Hartman

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        *       Play CBS Video
  *       VIDEO
   *       Key West ‘Army’ Prepares for Oil
        *       Now that the ongoing oil spill is threatening the Fla. coast, 4-thousand Key West residents volunteered to help if and when the oil reaches. Steve Hartman reports on tonight’s “Assignment America.”
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(CBS)  When you live in the Florida Keys, it’s hard to be anything but blissful, reports CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman. Oh sure, sometimes you get too much ice in your margarita – or put too much slice on your five wood – but residents typically take such setbacks in stride. Slow to anger and quick to go fishing, as a people, they are placid as the water. But now there’s a call for the laid-back to stand up.

A few weeks ago Dan Robey started recruiting volunteers for if and when the oil ever reaches here.

Four thousand people have signed up.

“We are now the largest volunteer organization in the Florida Keys,” Robey said.

It’s a devoted army, too.

After asking Dan to assemble a small, little group, maybe four or five people, word got out on the island and a huge crowd showed up. Hundreds of retirees, boat captains and drag queens showed up to tell me why the Keys will not go quietly.

Special Section: Disaster in the Gulf

“It is a special place. There’s no place like it in the United States,” said one woman.

“We know we are the stewards and we know we have an obligation to take care of our planet,” said another woman.

To that end, people here are taking Hazmat classes at their own expense – about a $100 a person. Others are learning how to clean the delicate mangrove trees, while still others plan to man boats and booms to protect their coral reef – the fourth largest in the world.

“It’s all hands on deck,” said Ed Russo, the vice chairman of the group and a one-time finalist in the Hemmingway look-a-like competition.

Russo said people here are willing to work with authorities, but not afraid to work without them either.

“It’s like when a hurricane comes here,” Russo said. “We can’t wait for the government to come down and help us. We have to help ourselves. It’s just part of the culture.”

People down here have always been an independent, sometimes insubordinate, bunch. Back in the early ’80s they threatened to secede from the union and form their own nation called the Conch Republic. And that was just over a highway issue. So you can imagine how fired up they are over this. They booed when Hartman suggested waiting for BP and the federal government.

“We got the backbone to do it in this town,” said a resident.

Of course, hopefully it’ll never come to that and the oil will stay out to sea. But if it does come here, residents say rest assured.

“We’re never going to allow the Florida Keys to get polluted,” Russo said. “It’s just not going to happen.”

Just try and stop them.

“We’ve seceded once and we can do it again,” Russo said. “We’re very good at it.”

Special thanks to Richard Charter

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/state/oil-threatens-key-gulf-algae-and-its-ecosystem-761434.html

By RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI
The Associated Press
Updated: 6:05 a.m. Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Posted: 5:53 a.m. Tuesday, June 22, 2010
It looks dirty and muddy, a brown mass of weeds with gas-filled berries that allow it to float on the Gulf of Mexico’s waters. Sometimes it washes ashore, getting caught in the toes of barefoot beachgoers or stuck to the bottom of flip-flops.
It appears to be just another sea plant.
But this Sargassum algae – sometimes called sea holly or Gulf weed – is key to hundreds of species of marine life in the Gulf. Now, the oil is threatening to suffocate it, dealing a blow to fisheries and the ecosystem that scientists say may take years to recover. And as the algae dies in the Gulf, less of the vital plant will reach the Sargasso Sea – some 3,000 miles away through the loop current – potentially harming that ecosystem as well.
Already, oiled sea holly has washed ashore in Orange, Ala., and scientists are seeing larger patches of it mingling with the offshore oil slicks.
“We’ve seen Sargassum mats from the air co-occurring with oil slicks. They’re in the same spot,” said Sean Powers, a marine scientist at the University of South Alabama, who is using a National Science Foundation grant to track the seaweed and its surrounding marine life.
Sea holly washes up on Gulf of Mexico and East Coast beaches throughout the summer, jam-packed with tiny shrimp and crabs, little shells and sediment, a treasure trove for children. On this sandy barrier island, clumps of sea holly wash up, forming patches of brown on the white sand.
Like underwater coral reefs, these algae mats are critical habitats for marine life. Tuna, Mahi-mahi, dolphin fish, Billfish, shrimp, crabs and sea turtles all use the algae to spawn, sunbathe or hide from predators, often while noshing on it. The algae’s own exclusive community_brown or yellowish fish with weed-like tails, unusual tiny shrimp and crab and unique seahorses, have adapted in color and behavior to live only there.
“Once it’s oiled, from everything we know of the effects of oil, all of those animals that live in the Sargassum will die,” Powers said.
Similar to phytoplankton – the nearly invisible floating plant life- sea holly is at the base of the marine food chain, said Dennis Heinemann, a fishery scientist with the nonprofit, Washington-based environmental group Ocean Conservancy.
Sea holly attracts so much marine life to it, fishermen congregate around the long weed lines formed by the algae, knowing it could increase their catch.
But experts say oil can kill the Gulf weed either by poisoning it or by restricting its ability to breathe or get sunlight.
Relying on the weed are 145 species of invertebrates, 100 fish species, 5 types of sea turtles and 19 different seabirds, said Ellycia Harrould-Kolieb, a marine scientist with the Washington-based nonprofit Oceana.
“They’re trained to cue in on that Sargassum,” Powers said, pointing specifically to younger fish and animals. “It’s the only structure out there that provides them any refuge from predators.”
Unlike land plants, Sargassum has few seeds and propagates by splitting off, creating new growth. When it dies, it leaves little behind. Powers estimates it would take at least three years to recover to pre-oil spill Sargassum levels, possibly longer.
While animals are resilient, habitat is not, said Bob Shipp, chairman of the Department of Marine Sciences at the University of South Alabama.
Past experience, including the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound, shows that if a habitat is harmed, the ecosystem will never recover in the same way. The herring that had once been a mainstay of the Alaskan sound never returned after the spill, partly because its foraging habitat had been destroyed, he said.
“We could see a whole new system created following the spill, and not a good one,” Shipp said, noting a great deal of the Gulf economy relies on robust fisheries of red snapper, grouper, trout, flounder, bluefin tuna and other seafood.
“The ripple effect is going to be very extensive,” Shipp said.
Sargassum is also awash in legend, including stories about vessels getting stuck in the Sargasso Sea’s thick algae mats, some covering acres of the water’s surface. Gulf of Mexico tourists sometimes view it as trash, annoyed it is not cleared off beloved white sandy beaches. Recently, some people have mistaken dead strands of Sargassum for oil washing up on Gulf beaches.
Until about two years ago, it was believed the Sargassum found in the Gulf originated in the North Atlantic.
Satellite images and research have shown, however, that the Sargasso Sea actually gets its algae mats from the Gulf, where the seaweed grows and propagates before getting pushed east through the loop current, around Florida and into the central North Atlantic.
“That would mean that the Sargassum that’s lost in the Gulf will impact the weed in the North Atlantic, the tuna, the fisheries,” Powers said. “This could have a larger effect.”
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June 22, 2010 06:05 AM EDT

Special thanks to Richard Charter

Dear friends – we’re now into the 9th week of the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and I’m learning more every day and as the scope of this heart-breaking nightmare grows daily, so does my general sense of understanding what’s happening on both micro and macro levels.  Please know that while my impressions are formed by facts that I piece together from my own research and conversations with local, state and federal officials, and from information that I get from other sources, there are many gaps in information and sometimes I just have to guess, assume or theorize what may be happening. 

Also, our normal work on getting Florida’s polluted waters cleaned up (Impaired Waters Rule litigation, TMDLs, nutrient criteria, Buckeye, etc.) and trying to keep our healthy waters from getting destroyed (water quality standards, designated uses, etc) must continue.  There are still grant reports and proposals to write, media work to do, phone calls and emails to respond to, web-sites to upkeep, etc. so every day, all day long cannot be dedicated to the oil emergency.  So, thank you for your understanding and for all of the membership donations and extra contributions that many of you are sending.  We are putting every penny you send to work for the protection of Florida’s waters.

Thank you to everyone who is sharing my updates and op-eds with your members, friends and colleagues.  The op-ed from last week was published in the Tampa Tribune and the Palm Beach Post in the past few days.  I’m always looking for the time to capture and summarize events and my impressions of them in a way that may be helpful to the general public.  So expect more soon.

