No new river permits any time soon
11/13/2009
by Mike Sharkey
for Financial News & Daily Record
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It’s very likely the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Commission won’t issue any new permits pertaining to the St. Johns River until at least July due to the number of manatee deaths in local waters over the 12 rolling months.
That decision is, in part, thanks to Duval County’s Manatee Protection Plan.
So far this year there have been 12 manatee deaths in local waters. The threshold is five in a 12-month period, an element of the protection plan. More than five is considered “unacceptable” and triggers a report to the Florida Fish & Wildlife Commission. At Thursday’s Jacksonville Waterways Commission meeting, Waterways member Steve Nichols said he attended an Oct. 30 meeting at the U.S. Fish & Wildlife office with about 30 others who have a vested interest in the river and manatee protection. Nichols said the manatee deaths and permitting were a major topic of discussion.
“The county has been on notice. There will be no new permits for recreation or port-related,” he said. “The US Fish & Wildlife Commission relies on local and state jurisdiction. There have been 16 deaths in the last 19 months and they see no way to allow new permits. The State says if there are five deaths in 12 months, then the plan is not effective.
“We are virtually shut down for permits on the river. That’s a fact.”
Nichols suggested the City create a new Manatee Protection Plan and submit it to the FWC for consideration. Lisa Rinaman of the mayor’s office said an internal meeting has been scheduled for Dec. 15 and the City would like to present a draft of its new plan to the FWC in January.
Rinaman, and others, say one of the biggest issues surrounding manatee protection in local waters is enforcement of the rules of the water, especially speeding in manatee zones. She said this was discussed during the Oct. 30 meeting.
“Our JSO officers have the same resource issues as others and it’s good that came to light,” she said.
Waterways member Ed Grey also attended the Oct. 30 meeting with Nichols. Grey said the lack of enforcement resources is a major obstacle to enforcing speed limits — and thus the safety of the docile manatees — in local waterways.
“Florida Fish & Wildlife has five officers in the area and they also have to patrol the woods for hunters. They are lucky to have three on the water,” he said, adding the Marine Division of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office is in the same situation. “They issue very few speeding tickets in the manatee zone. There’s an inability to detect the speed and measure it from another vessel. The charges do not hold up in court.”
Grey said often JSO’s Marine Division will stop a boater they suspect of speeding and use it as an opportunity to inspect the boat for the proper licenses, registrations and safety devices and give the pilot a “stern lecture on speeding in the manatee zone,” said Grey.
If FWC approves the City’s draft in January, it’s still about a six-month approval process.
Riverkeeper Neil Armingeon also talked to the Commission about the status of the St. Johns River. Armingeon said the health of the river has never been more important and added unless the amount of nutrients being dumped into the river on a daily basis isn’t seriously addressed soon, the local water supply may be affected.
“By the year 2030, we could face a daily deficit of 150 million gallons a day,” he said. “In January, we may be given the same marching orders as Central Florida: you need to find an alternate source of water.
“Water conservation is the first step we as a state have to take to reduce water usage. But, water conservation is not listed as an alternative water supply. The idea of North Florida supplying South Florida with water has resurfaced.”
According to Armingeon, about 120 million to 130 million gallons of wastewater flow into the St. Johns River in Northeast Florida every day. He said JEA is the largest discharger of nitrogen followed by Georgia Pacific. Stormwater runoff is also a problem.
“The storm drains Downtown discharge into the river at the Northbank with no treatment,” he said, adding the problem must be addressed individually as well as from a government standpoint. And, he said, it’ll be expensive. “To meet these standards (set forth by the state) we are going to have to spend money. It’s a fact.”
msharkey@baileypub.com
356-2466
Link to article: http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=529569
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