ANNA MARIA ISLAND – Hurricane Idalia’s storm surge eroded the Island’s renourished beaches, but the full extent of the damage and when it will be repaired is not yet known.
“It could be months before any decision on what efforts will be undertaken is made,” Manatee County spokesman Bill Logan said in a Sept. 8 email to The Sun.
The first step of the process – evaluation by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) – has been completed.
“Jacksonville District completed preliminary damage assessments of all federal shore protection projects Sept. 1-3,” according to David Ruderman of the USACE Jacksonville Corporate Communications Office.
“Non-federal sponsors of federally authorized and constructed coastal storm risk management projects which sustained damages resulting from Hurricane Idalia have until Oct. 1 to apply for rehabilitation assistance under Public Law 84-99,” Ruderman said in an email to The Sun.
As of Sept. 15, Ruderman said requests have been received from Manatee and Pinellas counties.
During the Aug. 29 hurricane, storm surge reached 3-4 feet in coastal areas in Manatee County.
“This is the beginning of what I am told is a long process whereby the beaches are hand-measured, staked-out and surveyed for damage estimates from the storm and what measures may be needed to renourish any impacted areas,” Logan said in the Sept. 8 email.
Sarasota Bay Estuary Program (SBEP) Director Dr. Dave Tomasko evaluated the impact from Hurricane Idalia on the SBEP website.
“With Idalia, even though it was about 100 miles offshore, we were on its strong side, and thus we got the storm surge, even though we mostly experienced just tropical storm level winds,” he wrote. “This storm surge came a few hours before the peak of the full moon high tides.”
Water levels were retreating as the tide was coming up, Tomasko wrote.
“So, the dreaded ‘high tide on top of a storm surge’ did not happen,” Tomasko wrote. “That is lucky, because that could have added another foot or two. Still, water levels were about 3’ higher than they would have been otherwise.”
The last major beach renourishment locally was the 2021 Coquina Beach Storm Damage Restoration project, which placed approximately 74,805 cubic yards of sand at Coquina Beach.
“Beach renourishment projects not only provide recreational beach width for the benefit of residents and visitors, but during storm events, the sand also provides critical protection for structures and infrastructure landward of the beach. In addition, the beach provides critical habitat and nesting areas for protected species such as sea turtles and shorebirds,” according to Manatee County’s website.
Since 1992, Manatee County has participated in eight beach nourishment projects.
Approximately 6.9 million cubic yards of sand from offshore borrow areas have been placed as a result of the county’s and USACE’s beach preservation efforts.
PALMETTO – The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) continues to investigate the source of an Aug. 31 oil spill at SeaPort Manatee.
As of Sept. 8, the Coast Guard reported about 19,000 gallons of an oil/water mixture had been removed and 6.4 tons of oily debris was disposed of from the port’s inner basin.
USCG Sector St. Petersburg’s Response Department was notified on Aug. 31 through the National Response Center that there was a visible discoloration of the water at the Manatee County-owned seaport located on Tampa Bay.
“A commercial oil response company has been hired,” USCG Sector Commander Capt. Mike Kahle said on Sept. 1. “They’re applying a boom around the oil. It appears to be contained.” To date, 97% of the oil has been removed from the surface of the water, according to Kahle, who said he expected cleanup efforts to be completed by Sept. 10.
On Sept. 8, Congressman Vern Buchanan toured SeaPort Manatee. He was joined by SeaPort Manatee Executive Director Carlos Buqueras and Kahle.
“Our local waterways, environment and marine life are incredibly important to area residents and Florida’s tourism-based economy,” Buchanan said. “With no evidence pointing to any infrastructure failures or pipeline leaks so far, it looks increasingly likely that someone may have dumped this oil and is failing to come forward. Whether an accident or purposeful, any potential bad actors must be held accountable for putting our waterways at risk.”
According to Kahle, about 19,000 gallons of contaminated water were cleaned up from the port. Of that, approximately 3,500 gallons were heavy, unrefined oil.
