Suncoast Waterkeeper teamed up with Sarasota Bay Watch on Sunday, April 12, to conduct their 17th Annual Sister Keys Cleanup. The event was a collaboration of the two non-profit organizations, the town of Longboat Key, Reef Innovations and the Mar Vista Dockside Restaurant.
Close to 40 volunteers worked for four hours on the island and around the mangrove fringes collecting trash and recyclable items.
The four-island, 74-acre Sister Keys located just south of Longboat Pass in Sarasota Bay were originally slated for development in the early 1960s as the Shangri Isle Club and they were once again threatened in 1989 when they went on sale for $1 million.
That spurred a group of citizens to form the Sister Keys Conservancy in an attempt to buy and preserve the islands as a nature preserve. After a three-year effort to raise funds for the purchase that included bake sales and the Music in the Park series, the Longboat Key Town Commission voted to fund the balance of the purchase price on July 10, 1992.
The islands underwent a million-dollar mitigation in 2007 that removed all invasive species, planted native flora and created a two-acre wetland. Today, mature mangroves dominate the waterways and are rich with crustaceans, minnows, juvenile finfish and wading birds.
Native species, planted on the uplands that were first created from the dredging of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway in the late 1800’s, have matured, making the islands one of the best examples of a thriving native marine ecosystem in coastal Florida.
The cleanup is part of an ongoing two-prong effort to clean the islands of trash and prevent the resurgence of invasive species.
Larry Beggs, owner of Reef Innovations, once again provided a barge to pick up bags and debris collected by volunteers along the island. The Longboat Key Police Department provided a boat to slow traffic in the Intracoastal Waterway during the event. In all 2,061 pounds of debris were collected by 44 volunteers.
Following a tradition started by Ed Chiles of the Chiles Group (who still provides parking for volunteers), Beachside Hospitality, the new owners of the Mar Vista, Beach House and Sandbar restaurants provided volunteers a waterfront venue, box lunches and service.
To learn about upcoming volunteer opportunities, visit the Sarasota Bay Watch and Suncoast Waterkeeper websites.
