conservation - News - The Coastal Star2024-03-29T13:23:05Zhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/conservationAlong the Coast: Sea turtle nesting season off to robust starthttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/along-the-coast-sea-turtle-nesting-season-off-to-robust-start2020-07-01T16:00:19.000Z2020-07-01T16:00:19.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:center;"><strong><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960958280,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960958280,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960958280?profile=original" /></a></strong><em>Turtle nest monitor Jim Jolley passes four marked nests on the beach in Ocean Ridge north of Beachway Drive. <strong>Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star</strong></em></p>
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<p><strong>By Larry Keller</strong> <br /> <br />South Florida beach closures because of the coronavirus pandemic may have annoyed some people, but if sea turtles could talk, they likely wouldn’t complain.<br /> The turtles’ nesting season along South County beaches is off to a strong start, and false crawls — incidents where turtles come ashore at night to lay their eggs but turn back without doing so — are down.<br /> “So far this has been a very busy and successful season,” said David Anderson, Gumbo Limbo Nature Center’s sea turtle conservation coordinator. He oversees monitoring of sea turtle activity over 5 miles of Boca Raton beach.<br /> False crawls can occur when turtles are disturbed by things like bonfires, flashlights, cellphone lights and beach furniture. With beaches closed for several weeks, those impediments all but vanished.<br />This season began with a success ratio of up to six nests to every four false crawls. That is a significant improvement from previous years, where the ratio was the reverse. Anderson said the ratio has dropped lately, with false crawls now exceeding the number of nests since people have been back on the beach.<br /> It has been a similar story in Delray Beach. Last year, there were 290 nests and 538 false crawls, said Joseph Scarola, senior scientist at Ecological Associates Inc., which monitors nests on the 3-mile beach for the city. That’s a ratio of 65% to 35%, false crawls to nests. As of mid-June, Delray Beach recorded 170 nests and 180 false crawls — a ratio similar to that of Boca Raton at the time.</p>
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<p><strong>Impact of closings uncertain</strong><br />Nobody can say for sure if closed beaches resulted in the reduction in false crawls or the robust number of nests so far.<br /> Jackie Kingston, president and founder of Sea Turtle Adventures, is skeptical. Her organization monitors a 3-mile expanse of beaches in Gulf Stream, Briny Breezes and part of Ocean Ridge and has noticed fewer false crawls this year. <br /> But, Kingston said, turtles “nest where they want to nest.”<br /> In Highland Beach, there have been about 50% more nests than last year at this time, and fewer false crawls, said Barbara James, the marine turtle permit holder there. Since the beach has no public access, she said she couldn’t attribute this to fewer people being on the beach.</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960958854,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960958854,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960958854?profile=original" /></a><em>Most stretches of South County beaches are experiencing higher than normal nesting success, as evidenced by these markers. <strong>Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star</strong></em></p>
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<p>Sea turtle nesting season is March 1 to Oct. 31, although small numbers of nests are dug before and beyond those dates. The first nest discovered this year in Boca Raton was on Feb. 23. It was a leatherback.<br /> That was less than a week before a nourishment project began with beach bulldozers widening the northern 1.5 miles of Boca Raton’s beach from 50 to 250 feet. One early nest was moved to an unaffected area. The first loggerhead in Boca Raton was spotted on April 21, just after the beach nourishment project was finished.<br /> “It went really fast, was really successful,” Anderson said.<br /> Green turtles could be most affected by the wider beach. “Greens are notorious for nesting in the dunes,” Anderson said. Now “it’s a long crawl, but it doesn’t seem to matter to turtles.” <br /> Green turtles have alternating high and low seasons. Last year, a record 393 nests were spotted, but there were only 19 the year before that. This season, 35 had already turned up by June 29. They usually continue to come ashore through September.</p>
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<p><strong>All local species are ‘listed’</strong><br /> Five sea turtle species nest on Florida beaches. All are listed as either endangered or threatened.<br /> Only loggerheads, greens and leatherbacks typically deposit eggs in South County, and very few of the latter, which are the largest of the species, sometimes weighing 1,500 pounds or more. <br /> By late June only 13 nests of leatherbacks had been discovered this year on Boca Raton’s beach. They usually finish nesting before June. Still, it’s no cause for concern. Only 18 leatherback nests were found in each of the past two years.<br /> Boca Raton’s modest numbers were more than offset elsewhere. Delray Beach recorded 21 leatherback nests, surpassing last year’s record of 15, Scarola said.