“It’s still too early to define where exactly that heavy fuel came from, because we don’t handle a lot of heavy fuel,” Buqueras said.
“Since Aug. 31, SeaPort Manatee’s team has been proactively collaborating with the Coast Guard to assist in response activities,” Buqueras wrote in a Sept. 7 statement. “The Coast Guard has inspected every area of the port, yet to date has been unable to identify the origin of the material.
A boom is put in place to contain an oil spill at SeaPort Manatee. The U.S. Coast Guard continues to investigate the source of the spill. – Submitted
“Preserving the environment is among our top priorities, which is why we have fully continued partnering with the Coast Guard,” Buqueras wrote. “We have also encouraged tenant businesses at the port to cooperate with the Coast Guard.”
“NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) experts conducted an endangered species analysis of the impacted area and reported no fish or wildlife is affected at this time,” according to a Sept. 6 USCG report.
Due to its location in SeaPort Manatee, the U.S. Coast Guard assumed jurisdiction for the incident, according to Department of Environmental Protection Press Secretary Brian Miller.
According to the Coast Guard’s Facebook page, on Sept. 1, 4,500 gallons of oil/water were removed overnight and an additional 3,000 gallons removed the following day. On Sept. 2, the following was posted: “7,200 gallons of oil/water mixture was removed from the spill Sunday, including a large amount of oil debris. The source and responsible party are under investigation. Clean up operations will continue until we are sure the oil is removed.”
The following day, the Coast Guard reported 4,400 gallons of the oil/water mixture were removed, and stated, “Investigators are sending oil samples to be type-tested to assist in the investigation into the source and responsible party.”
According to that Sept. 3 post, 90-95% of the surface oil had been removed, ship’s hulls were 39-43% cleaned from the oil, and 6.4 tons of oily debris had been removed.
The Coast Guard reported on Sept. 6 that additional samples were taken from three vessels and two pipeline companies for analysis to try to find a match to the spilled oil.
MANATEE COUNTY – The U.S. Coast Guard is investigating the source of an oil spill at SeaPort Manatee on Aug. 31.
SeaPort Manatee is a Manatee County-owned port located on Tampa Bay in northern Manatee County.
“We are on scene now working with the port,” U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Mike Kale of Sector St. Petersburg’s Response Department said on Friday.
Kale said his department is actively working to determine the source of the oil spill, which he estimates at about 3,000 gallons.
“A commercial oil response company has been hired,” Kale said on Friday. “They’re applying a boom around the oil. It appears to be contained.”
Some of the Coast Guard Response Department’s missions are ports, waterways and coastal security, and marine environmental protection.
The spill was noticed on Aug. 31, according to a spokesperson for the Manatee County Port Authority. That was the day after Hurricane Idalia side-swept Manatee County as a Category 3 storm.
“Yesterday, we noticed a visible discoloration within the port’s basin and notified the National Response Center,” Manatee County Port Authority Communications Director Virginia Zimmerman wrote in a Sept. 1 email. “The U.S. Coast Guard inspected and didn’t set any restrictions on vessel operations.”
Kale said the investigation into the source of the oil remains active.
“We don’t know the source right now, we are continuing to investigate,” he said. “That could take some time to determine.”
ANNA MARIA – The U.S. Coast Guard rescued three mariners from a 70-foot commercial fishing vessel that took on water and ran aground Friday evening in rough seas two miles west of Anna Maria Island.
The fishermen are “OK,” according to boat owner Joe Versaggi, of Tampa-based Versaggi Shrimp Corp. But pieces of the Warrior, along with some fuel, continued to wash up on Anna Maria Island’s beaches this afternoon, floating south past Holmes Beach and Bradenton Beach and reaching Longboat Key.
While the Coast Guard reported earlier today that the hull of the vessel appeared intact, some of the 7,000 gallons of diesel fuel was reported leaking.
“The United States Coast Guard informed me this evening that after their last flyover, the vessel’s fuel tank appears to still be secure. It is their opinion that the fuel we have on our beach is possibly from remnants from the vessel’s bilge,” Anna Maria Mayor Dan Murphy said. A salvage boat is expected to reach the site on Sunday morning between 8-10 a.m. to remove the hull, engine and fuel tanks, he said.
