UPDATED SEPT. 12, 2021 – ANNA MARIA ISLAND – For the second week in a row, no red tide was detected in any water samples tested in Manatee County last week, according to Friday’s Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission weekly report.
The toxic algae began appearing near Piney Point in mid-April after 215 million gallons of contaminated water was dumped into Tampa Bay at the former phosphate plant. The water contained the nutrients nitrogen and phosphorus, which act as fertilizer for red tide.
The discharge was approved by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to prevent the collapse of a compromised gypsum stack containing the contaminated water. The former phosphate plant is in receivership and is slated for closure and the disposal of the remaining contaminated water.
Despite the clean Manatee County report, red tide remains in waterways in Pinellas County to the north and Sarasota County to the south. Fish kills suspected to be related to red tide were reported in or offshore of Manatee County, as well as Pinellas, Sarasota, Charlotte and Lee counties over the past week.
Red tide produces a neurotoxin called brevetoxin that can cause respiratory irritation, coughing, and more serious illness for people with severe or chronic respiratory conditions such as asthma, emphysema or COPD, according to the Florida Department of Health.
Health officials recommend that people experiencing symptoms stay away from the water and go inside to an air-conditioned space with closed windows and a clean A/C filter. Wearing masks, especially during onshore winds, is also advised.
Health officials warn against swimming near dead fish, and advise keeping pets away from dead fish and seafoam, which can contain high concentrations of red tide. Pets are not allowed on Anna Maria Island’s beaches but are allowed on the Palma Sola Causeway on Manatee Avenue.
Officials also warn that consuming shellfish exposed to red tide can cause neurotoxic shellfish poisoning.
Updated red tide forecasts are available at habforecast.gcoos.org and at visitbeaches.org.
UPDATED AUG. 30, 2021 at 7:15 P.M. – PALMETTO – Piney Point is now under the management of an independent third-party receiver who will oversee the closure of the former phosphate plant, which has posed environmental problems for decades.
Twelfth Judicial Circuit Court Judge Edward Nicholas issued an emergency order on Aug. 25 appointing Herbert Donica, a business lawyer and partner of the Tampa-based Donica Law Firm, as receiver of the site at 13300 U.S. Hwy. 41 N. Under the order, Donica is responsible for maintaining, managing and closing Piney Point “as efficiently and expeditiously as possible.” The order grants Donica judicial immunity from liability, including personal injury and property damage.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) sued Piney Point owner HRK Holdings LLC last month requesting an emergency hearing to appoint a receiver. The emergency was the possibility that summer rains could overflow a storage pond containing water contaminated by phosphate processing, dredge material from Port Manatee and nitrogen and phosphorus, which act as fertilizer for toxic red tide.
Scientists have noted a link between red tide-related fish kills and respiratory irritation in and around Tampa Bay – including around Anna Maria Island – since FDEP approved the discharge of 215 million gallons of contaminated water into Tampa Bay in March and April to avoid the potential collapse of a compromised gypsum stack that contained more than twice that amount of polluted water.
FDEP officials have revised their estimate that Piney Point will get at least another 10 inches of rain by the end of September, saying in a release on Aug. 30 that 8 inches of rain is now expected. The current storage capacity for additional rainfall at the site is about 11 inches. Totals are changing with rainfall amounts and water management activities at the site, according to FDEP, which includes trucking water off site to the Manatee County Southeast Water Reclamation Facility to lower water levels. FDEP reports that 163 trucks have hauled 1,033,220 gallons of contaminated water offsite, leaving 259 million gallons as of Aug. 30.
The state agency also is working with a contractor to remove nitrogen and phosphorus from the water in case another discharge becomes necessary. Since the April discharge, the water has been treated to remove about 200 tons of nitrogen and 150 tons of phosphorus, according to FDEP.
FDEP is a co-defendant with HRK Holdings LLC in a lawsuit filed on June 24 by five environmental groups, including ManaSota-88 and Sarasota-based Suncoast Waterkeeper, seeking to hold both responsible for negligence in managing the site. No hearing has yet been set in the case.
PALMETTO – As summer rainfall fills a near-capacity pond of contaminated water at Piney Point, state environmental officials are sounding the alarm about a possible second discharge into Tampa Bay.
Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) officials estimate that Piney Point will get at least another 10 inches of rain by the end of September, nearly as much as the current storage capacity for additional rainfall at the site – 10.6 inches.
