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Horses not allowed on Gulf beaches

Horses not allowed on Gulf beaches

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Beach, Environment, Featured, Outdoors.

HOLMES BEACH – While motorists were noticing a long, white horse trailer parked among the boat trailers at the Kingfish boat ramp Monday morning, beachgoers were even more surprised to see three horses on the beach near 45th Avenue.

A photo posted on the “Island Ratz Unite” Facebook page prompted a brief exchange between two members: “Wonder if we’re going to have to pass a “no horses in the bike lanes” ordinance now? LOL!”

The response: “They WERE in the bike lane this morning around 10:30 by the curve.”

Horses are not allowed on the beach on Anna Maria Island or at Kingfish boat ramp, Holmes Beach Police Sgt. Michael Pilato said, adding that someone called the police about the incident. A code enforcement officer was dispatched, but the horses were gone by the time the officer arrived on the scene, he said.

If you see horses on the beach or at Kingfish boat ramp, contact Holmes Beach Code Enforcement at 941-708-5833.

The Manatee County Parks and Natural Resources Department staff that maintains the beaches and boat ramps has been notified, said Michael Elswick, division manager for the Natural Resources Division.

“We’ll keep an eye out for this type of thing within the parks,” he said, meaning Coquina Beach and Manatee Beach. “Outside of the county-run beach parks, this would be an issue for Island municipality code enforcement.”

One horse- and dog-friendly beach

The only beach where horses – and dogs – are allowed is the Palma Sola Causeway on Manatee Avenue West in Bradenton.

The riders may have been discouraged from going to the causeway Monday because the causeway was under a no-swimming advisory earlier this month, Manatee County Marine Rescue Chief Joe Westerman said.

The Florida Department of Health issued a no-swim advisory for the Palma Sola Bay South beach after tests on July 8 and July 10 confirmed that enterococcus bacteria from fecal matter in the water exceeded EPA guidelines.

The advisory was lifted on Monday, said Tom Larkin, director of the Manatee County Environmental Health department.

A story in The Sun on July 6 uncovered concerns about horse waste at the causeway causing poor water quality and destroying seagrass. Officials from the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council, Sarasota Bay Estuary Program, Manatee County Parks and Natural Resources Department, Keep Manatee Beautiful and Palma Sola Scenic Highway Corridor Management Entity expressed concerns about the issue.

https://amisun.com/2019/07/06/concerns-raised-over-horse-waste-in-bay/

 

Reel Time: Waterkeeper Alliance holding polluters accountable

Reel Time: Waterkeeper Alliance holding polluters accountable

Written by Rusty Chinnis on . Posted in Fishing, Outdoors, Reel Time.

The Waterkeeper Alliance is the largest and fastest growing nonprofit that is exclusively focused on clean water. The Alliance works to preserve and protect water by uniting local Waterkeeper organizations and affiliates worldwide. Their goal is to assure drinkable, fishable and swimmable water for everyone.

The organization was created by a band of commercial fishermen on New York’s Hudson River in 1966 to hold industrial polluters accountable for destroying their way of life. Their brand of hard-hitting, grassroots activism sparked a miraculous recovery of the river and inspired others to launch Waterkeeper groups around the world. There are now more than 300 Waterkeeper organizations and affiliates on the frontlines of the global water crisis. With their volunteers, they are guarding and defending more than 2.5 million square miles of rivers, lakes and coastal waterways on six continents.

Today Florida’s Gulf Coast is one of those critically endangered frontlines faced with devastating red tide events and blue-green algae outbreaks, sewage spills and willful discharges into impaired waters that are feeding unprecedented amount of nitrogen and other pollutants into local waters. Our area is fortunate to be under the auspices of Suncoast Waterkeeper. The Suncoast Waterkeeper organization focuses its efforts in an area that includes the coastal waters of Manatee and Sarasota counties, a watershed that includes all of the Sarasota Bay Estuary, the southern reaches of Tampa Bay (lower Tampa Bay and Terra Ceia Bay) and the Manatee River.

Suncoast Waterkeeper’s former Executive Director and Founder Justin Bloom is an environmental lawyer who believes in the organization’s mission statement: “To protect and restore the Florida Suncoast’s waterways through enforcement, fieldwork, advocacy, and environmental education for the benefit of the communities that rely upon these precious coastal resources.”

According to Bloom, they are more aggressive than other groups in that they are likely to litigate against those corporations, organizations and individuals that threaten water quality. Waterkeepers in general and Suncoast Waterkeepers, in particular, are small but streamlined and able to act quickly. Maybe most importantly they follow through on what they say and persevere.

“It can be personally frustrating,” says Bloom. “People have the misconception that we have unlimited resources and time. The reality is that we are tiny in comparison to the challenges we face and operate on a shoestring.”

Having said that, Bloom reiterates that the organization has been able to accomplish a lot. While he wants to see Suncoast Waterkeeper grow, he embraces the model of a small but active group that relies on volunteers and contributors.  Bloom worked for the Hudson Riverkeeper, the original and archetype Waterkeeper organization when he was in New York. One of the signature characteristics of a Waterkeeper group comes from the Hudson Riverkeeper.

