January – February 2008
Volume 49 – 1
Twenty-Six Annual Cortez Commercial Fishing Festival
Saturday, February 16, 10:00 am – 6:00 PM
Sunday, February 17, 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
Get ready for two unique days of fun and family entertainment along the historic and picturesque
shoreline of Cortez. If you love seafood and want to savor a taste of Florida’s history, don’t miss the
Cortez Commercial Fishing Festival.
The Festival is a special event: visitors will be welcomed to help Cortezians celebrate their love of marine
life and pride in their heritage. Festival goers will enjoy a variety of live entertainment, music, clog
dancing, boat rides, marine life exhibits, plenty of delicious seafood, and the beautiful vista from the
Cortez shoreline will provide a day you won’t soon forget. You will also be treated to a nautical Arts and
Crafts Show and tours and displays on local marine life and the commercial fishing industry.
Don’t forget you camera. Magnificent bird life abounds and the marine life touch tank always results in
squeals of delight and discovery for children of all ages.
All Festival proceeds are committed to purchasing 95 acres of mangrove wetlands immediately east of the
village – The FISH Preserve. This area is one of the last few undeveloped shorelines found in Sarasota
Bay. Come on out for a wonderful day and, at the same time, provide your support for helping your
community protect the health of bay waters.
The Festival is easy to find. Just head west toward the beaches on Cortez Road, you can’t miss it (12306
46th Ave., Bradenton, 34215). Admission is $2.00, children under 12 free. Additional parking will be
available east of the village off of Cortez Rd. (10 minute walk). Offsite parking available at Sugg Middle
School (3801 59th St. W.) or Coquina Beach Bayside with shuttle bus to Cortez ($2.00 round trip).
www.cortezfishingfestival.org
FESTIVAL ENDORSED BY FAMED OCEAN EXPLORER JEAN-MICHEL COUSTEAU!
Oysters in Sarasota Bay
Although it has been some time since oysters from Sarasota Bay were harvested for human consumption,
they still grow in patches here and there and are valuable to humans for their remarkable filtering ability.
In 2001, several American Littoral Society (ALS) members got interested in the idea of increasing their
numbers in Roberts Bay (north) to offset the incoming pollution from Philippi Creek. In 2002, oysters
from the mouth of Philippi Creek were moved to nearby locations as part of a dredging plan. Monitoring
how they dealt with that stress, they found both depth and location were significant to survival.
ALS members then staked out “shell kabobs” (oyster shells with a hole drilled in each shell and stacked
on a stiff wire) in likely spots around Little Edwards Island and environs just as ambient water
temperature reached 82F and mature oysters began to spawn. Within a few months they found the
undersides of the shells were heavy with settled spat and the best were about six inches off the bottom.
In 2003, Sarasota County began monitoring oyster populations in Dona and Roberts Bay (south) as an
indicator of environmental health. They found oyster reefs were adversely affected by larger than usual
influxes of fresh water. They have recently expanded to other watersheds including Lemon Bay and
Little Sarasota Bay.
The Sarasota Bay Estuary Program began a study of existing reefs in 2004. Part of this project, in
cooperation with the Florida Sea Grant Marine Extension Program, evaluated the historical distribution of
oyster reefs in Little Sarasota Bay. Later, Sarasota Bay Estuary Program put in two sizable reefs in Little
Sarasota Bay and intend to expand into Roberts Bay (north). Mote Marine has been involved in
monitoring the projects success. Lets hope scientists and citizens can work together to reestablish at least
some of Sarasota Bays past oyster reefs.
Source: Southern Shore Lines
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Mote Completes Third Caviar Harvest
In the fall of 2006, Mote Marine Laboratory became the first organization in Florida to harvest caviar,
which they produced from sturgeon grown in an environmentally friendly production system that treats
and recirculates its water at the Mote Aquaculture Park in eastern Manatee County 17 miles from the
coast. In November of 2007, Mote began its third caviar harvest.