Cortez commercial fisherman Mike Fannon cleaned up some boat debris washing into the Rod and Reel Pier in Anna Maria this morning, after seeing the Warrior in the Gulf of Mexico off Anna Maria Island on Friday and noting that “it was too close to the reef,” Capt. Kathe Fannon said. Debris was washing up on Beer Can Island (Greer Island) at the north end of Longboat Key around 2 p.m. today, she added.
Fuel and oil from the accident could impact bird populations on the Island, including terns and laughing gulls, said Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring Director Suzi Fox.
It’s too early for shorebirds to begin nesting, and sea turtle nesting season is over until May 1, but some local sea turtles could be affected, as could the seagrass they feed in, she said.
According to the Coast Guard press release, “A Coast Guard Station Cortez 45-foot Response Boat-Medium boat crew arrived at 7:50 p.m. to the 70-foot commercial fishing vessel Warrior, took the three crew members off the vessel and transferred them to a dock in Cortez with no medical concerns.”
This section of the commercial fishing vessel Warrior washed ashore on the sand in Holmes Beach. – Sarah Parsons | Submitted
According to the press release, “Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg received a call on VHF-Channel 16 from the Warrior operator reporting they had 2 feet of water on board and pumps were unable to keep up with the flooding. A MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Air Station Clearwater also responded. The Coast Guard will continue to monitor the vessel for possible pollution.”
The vessel examination sticker is affixed to a window of the fishing vessel debris that washed ashore in Holmes Beach. – Sarah Parsons | Submitted
The Coast Guard press release includes a few seconds of video footage that shows the Coast Guard vessel approaching the Warrior in distress.
This shipwreck debris was spotted offshore of Bean Point Saturday morning. – Kristin Swain | Sun
Debris field and cleanup efforts
The abandoned Warrior later broke apart and much of the ship’s debris washed ashore along the northern tip of Anna Maria Island at Bean Point.
This morning, Anna Maria Mayor Dan Murphy and Public Works Manager Dean Jones investigated the debris field and initiated the city’s cleanup response.
Anna Maria Public Works Manager Dean Jones and Mayor Dan Murphy toured the debris field Saturday morning. – Kristin Swain | Sun
“It’s a shrimp boat out of Tampa, owned by the Versaggi Shrimp Corporation out of Tampa,” Murphy said, adding the shrimp company’s insurer will be asked to pay for the cleanup efforts.
The debris field includes wooden planks, green plastic bags and more. – Kristin Swain | Sun
“They’re going to have to pay for it. I’ve informed the Coast Guard and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). We started taking the debris out. We got a hold of the county and the county’s bringing in reinforcements to help us pull up the debris. I couldn’t allow that debris to sit there. There’s about a mile-and-a-half to 2 miles of debris on the beach. There’s timbers, rusty nails and bolts and more. It’s a public safety hazard,” Murphy said.
“The beach isn’t closed, but we’d like people to stay away because it’s dangerous with all the debris and diesel fuel. The diesel fuel spill starts at Bean Point and ends at Cypress. The debris field starts at Bean Point and goes all the way down to the entrance to the city at White Avenue,” Murphy said.
Murphy said the Coast Guard and DEP are monitoring the fuel spill.
“FDEP is on board for the fuel spill and they’re supposed to get back to me with their advice. We’ve got two big containers that we’re putting at the end of Magnolia Avenue to collect the debris we’re picking up on the beach,” Murphy said.
When contacted at approximately 1 p.m. this afternoon, Joe Versaggi confirmed the Warrior was part of the Versaggi Shrimp Corporation’s Tampa-based fishing fleet.
“It was our boat. We’re trying to get a dive crew and a salvage crew out there now,” Versaggi said.
This large piece of shipwreck debris washed ashore at Bean Point. – Kristin Swain | Sun
When asked about the Warrior’s crew, Versaggi said, “They’re all OK.”