<br /> And 20 leatherback nests were found on the beaches that have been surveyed by Kingston’s group for 21 years. That too was a record, topping the previous high of 16 in 2009, she said.<br /> Leatherback nests are more common to the north. There were 397 nests for all of Palm Beach County, and 380 in Martin County in 2019, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. That was 70% of all leatherback nests statewide.<br /> There have been more nests overall so far this year on the beaches Kingston monitors. They include about 400 loggerhead nests, well above the total for the same time last year, she said. <br /> “I think it will be a pretty good year,” Kingston said. <br /> It’s been a banner year for loggerhead nests in Boca Raton too. There were 495 by June 29, putting that beach on track for a strong season, Anderson said.</p></div>Boca Raton: Meet Team Turtlehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-meet-team-turtle2019-12-31T23:30:00.000Z2019-12-31T23:30:00.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:18pt;">Inside the work of Gumbo Limbo crew</span></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:18pt;">that strives to be</span> <span style="font-size:18pt;">biggest ally of these at-risk sea creatures</span></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960928483,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960928483,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960928483?profile=original" /></a><em>ABOVE: Gumbo Limbo workers roll a 350-pound female green turtle named Yamato to the ocean at Spanish River Park before a crowd typical of such turtle releases. Yamato, who was treated for partial paralysis after being hit by a boat, wears a satellite-tracking device and is strapped into a custom-built gurney. BELOW: Veterinarian Maria Chadam raises her arms as sea turtle rehab coordinator Whitney Crowder hugs Gumbo Limbo manager Leanne Welch to celebrate the release of Yamato. <strong>Photos by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star</strong></em></p>
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<p><strong>By Larry Keller</strong></p>
<p>It’s a typical Sunday afternoon at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, and visitors cluster around the aquarium, stroll the boardwalk and explore the butterfly garden. <br /> It’s the injured and ailing sea turtles in outdoor tanks, however, that inspire the most fervent reactions.<br /> A little boy stands at one, gawking at a turtle named Cane swimming languidly. “That’s so ginormous!” he exclaims.<br /> It’s doubtful many of the 200,000 annual visitors are aware of the array of scientists, educators, interns and 150 volunteers who work together to protect and heal turtles, and inform the public about them, or the specifics of what they do.<br /> “They are the go-to place for the south end of Palm Beach County and south of that. These are very important nesting beaches,” says Larry Wood, a biologist affiliated with the National Save the Sea Turtle Foundation.<br /> Here are a few members of Gumbo Limbo’s sea turtle team:</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;">Sea Turtle Conservation</span> <br /> <span style="font-size:14pt;">& Research Program</span><br /> “I absolutely love what I do,” says David Anderson, sea turtle conservation coordinator. “Being on the beach every morning at sunrise — that’s my office. You encounter something different every day.”<br /> Plus, people thank him for what he’s doing, tell him how lucky he is to be doing it and snap photos of him at work.<br /> “It must be a pretty cool job,” Anderson says with a laugh. “I feel very fortunate.”<br /> Anderson and his team count and record data during sea turtle nesting season, and a whole lot more. He and marine conservationist Kirt Rusenko are the only full-time staffers in this unit of Gumbo Limbo. <br /> Anderson has a bachelor’s degree in history from Auburn University and a master’s in physical geography from the University of Alabama.<br /> Rusenko has a doctorate in zoology from Clemson University and has been Boca Raton’s marine conservationist since 1995. He was recognized by the International Dark-Sky Association in 2013 for his work in protecting sea turtles.<br /> Five part-time staffers assist them during nesting season, March 1 through Oct. 31. They have degrees or are pursuing degrees in marine sciences, and each has spent two or three years with the team.<br /> Anderson was a middle school and high school science teacher, and an adjunct professor at Broward College, when he began volunteering at Gumbo Limbo in 2006, then worked part-time there in summers. <br /> “All teachers need a second job,” he quips.<br /> When the job Anderson now holds became vacant in 2015, he applied and got it.<br /> During nesting season, Anderson’s team meets at Gumbo Limbo about 30 minutes before sunrise. Then, equipped with tablet computers, water bottles and rain jackets, they head to the 5-mile section of beach that they survey.<br /> Once there, they record information on the types of species that came ashore in darkness — they can tell by the pattern of their tracks — as well as geographic data, whether they found nests, the condition of them and other information. <br /> Then they return to Gumbo Limbo to input the 1,300 data points. <br /> “It’s very data-intensive work,” Anderson says.<br /> He also supervises guided nighttime viewings of wayward hatchlings being released in the ocean, and group outings to search for adult females laying eggs. He estimates a 70% success rate at this — while being vigilant that nobody disturbs the turtles with lights from cameras, cellphones and the like. <br /> In the off-season, Anderson remains busy fine-tuning data for submission to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, attending workshops and conferences and making presentations to civic groups.