“With additional significant rain volumes expected as we continue into the rainy season, water levels at the site will likely need to be lowered to prevent the overtopping of on-site compartment areas into the surrounding areas, including Bishop Harbor (an Outstanding Florida Water), which could include controlled discharges of treated water,” according to an FDEP release.
The potential overflow of the pond “poses an imminent threat to public health and safety, and the environment,” according to a request for an emergency hearing filed by FDEP in the 12th Judicial Circuit Court of Manatee County on Aug. 14.
FDEP originally sued Piney Point owner HRK Holdings on Aug. 5, asking the court to appoint a third-party receiver to take over the site’s water management and eventual closure from HRK. The state agency also is seeking damages and civil penalties, claiming that HRK failed to protect surface and groundwater. No date has yet been set for the emergency hearing.
In March and April, FDEP approved the discharge of 215 million gallons of contaminated water into Tampa Bay at Port Manatee from a pond built on top of a gypsum stack at the shuttered phosphate plant. The discharge was considered necessary to avoid an even larger spill that could have flooded area homes and businesses due to a tear in the liner of the pond that has since been patched.
The contaminated water contains phosphogypsum process water, seawater, rain, dredge material from Port Manatee and nitrogen and phosphorus, which act as fertilizer for toxic red tide, which has caused fish kills and respiratory irritation in and around Tampa Bay, the Gulf of Mexico and connected waterways – including around Anna Maria Island – since mid-April.
About 261 million gallons of contaminated water remain in the pond, more than was discharged this spring, according to FDEP.
The state agency reports that it has been working with a contractor to remove nitrogen and phosphorus from the water in case another discharge becomes necessary. Since the April discharge, the water has been treated to remove about 200 tons of nitrogen and 150 tons of phosphorus. The treated discharges would be less than 1% of the total annual load allocation of total nitrogen and phosphorus for Lower Tampa Bay, according to FDEP.
Contaminated water also is being trucked off the site to the Manatee County Southeast Water Reclamation Facility to lower water levels. As of Aug. 22, 56 trucks had hauled about 319,500 gallons of water offsite.
Additionally, rainfall runoff is being drained from permitted outfalls at the site.
“The priority remains to pursue all available water management tools to ensure safe storage capacities for the remainder of the rainy season,” according to FDEP. “The department expects HRK to continue to explore all short-term water management options to remove water from the site, such as piping and trucking water to nearby water treatment facilities, until a receiver is appointed and long-term water management remedies are in place.”
FDEP is named as a defendant with HRK in a lawsuit by five environmental groups, including ManaSota-88 and Sarasota-based Suncoast Waterkeeper, filed on June 24 seeking to hold both responsible for negligence in managing the site.
HRK Holdings LLC and HRK Industries LLC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2012 and settled the case in 2017, according to records at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida in Tampa. Chapter 11 bankruptcy provides for a business reorganization plan that enables creditors to be repaid. The reorganization allowed HRK to create and operate an industrial park adjacent to Port Manatee, a possible source of funding for mitigation.
Meanwhile, Manatee County officials are pursuing plans to inject Piney Point wastewater underground into a well below the Floridan aquifer, approving a $9.35 million agreement in April for Tampa-based ASRus to design and build the well. The plan would require FDEP approval.
PALMETTO – The owners of Piney Point have been sued a second time in six weeks, this time by their co-defendant, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
The closed phosphate processing plant was the site of an FDEP-approved discharge of 215 million gallons of contaminated water into Tampa Bay in March and April. The dumping was intended to prevent a compromised and leaking gypsum stack containing more than 450 million gallons of wastewater from failing and flooding nearby homes and businesses.
Since then, a bloom of red tide in Tampa Bay has emerged and spread to the Gulf of Mexico off Manatee and Pinellas counties. Scientists and bay managers note a connection between nitrogen in the wastewater and the proliferation of toxic red tide algae, which processes the substance as a nutrient.
Five conservation groups, including ManaSota-88 and Sarasota-based Suncoast Waterkeeper, filed a lawsuit on June 24 against Piney Point owner HRK Holdings LLC and FDEP, seeking to hold both responsible for negligence in managing the site. HRK’s authorized representative is hedge fund investor William F. Harley III; the registered agent and site manager is Jeffrey Barath, both of Palmetto, according to the Florida Division of Corporations.
On Aug. 5, co-defendant FDEP sued HRK in the 12th Judicial Circuit Court to seek injunctive relief to prevent any more discharges of wastewater, plus damages and civil penalties, claiming that HRK failed to safely operate the gyp stacks and protect surface and groundwater.