Mote, which has about 75 metric tons of growing sturgeon, is currently harvesting caviar from the Bester
and Siberian species. This batch of caviar – mostly from the Besters, which are being phased out of
production at Mote, will be sold to a North Carolina-based caviar house. Mote has also provided caviar to
the world-famous Petrossian caviar house. Mote expects to harvest around 50 kilos from the 5 to 7 yearold fish.
Mote’s Sturgeon Demonstration Program has several goals:
•
Reducing the pressure on wild sturgeon stocks, which have been extremely depleted worldwide
by overfishing. By producing caviar from fish grown in aquaculture settings, Mote helps provide
supply to meet a growing demand so that wild fish stocks may have a chance at rebounding.
•
Ensuring a healthy and safe food product. Questions of seafood safety have recently been at
the forefront in the news. Mote’s fish are produced safely in a controlled environment that ensures
they are safe for consumers.
•
Creating a new business model for Florida and the U.S. By supporting the industry in Florida,
Mote is helping develop new business models to expand the state’s economy.
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•
Reducing our nation’s dependence on imported food fish. The U.S. trade deficit in seafood is
second to that only of oil. Growing fish domestically will help reduce the nation’s dependence on
other countries.
•
Supporting aquaculture research that is important for the nation. By creating new systems to
produce fish for food in an environmentally sound way, Mote is supporting the creation of a new
industry while emphasizing sound environmentally practices.
Mote is also seeking funding to help support the program. While this caviar harvest is an important one,
Mote Aquaculture Park is still trying to rebound from a July 2006 fire that destroyed one-third of its stock
and the building that housed it. Continued investment will help support the program until it reaches a
break-even point, expected to occur in 2009.
For more information, contract Business Manager John Pether at 941-234-3566 or [email protected] or
Kevin Main at 941-388-4541, ext.27 or [email protected].
Source: Florida Aquaculture. Issue No. 63, December 2007.
Northwest Passage
The legendary northern route from the Atlantic to Pacific Oceans, in the past more often associated with
polar exploration, may soon become a common occurrence. Normally choked with ice, winter and
summer, the passage is now navigable through most of the year.
In the early and mid-twentieth century, making this dangerous journey was rarely attempted and meant
the explorers had to prepare to be locked in the ice over one or several winters. Roald Amundsen, one of
the wiser frigid climate leaders, who later was the first to make it to the South Pole, led an east-west
expedition through the Northwest Passage that started in August 1905 and took two and a half years. In
mid 1940, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police vessel left Vancouver in 1940 and arrived in Halifax in
October 1942.
Since then icebreakers and ships with reinforced hulls have occasionally made the trip. In the summer
months of 2007 an ordinary merchant ship could have made the trip without meeting much ice at all.
Source: Southern Shore Lines. January 2008.
Really Old Fossil Jellyfish
Jellyfish fossil have recently been found in the Marjum formation in Utah which dates back 500 million
years ago (mya). Before its discovery, the earliest jellyfish fossils occurred in shale from Pennsylvania
which dates back 320 mya. The newly discovered Cambrian fossils look remarkably like modern
jellyfish. This shows that complex invertebrate forms evolved much earlier than previously believed.
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Source: Southern Shore Lines, January 2008.
NOAA Publishes Consumer Guide on Web
NOAA Fisheries Service has developed a comprehensive Web site for seafood consumers called “Fish
Watch: U.S. Seafood Facts.” Concerned Seafood Consumers in the U.S. are now able to turn to a
government Web site for the latest information about the sustainability and quality of seafood. Fish
Watch was designed to help you identify the status of fishery stock and understand the management and
science requirements involved with building and maintaining sustainable fisheries. The Web site has
information on more than 30 of the most popular domestic seafood species, such as red snapper, king
mackerel, red grouper, mahi-mahi, brown shrimp and many others. More species will be added in the
near future. The site is accessible at the following web address: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/fishwatch/
Source: Gulf & South Atlantic News Volume 9, Issue 1.