Versaggi said he spoke to Murphy about the cleanup efforts.
“I told him to call the insurance adjuster,” Versaggi said.
When contacted a few minutes later, Murphy said, “I talked to their insurance adjuster and they’re going to compensate us for all our work. That is not a problem. I am saving the debris for Mr. Versaggi because he wants to inspect it.”
When contacted earlier this morning, Jones commented on the debris field and the pending cleanup efforts.
“It’s bad. It basically broke apart from what we can tell. There’s fuel up on Bean Point. You can smell diesel fuel. There’s all these green bags out there on the beach. There’s wood everywhere with nails in it. There’s baskets, cartons and other debris. We called everyone from Public Works to be here as quickly as possible.”
This is some of the debris that washed ashore at Bean Point. – Charlie Trygg | Submitted
As the COVID-19 pandemic progresses, the Florida Department of Health is no longer monitoring water quality at local beaches because they are closed. Likewise, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is reducing its water testing for red tide.
But local waters have been unusually clear this month, a great reason to get outside and celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day on Wednesday, April 22.
One Florida event is #GetTrashed, a challenge to take a walk outside with gloves and a plastic bag and pick up enough trash to fill a bag. But wear your mask and stay at least 6 feet from anyone else. Check out more events here.
Arbor Day is also still being celebrated on Friday, April 24. Organizers suggest virtual celebrations, like live-streaming a reading of the poem, “Trees,” by Joyce Kilmer on your Facebook page. Check out more virtual celebration suggestions.
And if you do nothing else environmental this week, resolve to learn enough about federal oil spill policy to help you decide whom to vote for in the next presidential election, in honor of the 11 people killed in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which happened 10 years ago April 20.
The spill poisoned the Gulf of Mexico and its marine life with 200 million gallons of oil for nearly three months, some washing up on beaches from Texas to Florida.
The Washington, D.C.-based environmental group Oceana says that the federal government’s proposal to expand offshore drilling to nearly all U.S. waters will result in more spills.
“Offshore drilling is still as dirty and dangerous as it was 10 years ago,” said Diane Hoskins, Oceana campaign director. “If anything, another disaster is more likely today as the oil industry drills deeper and farther offshore… When they drill, they spill. The BP disaster devastated the Gulf, and we cannot afford to repeat it. Protecting our environment has never been more important than it is today. President Trump’s plan is still a preventable disaster if we stand together to protect our coasts.”
In a recent report, Oceana found the Gulf coast suffered significant economic losses following the Deepwater Horizon disaster:
The recreation industry lost more than $500 million, and more than 10 million user-days of beach, fishing and boating activity.
Fisheries closed and demand for Gulf seafood plummeted, costing the seafood industry nearly $1 billion.
Housing markets across the region experienced a decline in prices between 4% and 8% that lasted for at least five years.
Oceana also found the environmental impact of the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf was unprecedented:
For five years, more than 75% of all dolphin pregnancies failed in the oiled area.
Bryde’s whales, one of the most endangered whales in the world, decreased by about 22%.
As many as 800,000 birds died, including up to 32% of laughing gulls and 12% of brown pelicans.
Up to 170,000 sea turtles were killed by the spill.
About 8.3 million oysters were killed, and certain populations of fish, shrimp and squid decreased by as much as 85%.
Red tide is suspected of killing 177 dolphins over the past year in southwest Florida, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Elevated bottlenose dolphin mortalities have occurred in Manatee, Sarasota, Collier, Lee, Charlotte, Hillsborough and Pinellas counties since the bloom of the red tide organism Karenia brevis began in November 2017, according to NOAA, calling it an “unusual mortality event.”
The bloom affected Gulf of Mexico waters around Anna Maria Island from August 2018 to February 2019, and has reappeared sporadically in background concentrations since then locally and elsewhere in the state.
Other species including fish, sea turtles and manatees also are dying because of the ongoing harmful algal bloom, according to NOAA.
The last time a similar event happened was in 2005-06, when red tide killed about 190 dolphins in the region.