The state environmental agency is seeking $50,000 per day for violations of an order to remove the wastewater by 2019 and $15,000 per day for violations of surface and groundwater standards and other violations on the site. FDEP also seeks the appointment of a court-appointed receiver to oversee the management and closure of the site.
“The ultimate goal remains closure of the site once and for all,” FDEP Interim Secretary Shawn Hamilton said in a press release.
Blood from a turnip?
HRK Holdings LLC and HRK Industries LLC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2012 and settled the case in 2017, according to records at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida in Tampa. Chapter 11 bankruptcy provides for a business reorganization plan that enables creditors to be repaid.
The reorganization allowed HRK to create the industrial park adjacent to Port Manatee, according to the Tampa bankruptcy law firm that represented HRK.
The company owns 676 acres at the site, including three wells more than 600 feet deep that are permitted to pump up to 150,000 gallons per day from the Floridan aquifer, according to the company website. While the phosphate operation remains closed, the site is currently used to store salt, fertilizer and other substances belonging to at least nine tenants – including the Manatee County Port Authority, according to the website, which advertises portions of the site for lease for industrial use.
HRK’s reorganization was confirmed in 2016 by Judge K. Rodney May in a bankruptcy case involving more than $33 million in claims. During the case, HRK sold about 65 acres, netting about $15 million to reduce secured debt and “establish funding to ensure the environmental integrity of the phosphogypsum stack system located on the property,” according to the law firm’s website.
About 267 million gallons of contaminated water remain in the pond in the compromised gyp stack, which has been temporarily patched. The water consists of phosphogypsum process water, seawater, rain and dredge material from Port Manatee.
Manatee County commissioners approved a $9.35 million agreement in April for Tampa-based ASRus to design and build a deep injection well on county property to permanently dispose of the water.
Meanwhile, the clock may be ticking on HRK’s ability to fund work at the site; FDEP noted on Aug. 5 in its announcement of the lawsuit that there is an ongoing foreclosure action between HRK and its mortgage holder.
CORTEZ – For the second time, Raymond Guthrie Jr. has asked a local court to delay its order to demolish a structure he built on pilings in Sarasota Bay in 2017.
In a document filed on May 11 by Bradenton attorney Robert Schermer, Guthrie asked the 12th Judicial Circuit Court in Manatee County to grant a 90-day extension to allow four Florida legislators to help supporters find a way to save what Guthrie calls a net camp.
Net camps, which once dotted the Cortez waterfront in Sarasota Bay, were used to clean, dry and store cotton nets. They declined in the 1970s when netmakers began using monofilament nets, and were made virtually obsolete by the 1994 Florida gill net ban.
Citing prior net camps his family built on the same spot, Guthrie claimed ownership of the property, but the court ruled that the state owns the submerged land under his structure and ordered its demolition by Jan. 24, granting a 60-day extension on March 1 to allow the Florida Legislature time to act to save the structure.
While the Legislature did not act, Sen. Jim Boyd (R-Bradenton), Rep. Tommy Gregory (R-Manatee), Rep. Michele Rayner (D-Manatee) and Rep. Bill Robinson (R-Manatee) sent a letter on April 29 to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) – which initiated the complaint against Guthrie – suggesting the agency work with them to save the net camp.
“It has been rebuilt multiple times and is currently a more modern building than the previous structure,” the legislators wrote. “While the Guthrie Net Camp has lost some of its historic charm, it is an important part of the history of Cortez. We hope to find a way to save and preserve this small piece of Florida history for future generations to enjoy.”
In Guthrie’s request to the court for a second stay, his attorney states that Guthrie and his siblings are in the process of providing a bill of sale for the structure to an unnamed not-for-profit group that could apply to DEP to lease the submerged land under the structure.
Manatee County commissioners wrote DEP in their second letter of support on April 15 that while the structure does not conform to state standards, they believe that such an organization pledged to “the historical interpretation, facade reconstruction and subsequent maintenance of the structure will restore the net camp to its historical character.”
Whether the structure is owned by a not-for-profit organization is irrelevant, according to DEP spokeswoman Shannon Herbon, who said the agency intends to pursue the demolition.
TAMPA BAY – Five conservation groups issued a notice today saying they intend to file a federal lawsuit over the intentional discharge of “hundreds of tons of pollutants into Tampa Bay” earlier this year.
The Center for Biological Diversity, Tampa Bay Waterkeeper, Suncoast Waterkeeper, ManaSota-88 and Our Children’s Earth Foundation announced a forthcoming lawsuit against the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the Manatee County Port Authority and HRK Holdings, the owner of Piney Point, for violations of the Clean Water Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and Endangered Species Act.