Robot Enlisted for Red Tide
Research
“We’re very excited to have Dr. Shalat come on
board with this study,” said Dr. Barbara
Kirkpatrick, manager of Mote’s Environmental
Health Program. “We’re just now getting a
better understanding of how red tide toxins affect
adults with asthma. Dr. Shalat has done work
looking at how young children’s exposure levels
may differ from adults and may affect them
when they get older. This is a really important
piece of the red tide puzzle.”
A robotic air sampler designed to mimic the
movements of a child six to 12 months old will
be used to study how young children are exposed
to red tide as they play on beaches. PIPER –
which stands for Pre-toddler Inhalable
Particulate Environmental Robotic – was first
deployed on Siesta Key in September as part of
Mote Marine Laboratory’s ongoing studies on
the effects of red tide.
The beach-bound robots join three autonomous
underwater vehicles which detect the presence of
red tide offshore out to about 40 miles and seven
stationary monitors attached to buoys from
Sarasota south to Charlotte Harbor.
Children, notes PIPER inventor Dr. Stuart Shalat
of the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, are
typically exposed to higher levels of toxic
materials at ground level than at a standard
height. “When children are moving, exposure
can be 100 times more,” he adds.
Source: Bay Soundings. Fall 2007.
2008 Artificial Reef Workshop
Since 2001, Mote has been working with
researchers to investigate the impact that these
airborne organisms have on people. In the threeyear study, scientists have been looking at how
red tide affects two groups of people: Healthy
lifeguards and volunteers who have asthma or
chronic pulmonary disease (COPD). Now
infants have been added to the mix.
Back in December 2007, I convened a workshop
to allow all the artificial reef program
coordinators from Florida’s west coast to
exchange ideas and learn new information that
will allow them to more effectively design, build
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and manage artificial reefs. Here are a couple of
important topics discussed at the workshop.
Recovery of reefs from 2005 Red Tide.
Scientists from the Florida Fish and Wildlife
Commission (FWC) reported on work that has
been conducted to evaluate reef recovery
following the 2005 Red Tide. FWC scientists
and artificial reef program coordinators reported
promising news: fish populations and organism
encrusting reef material are showing signs of
recovery. However, it will take more time for
complete recovery.
Economic Impact Study of southwest Florida
Artificial Reefs. The Florida Sea Grant College
Program in cooperation with FWC, West Coast
Inland Navigation District (WCIND), and local
counties will be conducting a study to assess the
economic impact of artificial reefs programs.
Studies conducted in other parts of the state have
generally shown very positive economic benefits
from reef construction. With completion of the
current project, we will be able to fully document
these benefits throughout the state. Given
today’s debate on tax revenues and public
expenditures, it is important to document that
funds expended on reef construction are indeed
wisely spent.
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Sabbatical Leave 2008
I wanted to inform Marine Scene readers and my colleagues that I will be on sabbatical leave for six
months, from February 25th until August 25, 2008. I am very excited that the University of Florida has
enabled me to take advantage of this professional development opportunity.
I will be working on publishing several scientific articles on my work with commercial and noncommercial sponges. Our research has lead the way to new sponge fishery regulations that will insure a
sustainable resource. Furthermore, work over the past 15 years has led to an improved understanding of
sponge community dynamics following a widespread sponge mortality in Florida Bay and Florida Keys.
It is now time to preserve these research findings in the scientific literature. I will be spending part of my
leave to work with world renowned sponge biologists at the New Zealand Centre for Biodiversity and
Biosecurity.
While I am gone, you will still receive one or two editions of the Marine Scene. My assistant, Ms.
Barbara Beach, will be checking messages and will try to forward informational request to the proper
sources.
Sincerely,
John Stevely
Sea Grant Extension Agent
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