Last week was a busy week here in the Florida panhandle.  The President came to Pensacola Beach and the NAS in Pensacola to talk to local and state officials.  Senator Nelson was in Pensacola for a press conference last Monday.  As reported to you earlier in the week, his report to the media on Monday was the best over all information that we have received thus far from an elected official.  More about this in a few minutes.

I finally received two responses from my public records request that was sent to seven state offices a few weeks ago.  The Attorney General’s office and the Dept. of Env. Prot. (DEP) both prepared the documents that I requested.  I’ll have those shortly.  I have submitted a follow-up letter this week to the other offices/officers that did not respond.  As I review these materials, I may find reasons to have a more positive impression of the state’s efforts, but to date, I am finding few reasons to be impressed with Florida’s efforts to help protect our state from the oil.

WHERE THINGS ARE NOW:

My overall impression is that coordination and protection is improving slowly but surely.  Finally in the past weeks, several Panhandle local government entities decided to quit waiting for the state and federal government to protect them.  It is a relief to see this happening as I’m not sure that our state and federal governments have the desire to challenge BP’s leadership (or lack there-of).  Once the oil started getting into the passes at Perdido, Pensacola and now Destin, the local governments in these areas have gotten much more proactive in their efforts to keep the oil from moving further into our inland waters.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is using its planes to track the oil offshore now and to look for wildlife that may be in distress.  This is encouraging and would be extremely helpful if there were boats available to skim the oil once it is spotted by the plane.

BP’s beach-cleaning crews seem to do a fairly good job of picking up the oil (and trash) from the beaches, although there are reports from some areas along the beach where the oil comes in and the clean-up crews are not available for an extended amount of time.  I don’t know of any increase in the number of skimmer boats that are working offshore.  The last report said there are three off the panhandle coast and more on the way.  I hope they will order/request more because as the flow of oil continues unabated, it will continue to move toward Florida and it is critical that they intercept as much as possible before it reaches the shorelines.

There was a large fish kill last week between Panacea and Perry but I don’t think that it was known whether or not it was oil-related.  The water in the Gulf is very warm this year and dissolved oxygen will be lower than normal, especially if there are algal blooms too.

An interesting phenomenon that we are witnessing is the mass exodus of marine life from further out in the Gulf to the cleaner waters along the coasts.  There are more dolphins than I’ve ever seen, sea turtles galore, sharks are everywhere, menhaden by the millions, barracuda, and lots of mackerel too.  We even saw a school of angel fish from the Navarre Beach fishing pier over the weekend.  I had never seen angel fish in the wild before and there was a school of about 8 or 10 swimming by.  Amazing!!! Also a few days ago there was a frigate bird soaring above my house, riding the wind currents above the Gulf.  Another “first” for me.  Usually these birds are only seen on the open oceans, I am told.

You may have heard today that there is a tropical system developing down in the Caribbean and that it could develop further over the next couple of days and become an issue for the Gulf.  If this one doesn’t materialize, another one will sooner or later.  I urge everyone who lives in a coastal county to check into the preparations being made in your area.  It is much better to be prepared for the worst and it never happens, than to be unprepared and get oil on your beaches, and in your rivers and estuaries. 

There are large booms available for purchase and they will be much more effective at keeping the oil away from our coast.  I suggests that every county have some on hand and the equipment to deploy it.  There are ships that could be collecting the oil from the open waters, but this is happening very little right now.  Please ask your local government officials to demand this.   This is not only important for the protection of our shores and the marine life that lives along the coast, but also because the oil is depleting the water of dissolved oxygen. 

Florida DEP says that there is no spraying of dispersants in Florida waters.  I hope that we can believe this to be true.  To date BP has apparently released almost 1.5 million gallons of dispersants into the Gulf.  There are ample reasons to stop this from continuing, but the EPA seems to be uninterested in taking serious actions to stop BP from discharging these toxins into our waters.  As I’ve said before, if I find out that they are spraying or using dispersants in Florida waters AT  ALL, then CWN-FL will go into court to get an injunction.