They claim the defendants are liable for “endangering the public and harming marine ecosystems and endangered species” by failing to maintain the gyp stacks and the waste storage ponds built into them at the closed Piney Point phosphate plant in Palmetto.
In a Notice of Intent to Sue, the conservation groups note that protected marine species including loggerhead sea turtles and manatees make their home in waters that are currently affected by the plume of pollution spreading from Piney Point.
After a leak in a gyp stack was discovered on March 26, officials ordered the emergency evacuation of hundreds of nearby Manatee County homes and intentionally discharged 215 million gallons of water into Tampa Bay at Port Manatee to take pressure off a compromised stack, avoiding its collapse and a potentially more serious spill.
A retention pond on top of a gyp stack at Piney Point. – Submitted
The discharge ended April 9, leaving a pollutant plume containing what DEP calls “mixed sea water,” an acidic blend of saltwater and debris from a Port Manatee dredge project, stormwater runoff, rainfall and “legacy process water” – wastewater from phosphate processing that contains nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen that feed toxic algae blooms.
“Phosphate companies have had over 70 years to figure out a way to dispose of the radioactive gypsum wastes in an acceptable manner; they have yet to do so,” Glenn Compton, chairman of ManaSota-88, Inc., said in a press release.
Faulting DEP for allowing the storage of dredge waste in gyp stacks that the Army Corps of Engineers warned had structural issues, and for authorizing HRK Holdings to discharge the polluted water, the conservation groups charge that “Piney Point presents an imminent and substantial danger to human health, our drinking water, the regional economy and the environment.”
“Piney Point was and still is a ticking timebomb,” Justin Bloom, Suncoast Waterkeeper founder and board member, said in a press release. “Instead of appropriately closing this toxic waste site when they had the chance, the DEP allowed the site to become even more perilous, knowing full well the risk of collapse and catastrophic contamination.”
The plume of water continues to spread, according to scientists at the University of South Florida College of Marine Science in St. Petersburg, which developed a forecasting model of where the polluted water will be on any given day. On May 19, the forecast predicts it will be swirling around both ends of Anna Maria Island, into Palma Sola Bay and Terra Ceia Bay, into the Manatee River, around both sides of St. Petersburg Beach, into Tampa Bay and up the Little Manatee River.
Red tide
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reports that low concentrations of red tide were detected at the Rod & Reel Pier in Anna Maria and in Sarasota Bay at the Longboat Pass boat ramp in Bradenton Beach last week.
Red tide produces a neurotoxin called brevetoxin that can cause respiratory irritation, coughing, and more serious illness for people with severe or chronic respiratory conditions such as asthma, emphysema or COPD, according to the Florida Department of Health. It can also cause fish kills and poison shellfish, making it unfit for human consumption.
If the plume of nutrient-rich water from the Piney Point discharge reaches the red tide, “… it’s like adding gasoline to a fire,” Sarasota Bay Estuary Program Executive Director Dave Tomasko said.
Blue-green algae
DEP is monitoring area waters for blooms of blue-green algae. No cyanotoxins – the neurotoxins that are produced by blue-green algae – were detected in May 11 water samples. Results taken from samples on May 13 are pending.
However, widespread blooms of the blue-green algae Lyngbya have been reported in Anna Maria Island waters and at Robinson Preserve, the Intracoastal Waterway, Sarasota Bay and Tampa Bay, according to a report by Manatee County environmental scientists distributed to county commissioners by Acting County Administrator Scott Hopes earlier this month.
Contact with Lyngbya can result in itching, burning, pain, rash, blisters and cell death, resulting in loss of superficial layers of the skin, according to the report. Airborne toxins from the algae can cause eye and respiratory irritation. Excessive growth of Lyngbya can result in damage to seagrass beds and oyster bars, foul odors, oxygen depletion in the water and fish kills.
CORTEZ – Karen Bell has directed her lawyer to sue to stay the order to demolish a stilt structure known as a net camp just offshore of her commercial fish house, A.P. Bell Fish Co.
After the Manatee County legislative delegation offered verbal support for the net camp at a public meeting on Jan. 6, Florida Sen. Jim Boyd (R-Manatee), Rep. Tommy Gregory (R-Manatee) and Rep. Will Robinson (R-Manatee) made it clear to Bell that their hands are tied on extending the demolition deadline of Sunday, Jan. 24, won by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) in the 12th Judicial Circuit Court on Oct. 8, 2020.