<br /> One highlight of his job occurred when a high school girl from North Dakota, who wanted to be a turtle biologist for a day, visited courtesy of the Make-A-Wish Foundation.<br /> It wasn’t a banner year for green turtle nests, so when Anderson took her to the beach, they got a surprise. “One of the biggest green sea turtles I’ve seen was finishing her nest on the beach,” he recalls. “It was like it was purposely for her.”</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960928701,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960928701,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" width="550" alt="7960928701?profile=original" /></a><em>Jeanette Wyneken, a professor of biological sciences who oversees the Florida Atlantic University Research Gallery at Gumbo Limbo, holds a pair of female 4-month-old green sea turtles that were part of her sex/temperature research.</em></p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;">Florida Atlantic University <br /> Research Gallery</span><br /> In one corner of Gumbo Limbo’s complex is an FAU research laboratory. Visitors can look down from the second floor upon tubs of turtles, and usually a professor or a student is on hand to answer questions about the work underway.<br /> “Our lab is in many ways unique in the world,” says Jeanette Wyneken, an FAU professor of biological sciences and researcher who oversees the facility. “We’re not only doing the science, but we talk about it in real time.” <br /> FAU researchers once had to lug jugs of saltwater from the ocean to the lab for their work. “It limits what you can do,” Wyneken says. Nowadays, ocean water is pumped directly there via underground pipes and into a storage tank.<br /> Wyneken’s doctorate in biology is from the University of Illinois, far from any oceans. But she had small pet turtles as a child (after her mother explained that a pet dinosaur wasn’t an option) and eventually a box turtle that she kept for more than 50 years. It was more than 100 years old when it died, she says.<br /> Her research at the Gumbo Limbo lab includes an ongoing years-long study into how temperatures affect the gender ratios of sea turtles. Gender isn’t established until after eggs are laid. She has found that the warmer the climate, the more likely hatchlings will be females. In seven of the past 10 years, loggerhead hatchlings have all been females, she says.<br /> “If we have too much of one sex and not the other, we have a problem because we’re dealing with endangered or threatened species,” Wyneken says. A gender imbalance greatly affects reproduction and the survival of those species.<br /> “Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d be documenting the effects of climate change,” Wyneken says. “The turtles tell the story clearly and non-threateningly.”<br /> Hotter temperatures not only affect the hatchlings’ gender, but their very survival. Some 79% to 82% of loggerhead sea turtle eggs on the Boca Raton beach used to hatch, but that was down to 58%, and then 38%, in the particularly hot years of 2015 and 2016 respectively, Wyneken says.<br /> “This is serious. They can’t dig themselves away from the hot temperatures, so they die.” <br /> Green turtle successful hatch rates are on a similar track, Wyneken adds. (Leatherbacks nest in far smaller numbers in Florida and are harder to study for various reasons.)<br /> The 2017 and 2018 nesting seasons rebounded somewhat, and 64% and 70% of clutches successfully hatched respectively, still lower than what used to be typical.<br /> Other turtle research at the lab has long been conducted by Wyneken’s fellow professor Michael Salmon. He has shown, for example, that sea turtles can see color, and perceive some colors more clearly than others. One of Salmon’s clever students devised a turtle maze and reward system for the study.<br /> “We now know another piece about the biology of these animals,” Wyneken says. <br /> And the information has potential practical uses. Long-line fishing operators bait thousands of hooks on gear that contains lights. Using a lighting color that doesn’t attract turtles to the baits could help save them from being inadvertently killed.<br /> Gumbo Limbo lab research isn’t exclusively devoted to sea turtles. Professor Stephen Kajiura and his students have been studying sharks, including their senses of smell and sight. And Professor Marguerite Koch is studying the effects of ocean acidification — caused by absorption of increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere — on seagrasses.</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960929471,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960929471,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" width="550" alt="7960929471?profile=original" /></a><em>Rehabilitation coordinator Caitlin Bovery photographs an albino sea turtle hatchling during a release at sea.</em></p>