If the water near you is still clean and usable for fishing and/or swimming, then please enjoy it.  We have no idea how this will end, what the final damage will be or how long it will take to heal (if at all possible).  We all have lots of questions and there are few answers available.  I’ll be meeting this week with local officials and will share any news that I learn. 

For all of Florida’s waters,

Linda Young
Director

June 20, 2010

By JOHN LELAND

APALACHICOLA, Fla. – To the people who know her best, Bama is a skittish creature: smart, a good traveler, does not mix much with her peers. On a recent afternoon, Allen Aven watched her from an anchored pontoon boat, counting the time between her breaths.

“This is a good environment for her,” Mr. Aven said, looking around the busy, narrow waterway of Scipio Creek, across from the Up the Creek Raw Bar. “It’s sheltered from wave action. There’s lots of vegetation, and it’s relatively fresh water.”

A large gray snout belonging to Bama, a manatee, broke the water’s surface.

“Breath,” Mr. Aven yelled.

Mr. Aven is part of a team of researchers from the Dauphin Island Sea Lab in Alabama who are monitoring Bama and other manatees – massive aquatic mammals that are on the list of endangered species – for signs that they are being affected by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Mr. Aven and Nicole Taylor gathered water samples and recorded that Bama appeared to be eating regularly – she weighs in at around 1,200 pounds – and was not discolored, a sign of infection.

Until recently, biologists believed that manatees rarely ventured west of peninsular Florida, where, so far, no oil has appeared. But in 2007, Ruth Carmichael, who leads the Dauphin Island team, began documenting a relatively large summer migration of manatees to Mobile Bay, Ala. – leading them directly into and through the path of the oil from the Deepwater Horizon leak. From a couple of dozen to as many as 100 come to Mobile Bay for the summer, out of a total North American population of 5,000, she said.

As oil spreads into the bay, these travelers are now in danger of having their migratory routes and habitats contaminated, putting at risk a group that Dr. Carmichael believes may represent the scouts for the larger population.

“They’re not here accidentally,” Dr. Carmichael said. “Maybe they’re coming because of habitat loss in Florida. So even though they’re a small part of the overall manatee population, a loss of even one or two animals represents a large percentage of those in this group.”

Using VHF radio transmitters and aerial surveillance, the researchers monitor the manatees’ positions and the progress of the oil contamination, looking for signs of unusual behavior. But even if the manatees avoid oil in the bay, by the time they are ready to return to Florida in winter, their route back may contain deadly concentrations of oil and dispersants.

Because they raise their snouts to breathe, any surface chemicals or fumes would affect them directly. “These animals don’t know to avoid it,” Dr. Carmichael said.

The manatees’ size makes rescues extraordinarily difficult, involving Sea World, the federal Fish and Wildlife Service, the federal Geological Survey and the Dauphin Island Sea Lab. Rescuers have to lift the animals by hand onto specially equipped boats, then transfer them by truck to a rehabilitation center in Tampa, Fla.

Jim Helland, a Mobile, Ala., businessman, has been trying to raise money for rescues. “We can’t save all the wildlife,” he said. “But maybe we can save these few.” But at most they could rescue a handful in a season, and even these might swim back into the oil when released, Dr. Carmichael said.

“So much is unknown,” she said. Manatees eat 10 percent of their body weight in sea vegetation per day. If oil clings to the sea grass, the animals could eat it, get the oil on their bodies and pass it to others by contact. After a 1983 oil spill in the Persian Gulf, between 38 and 60 dugongs, a species that is similar to manatees, died from exposure.

For Bama, that exposure is yet to come. She left her winter home near a nuclear power plant in Crystal River, Fla., just before the spill, and researchers expected her to head for Mobile Bay, as she did last year. But after quickly reaching Apalachicola, nearly 200 miles east, she has stopped. She may sense trouble in the waters ahead, Dr. Carmichael said.
As Mr. Aven recorded Bama’s movements, a mullet jumped in the placid water behind her. The manatees, it seems, and the researchers, like the rest of this coast, are still waiting to see where and in what quantities the oil is going to wash in. “We’ve been bracing ourselves for this for eight weeks,” Mr. Aven said. “I wake up every morning and say, ‘Is this going to be the day?’ ”

Special thanks to Richard Charter