Bell had intended to ask the legislators to request that DEP grant a 120-day extension on the demolition order, allowing the Florida Legislature time to draft legislation to protect the camp during the session that begins on Tuesday, March 2.
The delegation made it clear almost immediately that the request was futile.
“Because it’s a court order, they have no authority. I was told to ask the judge for a stay,” Bell said.
Meanwhile, back at the net camp, a work crew appeared on the roof the day after the hearing, prompting rumors to fly about whether the stilt structure was in the process of being demolished as ordered.
It was not.
Guthrie, who built the camp in 2017 and claims ownership based on prior net camps his family built on the spot, instead reroofed the structure last Thursday, Bell said.
Net camps, which once dotted the Cortez waterfront in Sarasota Bay, were used to clean, dry and store cotton nets. They declined in use when netmakers began using more durable fibers, and were made virtually obsolete by the 1994 Florida gill net ban.
Today, only Guthrie’s structure and a historic net camp remain, the latter restored by the not-for-profit Cortez group, the Florida Institute for Saltwater Heritage (FISH).
The 12th Judicial Circuit Court has ruled that the state owns the submerged land under Guthrie’s structure, and that the construction was unpermitted and therefore illegal.
Bell appealed in vain to Gov. Ron DeSantis to overturn the demolition order by Manatee County Circuit Court Judge Edward Nicholas, saying that the Guthrie camp had been rebuilt in the same spot as previous Guthrie camps and on some of the same pilings.
Previously, Bell had unsuccessfully intervened in the lawsuit, floating the argument that the structure has existed on the spot since at least the early 1900s, and, with the submerged lands, is protected by the 1921 Butler Act.
The act awards title of submerged lands to adjacent waterfront property owners who made permanent improvements on the submerged lands. Repealed in the 1950s, the act continues to affect title to submerged lands that were “improved” with construction prior to its repeal.
DEP conceded that aerial images show that a smaller, dilapidated structure existed where Guthrie built his structure, but said the Butler Act did not protect it because it had been allowed to deteriorate and become unusable.
Other stilt structures stand on state submerged lands in Charlotte, Lee and Pasco counties, but DEP maintains that those structures were not allowed to collapse before being rebuilt.
Bell said she is hopeful that her most recent lawsuit to stay the demolition order will be heard before the Jan. 24 deadline to tear down the net camp.
As she wrote to Gov. DeSantis: “These camps are iconic to this community. Artists come from all over the world and have memorialized these structures in their work. I do not understand how my state is not supportive of our history.”
BRADENTON – Non-toxic algae blooms have been detected in the Manatee River this week, according to today’s report from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).
Algae appeared in two water samples collected along the river near Bradenton and Ellenton; at River Pointe Canal on June 18, non-toxic Aphanizomenon flos-aquae was identified, and at Ellenton on June 19, non-toxic Cuspidothrix was identified.
Results from several other samples are pending. No samples were taken off Anna Maria Island this week.
Filamentous cyanobacteria (Lyngbya-like) was first detected in Holmes Beach waters on Thursday, May 9 in Anna Maria Sound at Key Royale and in the Intracoastal Waterway south of Grassy Point, and in Palma Sola Bay near San Remo Shores.
The algae species found in Manatee County waters are not the same species that has plagued Lake Okeechobee, the toxic Microcystis aeruginosa, according to DEP.
Blue-green algae can be blue, green, brown or red and emit a foul, rotten egg odor caused by the production of hydrogen sulfide gas, according to DEP, which advises staying out of water where algae is visible as specks, mats or water is discolored pea-green, blue-green or brownish-red. Additionally, pets or livestock should not come into contact with the algal bloom-impacted water, or the algal bloom material or fish on the shoreline.
Even non-toxic blooms can harm the environment by depleting oxygen levels in the water column and reducing the amount of light that reaches submerged plants, according to DEP.
The growth of blue-green algae typically increases in the spring and summer months when water temperatures and daylight hours increase.
Red tide report
No red tide is forecast in Manatee County waters through at least Monday, June 24, and none was detected in water samples earlier this week, according to today’s Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) report.
Background concentrations were detected in one water sample in Sarasota County. Background concentrations of the algae that causes Florida red tide, Karenia brevis, have no discernable effects on people or marine life, according to the FWC. However, in very low concentrations and above, red tide cells emit a neurotoxin when they bloom that can cause shellfish closures and respiratory irritation in people, especially those with asthma, COPD or emphysema. In low concentrations and above, red tide can be deadly to marine life.
No fish kills were reported this week.