In addition, more than 200 bottlenose dolphins have become stranded on Gulf beaches from Florida to Louisiana – the area of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill – since Feb. 1, according to NOAA. The causes are still under investigation.
NOAA estimates about 12,388 dolphins live in the Gulf of Mexico from the Big Bend area of Florida south to Key West.
If you find a stranded, dead or sick dolphin, call NOAA’s emergency strandings number at 1-877-WHALE HELP (1-877-942-5343) or contact the U.S. Coast Guard on VHF Channel 16.
Dolphin tips
DON’T push the animal back out to sea! Stranded marine mammals may be sick or injured. Returning animals to sea delays examination and treatment and often results in the animal re-stranding in worse condition.
If the animal returns to the water on its own, DON’T attempt to interact with it (swim with, ride, etc.).
DO put human safety above animal safety. If conditions are dangerous, do not attempt to approach the animal.
DO stay with the animal until rescuers arrive, but use caution. Marine mammals can be dangerous and/or carry disease. Keep a safe distance from the head and tail. Do not touch the animal and avoid inhaling the animal’s expired air.
DO keep its skin moist and cool by splashing water over its body. Use wet towels to help keep the skin moist and prevent sunburn.
DON’T cover or obstruct the blowhole. Try to keep sand and water away from the blowhole.
DO keep crowds away and noise levels down to avoid causing further stress to the animal.
DO report all dead marine mammals, even if they are decomposed, to 877-WHALE HELP (877-942-5343).
DO keep dogs/pets away from the live or dead marine mammal.
DON’T collect any parts (tissues, teeth, bones, or gear, etc.) from dead animals. They are still covered by the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
Environmental group Earthjustice has sued the Trump administration in Tampa federal district court for failing to complete a report about offshore drilling’s harms to threatened and endangered species in the Gulf of Mexico, according to a press release.
The National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are required under the Endangered Species Act to complete a study on oil drilling hazards to wildlife with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), according to Earthjustice.
The last time the agencies completed such a study, called a biological opinion, was in 2007, three years before the BP Deepwater Horizon explosion. The disaster left 11 workers dead and dumped millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf for three months, coating miles of wetlands with thick oil, killing birds, fish, and marine mammals and causing tar balls to wash up on Gulf beaches.
Recognizing that the disaster devastated the Gulf ecosystem and its wildlife and invalidated assumptions in the 2007 biological opinion, the Services and BOEM reinitiated the biological opinion process in late 2010. But more than seven years later, as the administration is poised to hold a lease sale next month for oil and gas in the Gulf, the agencies still have not completed a new opinion, according to Earthjustice.
The suit on behalf of the Gulf Restoration Network, Sierra Club and Center for Biological Diversity is challenging the agencies for unreasonably delaying completion of a new opinion and seeks a court order to compel them to complete it by September.
A new opinion could result in additional safeguards to prevent harm to sea turtles, whales and other threatened and endangered species from oil and gas operations in the Gulf, according to Earthjustice.
“The Gulf of Mexico has long been written off as America’s gas station, jeopardizing Gulf Coast communities, coastal economies, and thousands of whales, sea turtles, dolphins, oysters and other species that wind up in the path of oil and gas spills. We seek to hold the Trump administration accountable to the law in its duty to protect endangered species and compel the oil and gas industry to clean up its act in the Gulf,” Earthjustice attorney Chris Eaton said in a press release.
“For over 10 years, the federal agencies that are responsible for the protection of threatened and endangered species in the Gulf of Mexico have been sitting on their hands. As we saw in the BP disaster, the harm caused by the oil and gas industry wreaks havoc on our Gulf. It’s time for these agencies to do their job and comply with the law,” said Cynthia Sarthou, executive director of Gulf Restoration Network.
“The Gulf has been treated as a sacrifice zone for corporate polluters for far too long,” said Athan Manuel, director of the Sierra Club’s Lands Protection Program. “We will not allow the Trump administration to ignore serious threats to coastal ecosystems in their reckless quest to sell off America’s waters to the fossil fuel industry for offshore drilling.”