<p><br /> <span style="font-size:14pt;">Sea Turtle</span> <br /> <span style="font-size:14pt;">Rehabilitation Facility</span><br /> The rehabilitation team could very well be renamed the creative team. Its members have made a brace from zip ties and epoxy. Learned to apply honey as a topical antibiotic. Used medicinal leeches to reduce swelling from fishing-line entanglements. Applied medicinal maggots to remove dead tissue from infections.<br /> “You definitely get creative,” says Caitlin Bovery, an assistant sea turtle rehabilitation coordinator.<br /> Perhaps never more so than last summer when two adult, eggs-carrying females were admitted to the rehab center with serious boat strike injuries. <br /> The hospital team created a quiet environment in tanks for them and, several times, administered a labor-inducing drug. The tanks were drained and the turtles were elevated on a large tire so their eggs could drop with gravity. It worked, but when staff buried the eggs on the beach to incubate, no hatchlings emerged. Still, both mothers recovered from their injuries sufficiently to be released and perhaps nest again.<br /> Not only turtles have received medical care. A porcupine fish in the nature center’s aquarium was sedated and kept damp with seawater-soaked towels while staff veterinarian Maria Chadam surgically removed a fishhook from its small intestine. The fish made a quick recovery.<br /> Bovery is one of three full-time staffers in the rehab unit. She has a master’s degree from FAU in environmental studies. Before joining the rehab team, she was a volunteer. <br /> “I fell in love with sea turtles when I was a little kid,” Bovery says. “I loved the idea of these magnificent creatures that have been around since the dinosaurs. They’re so charismatic.”<br /> Emily Mirowski has the same title as Bovery. She was quoted in media globally in October after she removed 104 pieces of plastic that had been ingested by a sick baby turtle that died after being taken to Gumbo Limbo. <br /> Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Coordinator Whitney Crowder has worked in sea turtle biology since 2002, including managing the Turtle Hospital in Marathon Key for two years. She was invited by Greenpeace to speak with ocean activists including Jane Fonda and Ted Danson at a rally in October at the U.S. Capitol. <br /> Chadam, the veterinarian, is on site two days a week. Turtles whose injuries prevent them from ever being released are usually given to other facilities, such as aquariums. Two are permanent residents at Gumbo Limbo.<br /> The turtle hospital was designed for 30 patients a year but treats from 50 to 100, Bovery says. Helping them all is a challenge.<br /> “We find the space,” she says. “We make the time.”</p></div>Coastal Star: Sandoway board chief a force behind ambitious moveshttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/coastal-star-sandoway-board-chief-a-force-behind-ambitious-moves2019-10-30T18:12:43.000Z2019-10-30T18:12:43.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960910495,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960910495,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960910495?profile=original" /></a><em>Alex Ridley’s skills in fundraising and grant writing have helped bring in thousands of dollars to the center each year. <strong>Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star</strong></em></p>
<p><strong>By Stephen Moore</strong></p>
<p>Five years ago, Alex Ridley, board president at Sandoway Discovery Center, moved his family from the Boston area to Delray Beach to start another chapter of the family’s life — and to escape the cold winters. <br /> Ridley and his wife, Rosana, brought their children — Christopher, now 14, Leo, 12, and Alby, 7 — to South Florida, where he had often come to vacation.<br /> “I had been coming to Ocean Ridge since the ’70s where my grandparents had a home,” Ridley said.<br /> In Delray Beach, Ridley found a new lifestyle — a place where his kids could play soccer year round, and his Brazilian-born wife could enjoy the warmer climate she craved. Ridley could drive a couple of miles to his office — or a golf course on A1A, playing whenever he wanted. He runs a family business based in Delray Beach.<br /> “I do a mix of investments, trustee work, estate planning and philanthropy, admittedly expert at none but a solid working knowledge of all,” he says.<br /> Delray Beach is also where he found Sandoway and met Executive Director Danica Sanborn.<br /> “I got involved with Sandoway because before we moved here I was on the board of a grant-making organization,” said Ridley, who grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts. “I wanted to get involved in a local organization. I poked around and met with Danica Sanborn and talked to her about some of the center’s needs. There was a clear skill set that they needed and I had from my previous career.”<br /> Ridley, 46, has a background in finance and interest in conservation. After graduating with a degree in history from Pitzer College in Claremont, California, in 1995, he took a job with Merrill Lynch. After seven years there, he began working for The Nature Conservancy, one of the largest conservation nonprofits in the world. <br /> “I was the associate director of development and also worked in fundraising,” Ridley said. “I worked in finance for a while and I wanted to do something different and was lucky enough to get a job at The Nature Conservancy, admittedly not knowing a lot about conservation but learned along the way. It was interesting to go from the world’s largest conservation organization to Sandoway, arguably one of the smallest.”<br /> At Sandoway, he works closely with a supportive and experienced board — and with Sanborn, who oversees two other full-time employees and one part-time employee, a score of volunteers and more than 60 animals. The center attracts more than 22,000 visitors a year.<br /> “Over the last five to 10 years, under the leadership of our previous board president, Ann Heilakka, the center has transformed from really a visitor center to a true education center,” Ridley said. “We now teach over 6,000 students who have participated in one of our tailored education programs. We teach to the Sunshine State Standards, a variety of classes. We teach Palm Beach County’s only climate change class, which won the 2019 Pine Jog Environmental Program of the Year.”