Scientists say that salinity, currents, temperature and light play a part in the formation of red tide blooms, as do nutrients from Florida’s natural phosphate and limestone deposits, Caribbean seawater brought to Florida’s west coast on the Loop Current, the Mississippi River, Saharan dust blown across the Atlantic Ocean to Florida’s waters, and fertilizer and animal waste runoff.
To help keep algae growth at bay, Florida law bans the use of phosphorus and nitrogen fertilizers during the rainy season, June 1 through Sept. 30.
Report algae blooms to DEP at 855-305-3903 or online. Report fish kills to FWC at 800-636-0511.
ANNA MARIA ISLAND – Blue-green algae lingers in local waters, but is non-toxic, unlike some places in Florida, according to a Friday, May 24 report from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).
The report shows that blue-green algae was found in Holmes Beach waters on Monday, May 20 in Anna Maria Sound at Key Royale and in the Intracoastal Waterway south of Grassy Point. The same type of algae, filamentous cyanobacteria (Lyngbya-like), also remained in Palma Sola Bay near San Remo Shores. A different type of blue-green algae, Lyngbya majuscule, persists in Sarasota Bay near Whitfield Avenue.
The algae are less prevalent than in the previous May 9 report, according to DEP, which indicated that no toxins have been detected in any of the blue-green algae samples collected in Manatee County through May 20.
Blue-green algae can be blue, green, brown or red and emit a foul, rotten egg odor caused by the production of hydrogen sulfide gas, according to DEP.
Blue-green algae, which can appear brown, was evident near Key Royale on May 9. – Christine Wright | Submitted
The two algae species found in Manatee County waters are not the same species that has plagued Lake Okeechobee, Microcystis aeruginosa, according to DEP. About one-third of Lake Okeechobee may have blue-green algae present, according to the report, which states that the algae can be seen from space.
Of the 22 sites tested statewide from May 17-23 by DEP, seven were positive for toxins. Inland waters in Putnam and St. Johns counties near St. Augustine on Florida’s east coast tested positive for toxic algae, the report shows, citing an unconfirmed report that a dog died after swimming in Lake Broward in Putnam County.
Even non-toxic blooms can harm the environment by depleting oxygen levels in the water column and reducing the amount of light that reaches submerged plants, according to DEP.
The growth of blue-green algae typically increases in the spring and summer months when water temperatures and daylight hours increase.
Red tide report
Background concentrations of red tide were found in water samples off Beer Can Island in Longboat Pass on Sunday, May 19 and 4.6 miles off Coquina Beach in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday, May 21, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).
Background concentrations of the algae that causes Florida red tide, Karenia brevis, have no discernable effects on people or marine life, according to the FWC. However, in very low concentrations and above, red tide cells emit a neurotoxin when they bloom that can cause shellfish closures and respiratory irritation in people, especially those with asthma, COPD or emphysema. In low concentrations and above, red tide can be deadly to marine life.
No fish kills were reported this week.
Very low concentrations of red tide are predicted in Longboat Key waters through at least Monday, May 27, according to the University of South Florida/Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Collaboration for Prediction of Red Tides.
Scientists say that salinity, currents, temperature and light play a part in the formation of red tide blooms, as do nutrients from Florida’s natural phosphate and limestone deposits, Caribbean seawater brought to Florida’s west coast on the Loop Current, the Mississippi River, Saharan dust blown across the Atlantic Ocean to Florida’s waters, and fertilizer and animal waste runoff.
To help keep algae growth at bay, Florida law bans the use of phosphorus and nitrogen fertilizers during the rainy season, June 1 through Sept. 30.
Report algae blooms to DEP at 855-305-3903 or online. Report fish kills to FWC at 800-636-0511.
CORTEZ – As the Florida Legislative session winds down this week, Karen Bell, of A.P. Bell Fish Co., is caught in a “Catch-22” – she says she’s not allowed to talk to her state elected official about resolving an issue in his district because she is a party in litigation on the issue.
Bell said she has tried to set up an appointment with Florida Senate President Bill Galvano (R-Bradenton) to discuss sponsoring legislation to allow Raymond Guthrie Jr.’s stilt structure to remain standing in Sarasota Bay just south of her fish house.
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Guthrie built the structure in 2018 on the location of several former Guthrie family net camps, which were used by commercial fishermen to clean, dry and store nets, Bell said.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) says it owns the submerged land under the net camp and has ordered Guthrie to demolish the structure, but Bell says her company owns the submerged land pursuant to the 1921 Butler Act, which awarded submerged lands to upland property owners who made improvements, such as building structures, to the submerged lands.