“The Trump administration can’t keep turning a blind eye to the damage offshore drilling does to the Gulf’s most imperiled species,” said Kristen Monsell, oceans program legal director at the Center. “Trump officials want to expand offshore drilling and fracking into nearly every corner of the Gulf before they understand what’s out there. Our government has a moral and legal obligation to carefully study the risks to rare whales, sea turtles, and other animals before allowing these dirty, dangerous practices. It’s time for the courts to remind the agencies of this important duty.”
ANNA MARIA ISLAND – Three years ago this week, just about everyone on Anna Maria Island was wondering whether they would wake up and see oil washing up on the beach from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which began on April 20, 2010, in the northern Gulf of Mexico.
As oil continued to spill for three months, unprecedented sightings of deepwater whale sharks in shallow local waters, fish covered with lesions, strange odors in the air and peculiar tastes in the water fueled fears about tourism, layoffs, business failures, health problems and a devastated environment.
Such fears, realized in north Florida, dispersed here as time passed, especially after the oil well was capped on July 15 and no oil had been spotted on local beaches.
Judges said the reporter “… did a fine follow-up story on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill… she showed readers how much was left undone three years later.”
First Place
Agricultural and Environmental Reporting
2013
Since then, high tourism numbers show that tourists have regained their confidence that Anna Maria Island beaches were not hit by the oil. Local businesses and employees have collected money from the disaster at the oil rig, owned by Transocean Ltd. and under contract to BP, for economic losses from cancelled trips based on tourist misperceptions. Commercial fishermen have netted cash for not being able to fish during and after the spill in parts of the Gulf. Local men and women who traveled north to help in the cleanup have received compensation for health problems resulting from exposure to the oil.
But no one really knows the full picture of what the spill did and is still doing to the environment, and what long-term effects may be coming.
Many species affected
Research shows that the oil and the chemical dispersant Corexit used to make the oil mix with water – which keeps it from coming ashore but makes it impossible to clean up – have created a dead zone on the floor of the northern Gulf, killing marine life from microscopic organisms right up the food chain to apex predators like dolphins.
Dolphins are still dying in high numbers in the areas affected by oil, according to Doug Inkley, senior scientist for the National Wildlife Federation and lead author of the report, “Restoring a Degraded Gulf of Mexico: Wildlife and Wetlands Three Years into the Gulf Oil Disaster.”
Ongoing dolphin deaths are a strong indication that “there is something amiss with the Gulf ecosystem,” he wrote in the report, which states that dolphin deaths in the area affected by oil have been above average every month since the spill.
The report also cites a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration study that called the dolphin deaths “unprecedented,” and ruled out the most common causes of previous dolphin die-offs.
Mote Marine Laboratory scientists in Sarasota are monitoring local dolphin populations for signs of oil effects, taking samples of their skin and testing for environmental contaminants.
They also are doing similar research on sharks, tunas, billfish and loggerhead sea turtles, a threatened species that nests on Anna Maria Island beaches from May through October. Loggerheads with satellite tracking devices showing they swam through the oil spill nested on local beaches.
Coral colonies also have been affected, according to Mote researchers, who have concluded that coral larvae common in the Florida Keys die sooner when exposed to the oil and Corexit.
University of South Florida scientists have discovered that even smaller creatures, called foraminifera, were killed by the oil, possibly affecting the rest of the food chain.
Some of the record high manatee deaths in the state were attributed to the spill by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission; manatees that frequent local waters migrated to and from the northern Gulf after the spill.
Local bird life also has been affected, with North Dakota State University researchers discovering Corexit in dead eggs of white pelicans, a northern bird that winters near the Island in Cortez.
BP and affiliated Deepwater Horizon companies currently are on trial in federal court for violations of environmental laws in connection with the disaster, which killed 11 people.
Manatee County and all three Island cities have prepared lists of environmental projects they will submit to the state for a share in the expected recovery if the verdict is guilty as expected.