<br /> Sanborn says Ridley has had a big impact on the center. “His expertise in grant writing and donor cultivation has helped bring in thousands of dollars annually,” she said. “He is highly dedicated and eager to move Sandoway toward its mission of providing experiential environmental education to students and visitors.”<br /> He and the center face some challenges — perfecting the balance between being a visitor center and an educational center; diversifying the revenue stream and moving from an event-based fundraising model to a donor-based model; and maximizing the space in the 3,581-square-foot, two-story Sandoway House. <br /> Designed by noted architect Samuel Ogren Sr., the house was built in 1936 and is listed in Delray Beach’s local Register of Historic Places and the National Register of Historic Places.<br /> The center has met some challenges with the hiring of Evan Orellana several years ago as a full-time director of education and Amanda Clough as a full-time naturalist.<br /> “We have a goal that every visitor who comes in gets some personal interaction with one of our educators,” Ridley said. “Whether it is seeing a shark feeding or interacting with a snake — and they leave saying ‘Oh wow, I didn’t know that.’”<br />More improvements are in the works, from upgrading the appearance of the building to hiring a full-time membership director. And the board has plans to enhance the center with a new, larger stingray touch tank.<br /> “For a small space, at times we are bursting at the seams,” Ridley said. “But I have expertise and experience in grant writing, so we have been lucky enough to secure some important funding from a number of Palm Beach County foundations, and that has allowed us to expand our offering.”<br /> So this next chapter in the life of the Ridley family is taking shape.<br /> “This place is too unique, too special to be constantly trying to stick your finger into the monetary dike,” Ridley said. “That’s my goal and, when my time is up, I hope I leave the place looking better and in better fiscal shape. I don’t always get it right, but I do care and I do try and two out of three is not bad.”</p></div>On the Water: As weather cools, anglers look for blackfin tunahttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/on-the-water-as-weather-cools-anglers-look-for-blackfin-tuna2019-10-29T21:30:00.000Z2019-10-29T21:30:00.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960905452,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960905452,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960905452?profile=original" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>Nick Saunders holds a blackfin tune he caught north of Boynton Inlet while fishing with Capt. Chris Lemieux of Boynton Beach. <strong>Photo provided by Lemieux Charters.</strong></em></p>
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<p><strong>By Willie Howard</strong></p>
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<p>Pound for pound, blackfin tuna are amazingly strong.</p>
<p><br /> When ocean anglers reel in one of the football-sized blackfins typically found in the waters off Palm Beach County in the fall, they’re often amazed that small tunas fight like much larger ocean fish.</p>
<p><br /> The shorter, cloudier and cooler days of fall typically bring good fishing for blackfins, especially in low-light hours of the morning or late afternoon — or whenever clouds blot out the sun and encourage tunas to move toward the surface.</p>
<p><br /> When you fish offshore, keep an eye out for flocks of birds coming down to the surface, ribbons of current and clumps of floating sargassum that are sheltering minnows.</p>
<p><br /> Capt. Chris Lemieux of Lemiuex Charters in Boynton Beach recommends trolling small tuna feathers far behind the boat (meaning well beyond the white, bubbling water created by the propellers).</p>
<p><br /> Lemieux, who runs his charters from Palm Beach Yacht Center in Hypoluxo, trolls feathers in purple and black, blue and white or plain white when targeting fall blackfins.</p>
<p><br /> If he can catch glass minnows in a cast net, Lemieux said he uses live minnows to chum up blackfins — or as small live baits fished on light spinning rods fitted with 10-pound-test line and small hooks.</p>
<p><br /> When you search for blackfins in the waters off Boynton Beach, Delray Beach and Boca Raton, Lemieux advises trolling in about 150 to 300 feet of water. Look for relatively clean water. Troll over areas where the depth changes quickly.</p>
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<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960905486,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960905486,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960905486?profile=original" /></a><em>Small, flashy trolling lures can work well for blackfin tuna often found under clusters of birds in the fall. From left are the Boone Feather Jig, the Williamson Flash Feather, a Mylar skirt covered by a small squid skirt, a Red Eye bullet lure and a small Clark spoon.</em></p>
<p><br /> Lemeiux said it’s important to watch the water because blackfins sometimes break the surface while feeding. Tuna fishing can be a good way to start a morning of fishing in the fall, he said, as the tuna are more likely to be near the surface in low light.</p>
<p><br /> Anglers who plan to keep and eat a blackfin tuna should remove the gills or use a knife to make incisions behind the pectoral fins. Place the fish in a bucket of salt water and let it bleed for a few minutes before placing it on ice — preferably in an icy, saltwater slush.</p>