She is trying to prove ownership in court. But because of her pending suit against the DEP, Bell said she was told by Galvano’s assistant that he can’t speak to her.
“It was suggested by DEP staff who came to Cortez and met with us that we talk with our local delegation about submitting special legislation to allow the camp to remain. They told us that other counties (Pasco, Lee and Charlotte) had done this successfully,” Bell wrote in a February email to Galvano’s legislative assistant, Amanda Romant.
Romant replied by email that “Our office has reached out to the Department of Environmental Protection for information regarding the status of the Guthrie Net Camp case. Based on the details they shared, you are involved in pending litigation in the 12th Judicial Circuit that prevents our office from getting involved. If these legal issues are resolved in the future and you would like to update our office again, please feel free to do so.”
Bell responded to Romant that she had no other choice than to intervene legally to prevent the camp from being destroyed, but that she would be willing to “drop the legal opposition if we can get a bill to protect the camp.”
She also noted that the Manatee County Commission passed a resolution last year in support of allowing the building to remain.
The Sun contacted Galvano’s office for an interview on the issue and was told in an email from assistant Katherine Betta that Galvano would respond. Instead, he asked his staff for an update from DEP, she wrote in a subsequent email. That update consisted of a history of court dates in the case, and advised that the next hearing is on June 4.
The Manatee County Clerk of the Circuit Court’s website lists the next hearing as June 3.
“This is ridiculous,” Bell said. “I don’t understand why a lawsuit should prevent me from talking to my elected representative.”
HOLMES BEACH – A new battle is beginning in the ongoing war between the city of Holmes Beach and tree house owners Richard Hazen and Lynn Tran.
A summons was received at Holmes Beach City Hall March 27 informing city leaders that they have 21 days to respond to a new suit. According to the summons, Hazen and Tran have filed a case against the city and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection alleging violation of civil and constitutional rights.
The suit, filed in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Tampa division, says the owners allege the violation of their rights due to the ongoing attempts by the city to remove the tree house and prohibit the construction of future similar structures on their property. The suit also alleges a violation of the couple’s rights due to ongoing efforts by the city to claim damages and relief for the ongoing legal fees incurred because of the case.
Due to a previous code enforcement board ruling, daily fines are stacking up against the tree house owners. Currently, those fines exceed $65,000 and are a part of the financial recompense city leaders are seeking from Tran and Hazen.
The two-story tree house was built beachfront near the Angelinos Sea Lodge in 2011 by Tran and Hazen and cost approximately $28,000 to build. Issues between the city and the owners arose when it was discovered that the couple did not get a permit from the city to build the tree house. The owners argue that they contacted the city’s building department and were told a permit was not necessary. When trying to get an after the fact permit, their application was denied by former Building Official Jim McGuinness because he said the structure could not be brought up to current codes and made ADA compliant as it is. The tree house also is located on the erosion control line, the line across which construction is not allowed without an FDEP permit.
On different matters in the tree house case, three trial dates have been set for Tran and Hazen versus the city beginning in mid-April in Manatee County Circuit Court.
CORTEZ – Raymond Guthrie Jr. denies all but one of the 21 allegations in the state’s order to tear down the net camp he built in Sarasota Bay off the fishing village of Cortez last summer.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) filed a complaint in Manatee County 12th Circuit Court on Feb. 6 to have Guthrie remove the 1200-square-foot structure, claiming he built it without permission on sovereign state submerged lands in an Outstanding Florida Waterbody. Other claims include that he may have polluted the water and failed to take proper measures to protect manatees during construction.
Representing himself without an attorney, Guthrie admits in his response to the order only that the property is in Manatee County.
In his response, filed April 27 with the court, he denies all other allegations of the order, including nine responses that he “is without knowledge as to the truth or falsity of the allegations of this paragraph, and therefore denies same,” repeating five times that he “denies the allegations of this paragraph,” and repeating twice that he “is without knowledge as to the nature of FDEP’s action, and therefore denies same.”
The DEP Office of General Counsel is reviewing Guthrie’s response to determine its next steps, according to DEP spokeswoman Shannon Herbon.
Guthrie claims he built the structure on submerged land where his family once had a net camp, said his representative, Joanne Semmer, president of Fort Myers-based Ostego Bay Environmental Inc. Net camps are wooden structures built on pilings in the water where cotton nets – now obsolete – were stored.