The current Interim Director of Suncoast Waterkeeper Andy Mele started his environmental career in New York’s Hudson Valley with the group known as Hudson River Sloop Clearwater that was formed by Pete Seeger, the famous folk singer and social activist. There he inherited a 30-year battle with General Electric, which was responsible for dumping over a million pounds of carcinogenic PCBs into the Hudson at two GE plants.  Mele helped develop the strategy that led to the EPA forcing GE to sign a consent decree for the cleanup.

Mele sees many similarities between the way GE avoided its environmental liabilities and local municipalities and corporations like Mosaic that mine phosphate on Florida’s west coast. Mele and other partners were instrumental in preventing Mosaic from mining in the Charlotte Harbor watershed.

Mele relates, “When Suncoast Waterkeeper joined with two national groups to sue St. Petersburg and Gulfport and won, we did more to remove nutrients from coastal waters than the entire state legislature.”

Suncoast Waterkeeper recently presented a notice of intent to sue directed at Sarasota County, which they accuse of releasing hundreds of millions of gallons of partially-treated, nutrient-rich wastewater into Sarasota Bay over almost a decade.

According to Mele, “this is important because, despite the federal and state statutes that are supposed to be protective of the environment and human health, politics and special interests intervene and enforcement lags. That’s exactly what happened when former Governor Rick Scott fired most of the state’s environmental enforcement staff within the first month of his tenure. The ferocious episodes of red tide and thick mats of toxic cyanobacteria have been the predictable result.”

Suncoast Waterkeeper depends on volunteers and contributions from local communities to do its important work. This is a critical juncture for the nation, Florida, and west coast communities like Anna Maria Island. Our way of life and an economy that depends on clean water is at stake.

To lend your physical and financial support, contact Suncoast Waterkeeper at P.O. Box 1028, Sarasota, FL 34230. The organization also can be reached by phone at 941-275-2922, by email at jbloom@suncoastwaterkeeper.org and amele@suncoastwaterkeeper.org, or visit the website.

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Concerns raised over horse waste in bay

Concerns raised over horse waste in bay

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Beach, Environment, Outdoors.

PALMA SOLA BAY – With red tide fresh in local memory and blue-green algae hanging around since May, everything that produces nutrients that feed harmful algae blooms is under the microscope.

That includes the horse waste floating in Palma Sola Bay.

The Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council asked the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Pinellas County Commission in June to ban recreational horseback riding in Tampa Bay along the Sunshine Skyway Bridge causeway to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus from animal waste and to protect seagrass.

Some of the same horses that are rented at the Skyway also carry tourists up and down beaches on the Palma Sola Bay causeway and swim in the bay.

“We need cooperation from the public who bring horses and dogs to the bay,” said Darcy Young, director of planning and communications for the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program.

Palma Sola Bay has seagrass beds on both sides of the causeway as of last year’s survey, Young said, including in the northeastern section where most commercial horseback rentals occur.

“It’s possible, even likely, that the horses are walking on it,” she said, adding that people trample seagrass too.

“Bacteria, parasites and viruses can lead to poor water quality,” Young said. “If the situation gets bad enough in a concentrated area, you do start to worry.”

Horses are vegetarians, and don’t produce the same bacteria that carnivores – like dogs – do, said Charlie Hunsicker, director of the Manatee County Parks and Natural Resources Department.

“But horse poop is horse poop,” he said. “Whether or not it’s generating harmful levels, we don’t know.”

Concerns raised over horse waste in bay
Horsesurfing takes horseback riding in the bay to another level. – Cindy Lane | Sun

Jennifer Hoffman, executive director of Keep Manatee Beautiful, said the organization’s members are concerned about the impact the horses may be having on water quality in Palma Sola Bay, and rely on the Manatee County Healthy Beaches Program to advise of any issues.

The Florida Healthy Beaches Program lists good water quality in Manatee County except for Palma Sola Bay on May 13 and June 11, due to enterococcus bacteria from fecal matter. Enterococcus also can be a result of runoff or sewage spills in the bay.

Other bacteria like leptospirosis, which can be carried by horses and dogs – also allowed on the causeway – can be spread to people through contact with water, especially cuts in the skin, and from soil containing urine from an infected animal, according to the Florida Department of Health.

The Palma Sola Scenic Highway Corridor Management Entity also has discussed the horses at the causeway.

Horses and dogs historically used the causeway beaches long before companies began using it for commercial purposes, Co-chair Ingrid McClellan said.

While there have been issues with the companies that rent horses on the causeway leaving waste on the shoreline, companies now scoop it from the shore, McClellan said.

“We have signs saying, ‘leave only hoofprints behind,’ ” she said, adding that representatives from one of the horse rental companies told the group that horses do not defecate in the water.

Manatee cause of death uncertain

Waste in the bay was blamed on social media on July 5 for the death of a juvenile manatee photographed at the boat ramp at Palma Sola Bay with the title, “Palma Sewar at its finest.”

The Manatee County Utilities Department confirmed no spills of untreated sewage in Palma Sola Bay in the 48 hours following the appearance of the manatee carcass, Hunsicker said.

The carcass was retrieved by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Marine Patrol and transported to the boat ramp, but it is not known if the manatee died in the bay or was retrieved from elsewhere, he said.