Ahoy Mates, We have been incommunicado for a long time but after an extended time in dry dock we’re setting sail again.  The best explanation is that sometimes hurricanes blow you off course and you head to port to mend the sails and get your vessel sea-worthy again.  So now that things are ship-shape it’s time to chart a new course.  I hope you like the new look of the site.  We won’t even try to fill in the blank pages of the Captain’s log with one exception, an update on one of my favorite places on the planet - Bruce Key.  Even though the Feds have messed with the name we will always know it as Bruce Key.  Other than that, we’re just going to get underway again.  So here goes - hope you enjoy the voyage - Patrick Ó Brien Bruce Key  UpdateBoaters lament sandbar closingBY MANDY BOLEN, Key West Citizen Staff WILMA KEY — The government’s decision to close a newly formed sandbar to protect migrating birds has frustrated some local boaters, who would prefer a shared-use arrangement. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last week announced that the sandy island formed after Hurricane Wilma in 2005 would be closed “under federal regulations that prohibit trespass and disturbance to migratory birds.” Signs and in-water buoys announce the closure of the island that lies about 300 yards from the popular Boca Grande island, which is about 11 miles west of Key West. Locals dubbed it Bruce Key after the storm, but government officials named it Wilma Key. Wilma Key’s sandy beach is attractive to migratory birds, including the piping plover and roseate tern, two species listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, said Anne Morkill, refuge manager of the Florida Keys National Wildlife Refuge. “We request the public’s cooperation in assisting us with this important conservation effort,” she said in a prepared statement, adding that for nesting birds, “exposed sandy beach is a rare feature in the backcountry of the lower Florida Keys.” Some residents said they are happy to help nesting bird habitats, but want more cooperation from the government. Paul Menta, for example, has lived in Key West for 17 years and frequently takes his family to offshore islands on his boat. During a recent day at Wilma Key, Menta said he was accosted by a man in a flats boat bearing a “small state sticker claiming to be a marine biologist.” “He basically told me I should be afraid because he had called the Coast Guard and the marine police for being at the island,” Menta said. “He wouldn’t tell me what agency he was with, he only said, ‘I don’t care about people, I only care about the birds.’ ” Menta waited for the alleged law enforcement agents to arrive so he could be clear about the new rules, but no one came. He said he agrees the island should be closed for a portion of the year while certain species are nesting, but not year-round. “If that’s the case, certainly I wouldn’t go near the place, just like turtle nesting season,” he said. “But I don’t get it; there needs to be a people zone, too.” Capt. Billy Rentz agrees. “It’s a beautiful beach and provides another place to go,” he said. “There aren’t that many places in Key West where the sand is that pretty. I don’t see any harm in walking the beach area along the waterline as long as people don’t disturb the nesting areas toward the interior of the island.” Rentz pointed out that similar rules apply at the nearby Boca Grande island, where people are not allowed on the island beyond the high-tide mark. “They could let people use the outer edges,” he said, adding that the closure of Wilma Key likely will result in increased boat traffic at Boca Grande, where shallower channels make groundings more common. Seasonal shared-use would not be feasible, said Philip Hughes, an endangered species biologist with the refuge. There would be too much of an overlap between the spring nesting season of the roseate terns and the wintering season of the piping plover, he said. Rentz and Menta emphasized their willingness to avoid nesting areas and help the bird populations, but would like some flexibility from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, which supports the closure. “What happens if these birds decided to come nest at Smathers Beach?” Menta asked. “Would the people have to leave there, too?”

Ahoy Mates,

We have been incommunicado for a long time but after an extended time in dry dock we’re setting sail again.  The best explanation is that sometimes hurricanes blow you off course and you head to port to mend the sails and get your vessel sea-worthy again.  So now that things are ship-shape it’s time to chart a new course.  I hope you like the new look of the site.  We won’t even try to fill in the blank pages of the Captain’s log with one exception, an update on one of my favorite places on the planet - Bruce Key.  Even though the Feds have messed with the name we will always know it as Bruce Key.  Other than that, we’re just going to get underway again.  So here goes - hope you enjoy the voyage - Patrick Ó Brien

 Bruce Key  Update

Boaters lament sandbar closing

BY MANDY BOLEN, Key West Citizen Staff

WILMA KEY — The government’s decision to close a newly formed sandbar to protect migrating birds has frustrated some local boaters, who would prefer a shared-use arrangement.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last week announced that the sandy island formed after Hurricane Wilma in 2005 would be closed “under federal regulations that prohibit trespass and disturbance to migratory birds.”

Signs and in-water buoys announce the closure of the island that lies about 300 yards from the popular Boca Grande island, which is about 11 miles west of Key West. Locals dubbed it Bruce Key after the storm, but government officials named it Wilma Key.

Wilma Key’s sandy beach is attractive to migratory birds, including the piping plover and roseate tern, two species listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, said Anne Morkill, refuge manager of the Florida Keys National Wildlife Refuge.

“We request the public’s cooperation in assisting us with this important conservation effort,” she said in a prepared statement, adding that for nesting birds, “exposed sandy beach is a rare feature in the backcountry of the lower Florida Keys.”

Some residents said they are happy to help nesting bird habitats, but want more cooperation from the government. Paul Menta, for example, has lived in Key West for 17 years and frequently takes his family to offshore islands on his boat.

During a recent day at Wilma Key, Menta said he was accosted by a man in a flats boat bearing a “small state sticker claiming to be a marine biologist.”

“He basically told me I should be afraid because he had called the Coast Guard and the marine police for being at the island,” Menta said. “He wouldn’t tell me what agency he was with, he only said, ‘I don’t care about people, I only care about the birds.’ ”

Menta waited for the alleged law enforcement agents to arrive so he could be clear about the new rules, but no one came. He said he agrees the island should be closed for a portion of the year while certain species are nesting, but not year-round.

“If that’s the case, certainly I wouldn’t go near the place, just like turtle nesting season,” he said. “But I don’t get it; there needs to be a people zone, too.”

Capt. Billy Rentz agrees.

“It’s a beautiful beach and provides another place to go,” he said. “There aren’t that many places in Key West where the sand is that pretty. I don’t see any harm in walking the beach area along the waterline as long as people don’t disturb the nesting areas toward the interior of the island.”

Rentz pointed out that similar rules apply at the nearby Boca Grande island, where people are not allowed on the island beyond the high-tide mark.

“They could let people use the outer edges,” he said, adding that the closure of Wilma Key likely will result in increased boat traffic at Boca Grande, where shallower channels make groundings more common.

Seasonal shared-use would not be feasible, said Philip Hughes, an endangered species biologist with the refuge. There would be too much of an overlap between the spring nesting season of the roseate terns and the wintering season of the piping plover, he said.

Rentz and Menta emphasized their willingness to avoid nesting areas and help the bird populations, but would like some flexibility from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, which supports the closure.

“What happens if these birds decided to come nest at Smathers Beach?” Menta asked. “Would the people have to leave there, too?”

May 29 2008

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