He claims that he owns the submerged land under the 1921 Butler Act, which awarded title of submerged lands to adjacent waterfront property owners who made permanent improvements on the submerged lands, she said. The law was repealed in 1957 but continues to affect title to submerged lands improved prior to its repeal.
DEP concedes that historic aerial images show a smaller structure where Guthrie built his structure, but the smaller structure became dilapidated, negating a Butler Act claim, according to Herbon.
Commission, village support
The Manatee County Commission voted in March to support Guthrie.
“Given historic photos documenting the presence of multiple net camp structures, the reconstruction of this single structure to recapture the essence of the historic Cortez fishing community should be supported with the appropriate state permits,” the commission wrote to DEP.
Cortezians Karen Bell, of A.P. Bell Fish Co. – which overlooks Guthrie’s structure – and Capt. Kathe Fannon, who operates a tour boat business at Bell’s Star Fish Co., also support Guthrie.
Fannon calls net camps a “birthright,” recalling numerous net camps in the waters off the fishing village, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.
The net camp could be protected by that designation, and by the Manatee County Cortez Village Historical and Archeological Overlay District. The Cortez Village Community Vision Plan of 2000, included in the district’s design guidelines, supports “maintaining the historic fishing culture of Cortez.”
The net camp also could be protected within the Florida Working Waterfront program; Cortez is one of 24 Designated Waterfronts Florida Partnership Communities, a program created in 1997 to address “the physical and economic decline of traditional working waterfront areas,” according to a DEP publication.
CORTEZ – The Manatee County Commission has voted to support Raymond Guthrie Jr. in his fight to keep the net camp structure he built in Sarasota Bay last year on what he says is submerged land where his family once had a net camp.
The commission voted on March 20 to send a letter of support for the structure to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), which has ordered Guthrie, known locally as “Junior,” to tear it down.
DEP claims that a title search shows that the state owns the submerged land under the unpermitted, 1200-square-foot structure in Sarasota Bay, an Outstanding Florida Waterbody.
The DEP has ordered Junior Guthrie’s net camp, far right in water, to be torn down. A restored historic net camp is left of the structure in the water. – Cindy Lane | Sun
Cortez commercial fishermen long used net camps – wooden shacks built on pilings in the water – to mend, clean and store cotton fishing nets; attached net “spreads” were used to hang the nets to dry. They declined in use when netmakers began using polyester, and were made obsolete by the 1994 Florida gill net ban.
“Included in the National Register of Historic Places, the net camps played an inseparable part of the gill and stop net fisheries trade within the historic village. Reconstruction of these historic structures provides the appropriate viewshed to understand the cultural context of the village,” according to the commission’s letter to DEP. “Given historic photos documenting the presence of multiple net camp structures, the reconstruction of this single structure to recapture the essence of the historic Cortez fishing community should be supported with the appropriate state permits.”
According to historic photographs, dozens of net camps once dotted the bay off Cortez, similar to the one built by the Cortez not-for-profit Florida Institute for Saltwater Heritage (FISH) as a historic artifact just east of Guthrie’s structure.
The Florida Institute for Saltwater Heritage (FISH) built this restored net camp off the Cortez fishing village. – Cindy Lane | Sun
That history underlies Guthrie’s claim, which is based on the 1921 Butler Act that awarded title of submerged lands to adjacent waterfront property owners who made permanent improvements on the submerged lands, according to Guthrie’s representative, Joanne Semmer, president of Fort Myers-based Ostego Bay Environmental Inc. The law was repealed in 1957, but continues to affect title to submerged lands improved prior to its repeal.
“We have to prove it was there before 1951, then you can still apply for the footprint,” she said. “It takes a lot of research.”
DEP concedes that aerial images show that a smaller, dilapidated structure existed where Guthrie built his structure, according to a November 2017 order that requires the structure’s removal, assesses $6,500 in fines and costs, and warns that Guthrie could incur up to $10,000 a day in fines.
However, DEP contends that the old structure eventually became unusable, negating a Butler Act claim, spokeswoman Shannon Herbon said.
Like many Cortezians, Karen Bell, of A.P. Bell Fish Co. – which overlooks Guthrie’s structure – joins the county in support of Guthrie.
“I would be thrilled if every single family that had one could build them again,” she said.
DEP’s Office of General Counsel filed a complaint with the Manatee County 12th Circuit Court on Feb. 6 to have Guthrie remove the structure, but DEP was unsuccessful in serving papers to Guthrie because they did not initially have his correct address, Herbon said, adding that after the corrected complaint is served, Guthrie will have 20 days to respond.
