Will New Laws Be Enough?

A temporary ban on longline fishing for shallow water grouper has been in place since May of 2009. This ban came after an extended research was done in 2006 and 2007, showing that the longline fishing fleets were killing more than eight times the amount of sea turtles than regulators thought.

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council is considering new laws that would combine seasonal restrictions on longline grouper fishing and a gradual reduction in the number of fleets that will be allowed to operate. The council will vote tomorrow, whether to recommend the new rules to the National Marine Fisheries Service, which could make a final decision. These rules would prohibit longline fishing in waters 210 feet or shallower between June and August, a compromise made in April between environmental groups and the fishing industry. But, after a federal observer reported observing five loggerhead turtle deaths in the month of April this year, on just one longline boat; it seems that the restricted time period may not be long enough.

All of these regulations are making it difficult for longline fishermen. Some of them have already made a switch from longlines to vertical fishing with rod and reel. Some fleets takes have dropped 75% and is making it almost impossible for them to survive. Knowing that these restrictions may put more people out of work during these tough economic times, causes strong mixed emotions. Lets just hope that there can be a balance somehow and still keep the sea turtles safe.

More Sea Turtle Eggs Stolen

I've just read another story about poachers stealing sea turtle eggs from nests at Casey Key and Venice Beach. So I thought I would use this as a reminder. If you happen to be on a beach and see anyone tampering with a sea turtle nest, notify authorities. On Sanibel & Captiva Islands, you can notify SCCF at 239-472-3817, ext. 228, Monday – Friday. On weekends, report it to the Sanibel Police at 239-472-3111.

Wee Willie's Off & Flapping

Want to read a nice story about a Kemp's Ridley sea turtle called “Wee Willie?" You could find out why he flew from London to NC and other interesting facts.

Walk #6

The first thing I noticed was the moon, as I walked out onto the beach this morning at 6:15.

There was a huge cloud, straight in front of me.


This was the view to my left and toward the Sanibel Lighthouse, that always gives me a welcoming blink, when I arrive.

Right away, I was surprised at the size of the piles of manatee grass.

As the sun was coming up, the clouds gradually began changing color. That's one of my favorite parts of the sunrise.



There was a deep row of manatee grass at one of the high tide lines. It was as much as 1 to 2 feet deep in places.









The deep manatee grass was not pleasant to walk in and someone had made a path through this pile of it.

Those scattered clumps along the high-tide line actually have a name - beach wrack - and are an important part of the beach ecosystem. Today there was a lot of beach wrack. There were some curiosities that came in along with the sea grasses.

These things had come in with the newer clumps of sea grasses and were still alive.

I thought this was a piece of some kind of sea grass at first, then I saw it move. Another one of these was swimming in a tidal pool. I saw around 30 or 40 of these. I've been searching, but haven't found a name for this yet.





The two treasures found today. A teeny tiny Turkey Wing and a pretty hibiscus bloom laying on the beach. I'm just not going to discuss the bad things like a nasty pamper floating in a tidal pool and the two full bags of trash that we carried away. These two things made up for that. :-)


Most of the walk was very pleasant today. At first it was cool enough, but about 10 minutes before leaving the beach, it had begun to warm up quickly. We had some rain during the night, so the noseeums were bad at first; but after using the bug spray, they stayed away.

There were no new turtle tracks today. The only tracks were raccoon tracks over the top of the one sea turtle nest in our zone. Thank goodness, it had done no digging into the nest. If all goes well, our nest should hatch around July 10. We got to see the little Plovers again this morning, and I always love watching them and counting to see if they are all still there. I'm not sure, but I think one chick was missing in the second family. Maybe it had just wandered further away from the parents.

Best viewed in HD on YouTube by clicking on the screen below.



This video of the Plover chicks is so cute! I think they will soon be a little too big to squeeze under their Mommy's wings.

Twenty Three Sea Turtles Released Back Into the Wild

The Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center on Topsail Island released 23 rehabilitated sea turtles back into the wild this morning. Hundreds of people were in attendance to help send the turtles on their way.