<p><br /> Blackfin tuna (Thunnus atlanticus) have jet-black backs, bronze lateral stripes and large eyes.</p>
<p><br /> There are no size or bag limits on blackfins. But that will change Jan. 1, when the daily bag limit of two per person or 10 per boat, whichever is greater, takes effect.</p>
<p><br /> The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission approved the bag limit for blackfin tuna on Oct. 2. When the limit takes effect, it will apply in both state and federal waters (beyond 3 miles off Florida’s east coast).</p>
<p><br /> When you clean a freshly caught blackfin tuna, don’t rinse the meat with fresh water, advises Capt. Chris Walter of Get Bent Charters in the Florida Keys.</p>
<p><br /> Fresh water can be used to rinse the cleaning surface, but the tuna meat should be kept mostly dry.</p>
<p><br /> Remove the skin, the blood line and the remaining dark meat. Cut the tuna into thin strips for sashimi or thicker steaks for grilling or searing.</p>
<p><br /> Blackfin tuna does not freeze well and is best eaten fresh, so release tuna you don’t plan to eat or share with friends within a day or two.</p>
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<p><span style="text-decoration:underline;"><strong>Coming events</strong></span><br /> Nov. 2: Basic boating safety class offered by Coast Guard Auxiliary, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the headquarters building at Spanish River Park, 3939 N. Ocean Blvd., Boca Raton. Fee $35 ($5 for youths ages 12-19). Register at the door. Bring lunch. Call 391-3600. Leave a message.<br /> Nov. 5: Boynton Beach Boating and Fishing Club meets, 7 p.m. at the clubhouse building near the boat ramps, Harvey E. Oyer Jr. Park, 2010 N. Federal Highway, Boynton Beach. Call 614-1550 or visit <a href="http://www.bbbfc.org">www.bbbfc.org</a>.<br /> Nov. 9: Dust ’Em Off Sailfish Warm-up Tournament with check-in stations in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties. Captains meeting Nov. 7. Three divisions. Entry fee $500. Details at <a href="http://www.dustemoffsailfish.com">www.dustemoffsailfish.com</a>. <br /> Nov. 9: West Palm Beach Fishing Club’s 85th annual awards barbecue and auction, 5:30 p.m., South Florida Fairgrounds (Gate 8, Building 10). Tickets at the door: $30 adults and $15 for youths under 15. Discount for advance purchase. Call 832-6780 or visit <a href="http://www.westpalmbeachfishingclub.org">www.westpalmbeachfishingclub.org</a>.<br /> Nov. 23: Basic boating safety class offered by Coast Guard Auxiliary, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the classroom building next to the boat ramps, Harvey E. Oyer Jr. Park, 2010 N. Federal Highway, Boynton Beach. Fee $20. Register at the door. Call 331-2429.</p>
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<p><strong>Tip of the month</strong></p>
<p><br /> Following a few basic conservation measures can help reduce the loss of corals to disease, says the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission. The FWC asks snorkelers and divers to avoid touching corals, to use environmentally friendly sunscreens and to avoid anchoring near coral.</p>
<p><br /> The FWC is asking anyone interested in coral conservation to join the Florida Coral Crew and receive email updates about efforts to prevent the loss of stony corals. Go to <a href="http://www.myfwc.com/conservation/coral">www.myfwc.com/conservation/coral</a>.</p>
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<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960905873,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960905873,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960905873?profile=original" /></a><em>The Reel Em In II team won the honor for biggest fish in the ChasenTailz KDW Fishing Tournament with the 41.3-pound kingfish held by Nick Frasca (kneeling). The Sept. 28 charity tournament attracted 172 boats. <strong>Photo provided by Leonard Bryant Photography</strong></em></p>
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<p><strong>Reel Em In II wins in ChasenTailz event</strong></p>
<p><br /> Frank Frasca and his crew on the Reel Em In II won heaviest-fish honors in the Sept. 28 ChasenTailz KDW Fishing Tournament with a 41.3-pound kingfish caught off Juno Beach.</p>
<p><br /> Frasca, of North Palm Beach, said he and his teammates were slow-trolling a live goggle-eye on the surface in 75 feet of water off Juno Beach when the big kingfish hit around 7 a.m.</p>
<p><br /> His son, Nick Frasca, fought the winning kingfish. Team member Sean Horgan brought the fish into the boat with his new gaff, Frasca said.</p>
<p><br /> The ChasenTailz tournament attracted 172 boats. Proceeds from the event benefit sick children and their families, organizer Summer Warren said.</p>
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<p><em>Willie Howard is a freelance writer and licensed boat captain. Reach him at tiowillie@bellsouth.net.</em></p></div>Hurricane Irma: Delray ponders changes after residents don’t get message to save waterhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/hurricane-irma-delray-ponders-changes-after-residents-don-t-get-m2017-10-04T19:00:00.000Z2017-10-04T19:00:00.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Jane Smith</strong><br /> <br /> If you aren’t drinking the water, don’t use it.<br /> Delray Beach utilities officials sent that command via email, social media and its CodeRed app about 10:20 p.m. on Sept. 10. Banned uses included bathing, toilet flushing and dish washing.<br /> Hurricane Irma’s winds were still lashing Delray Beach, toppling trees that brought down 140 power lines. The city lost power at 70 percent of its 129 sewage pumping stations. It had portable generators for only 30 stations. <br /> Most of Delray’s water customers also lost power. Less than half of its residents had signed on for alerts from CodeRed, an emergency application that works on smartphones.<br /> As a result, the sewage flows remained the same, said Neal deJesus, interim city manager. He spoke at a special City Commission meeting Sept. 13 to update commissioners on Irma’s damage.<br /> He called the lift station problem “the Achilles’ heel” of the storm. <br /> “Staff did an incredible job moving the generators from station to station,” deJesus said. “Even though the public was asked to please conserve, that didn’t work. Each pump station is at near normal use for this time of year.”<br /> He approved an emergency purchase of 20 generators for $2.2 million. “When the power comes up, no one wants to give up their generators,” deJesus said.<br /> Commissioners said the city needs a better way of communicating with its residents and business owners during emergency situations. They’ll devote part of the regularly scheduled Oct. 10 workshop to that discussion.<br /> That might be a notice in water bills asking customers to sign up for CodeRed alerts, Commissioner Shelly Petrolia said at the Sept. 13 meeting. She and fellow commissioners thanked the staff for working so hard to avoid a public health emergency.<br /> At the meeting, Petrolia asked why the problem had not happened in the past.<br /> “We had major power outages with this storm,” deJesus said. “The downed power lines were not just between the poles, but between the transformers.”<br /> By the special meeting on the Wednesday of the week after Irma, city officials had changed their message from a command to a request for water conservation.<br /> Although notifying water customers was not required, it was called “prudent to alert water users of a potential problem,” said Tim O’Connor, spokesman for the Florida Department of Health in Palm Beach County.<br /> <br /> <span class="font-size-4"><strong>In Boca and Boynton</strong></span><br /> The cities of Boynton Beach and Boca Raton also lost power at their sewage pumping stations, a typical situation during tropical storms and hurricanes. <br /> “Prior to the storm we asked residents to conserve water by limiting use and flushing and to turn off irrigation systems,” said Chrissy Gibson, Boca Raton spokeswoman. <br /> The city has approximately 300 lift stations and lost power to 80 percent of them during the storm, Gibson said.<br /> Boca Raton staff worked around the clock to move the various generators and rotate them, she said. “We had enough to keep the system running, even with 80 percent out of power,” she said.<br /> In Boynton Beach, the city lost power to about 70 percent of its sewage pumping stations, said Colin Groff, assistant city manager and former utilities director. <br /> But unlike Delray Beach, Boynton Beach didn’t ask its water customers to restrict water consumption. The city uses a combination of fixed, portable and diesel generators as backup power, Groff said. <br /> During Irma, the city had two or three spills of between 10 to 15 gallons of sewage each, Groff said, when Irma’s winds were high and it was not safe for workers to be outside. The city reported them to the state Department of Environmental Protection, but they did not appear in the database. “It might not have met their threshold,” he said.<br /> Under rules that went into effect in July, utility operators are required to report sewage spills less than 1,000 gallons to the DEP or health department within 24 hours, according to Jill Margolius, local DEP spokeswoman. <br /> Spills over 1,000 gallons, which may threaten the environment or public health, must be reported immediately to a 24-hour hotline.<br /> As of Sept. 14, 22 of Florida’s 67 counties reported sewage spills, a combined total of 28 million gallons of treated and raw sewage, according to the DEP database. The amount is likely higher because some reports did not contain amounts.<br /> The same day, Delray Beach reported less than 1,000 gallons of sewage had bubbled up from a storm drain in the Rainberry Bay community near Congress Avenue and Lake Ida Road, according to the DEP database. <br /> All Delray Beach water users were supposed to follow the restrictions, deJesus said.<br /> <br /> <span class="font-size-4"><strong>Restaurants opened</strong></span><br /> Caffe Luna Rosa reopened its oceanside restaurant Sept. 11, the same day Irma winds diminished in Delray Beach. <br /> For the next three days, the eatery served a limited menu, used generators to power the coolers, didn’t serve water, cooked on a gas stove and used disposable plates and cups, said Fran Marincola, co-owner of the restaurant.<br /> Mixed drinks do not need water, he said.<br /> The following day, Sept. 12, more restaurants opened in Delray Beach, including Subculture Coffee Roasters.<br /> “We didn’t know about the water use restrictions,” said Jenniffer Woo, food manager. “We were never contacted.”<br /> “We are all about conserving water so we would have been happy to comply,” she said.</p></div>Along the Coast: Shrinking habitats bring foxes to coastal townshttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/along-the-coast-shrinking-habitats-bring-foxes-to-coastal-towns2015-07-29T16:30:00.000Z2015-07-29T16:30:00.000ZChris Felkerhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/ChrisFelker<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960589279,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960589279,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="241" alt="7960589279?profile=original" /></a><em>This gray fox is a frequent visitor to Briny Breezes.</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Photo courtesy Marcela Viglianchino</strong></p>
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<p style="text-align:left;"><strong>By Cheryl Blackerby</strong></p>
<p style="text-align:left;"> In early morning, a gray fox peeked out of dense foliage by the Little Club golf course in Gulf Stream and trotted with its distinctive bounce across the grass, its ears straight up and alert. <br /> “Look, a red fox!” exclaimed a birdwatcher looking for birds, not foxes.<br /> The little fox was actually a gray fox with red fur on its ears, neck and sides. It quickly disappeared into the bushes.<br /> Gray foxes are native Floridians that usually hide in dry forests. But as their inland natural habitats succumb to development, they are being driven into coastal communities. <br /> If there are increased sightings, it probably means construction has run them out of woodlands.<br /> “Unfortunately, their natural areas are getting bulldozed and construction is pushing animals out. They’re losing habitat,” says Ricardo Zambrano, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission regional biologist. “And we’ve lost a lot of large predators such as bobcats, panthers and coyotes that prey on foxes.”<br /> Urban dwellers tend to love them or hate them. But Florida wildlife experts say there’s a lot to love and admire about the foxes, particularly their choice of food — mostly rats and mice. <br /> “People should rejoice when they see foxes because they keep the rodent population down,” says Sherry Schlueter, executive director of the South Florida Wildlife Center, which handles wildlife rescue and nuisance calls in Palm Beach and Broward counties. “Gray foxes are highly beneficial in our ecosystem.”<br /> Mice in the dunes on the beach and rats along the Intracoastal are bringing foxes to the coast. “And where there are people, there are rodents,” says Zambrano.<br /> That foxes eat dogs and cats is strictly urban myth. <br /> “I’ve never heard of a fox attacking a dog or cat,” says Zambrano.<br /> In fact, the reverse is true. Dogs and cats left outside often attack foxes and kill fox pups.<br /> Gray foxes and raccoons do prey on turtle nests and cause the loss of 5 to 7 percent of the nests in Boca Raton. They are the predominant mammalian predators of sea turtle nests, eating the eggs and killing hatchlings, says Kirt Rusenko, marine conservationist at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center.<br /> “The worst thing people can do is feed the foxes as that increases their population and puts tremendous pressure on the nests in the area. South of the [Boca] inlet this year is our hot-spot so we are pretty sure someone in one of the condos there is feeding the foxes,” Rusenko says.<br /> But the center can keep turtle nests safe with pepper, he says. “Our use of habanero pepper powder on the nests deters them quite well. In really bad areas like south of the inlet we [also] screen the nests with a 4 by 4-foot wire mesh in an attempt to keep the foxes out of the nest.”<br /> Schlueter says raccoons, not foxes, are more commonly the culprit for eating turtle eggs on South Florida beaches. <br /> Like other Florida mammals, foxes can get rabies, but this has not been a problem in Florida, says Zambrano.<br /> Foxes rarely carry rabies, but can get distemper, which is not harmful to people. And the disease is generally not given to domestic animals because most pets get distemper vaccinations. <br /> Nuisance calls about foxes usually are from people who are frightened by wildlife or, more commonly, homeowners who have found fox pups.<br /> “We have already taken in 38 foxes this year, and 23 were babies,” says Schlueter. That’s a tiny percentage of the 12,000 injured, orphaned, or imperiled animals the South Florida Wildlife Center takes in annually. The center is one of the largest wildlife hospitals, trauma centers and rehabilitation facilities in the nation.<br /> “What often happens is that people mow their lawns and scare off the mother fox, and they find the babies and bring them in,” says Schlueter. She advises homeowners to observe the fox den from a distance to see if the mother returns before they remove the pups.<br /> Foxes also eat fruit on the ground — another service to humans — but generally don’t eat vegetables in a garden. <br /> And they don’t usually eat garbage, says Schlueter.<br /> “Foxes get unfairly blamed sometimes for overturned trash cans. Remember, these are tiny creatures. In all likelihood, trash cans are overturned by dogs,” she says.<br /> The dainty fox weighs only 7 to 13 pounds and has a gray coat with red around the ears, face and throat — although there may be red on the sides, which leads people to believe they are red foxes. There are no native red foxes in Florida, although there are a few red foxes on Florida’s Panhandle that are descendants of red foxes released on fox hunts.<br /> Foxes are shy and nocturnal. If you see a fox in the daytime, it is almost certainly a mother fox foraging for food for babies, says Schlueter.<br /> She warns people not to feed them or any wildlife. “There’s plenty of food for them in sunny Florida,” she says.<br /> Foxes should be appreciated, not feared, say the experts. <br /> “They are adorable, really endearing animals,” says Schlueter.<br /> And here’s a fun fox fact: They are the only member of the dog family that climbs trees.</p>
<p style="text-align:left;"><br /> <em> If you find an injured or sick fox or other wildlife, contact South Florida Wildlife Center at 954-524-4302 or 866-SOS-WILD.</em></p></div>