TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

State Input Sought On Seagrass Plan

ADVERTISEMENT

By SUSAN M. GREEN, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 27, 2007

RUSKIN - A task force assembled to discuss a pole-or-troll zone for Cockroach Bay agreed last week to seek state guidance on four options that would give boaters quick access to the area but also might reduce damage to seagrass beds.

The group, made up largely of boaters and anglers, agreed to suspend meetings until early next year. In the meantime, a county staff member and the task force chairman, Danny Guarino of Ruskin, will discuss the options with state regulators who have oversight of the area.

Tom Ash, who oversees restoration projects for Hillsborough's Environmental Protection Commission, said the group directed him and Guarino to meet with representatives of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, U.S. Coast Guard and other agencies involved in boating regulations and manatee protection.

The options are:

• Make Little Cockroach Bay off-limits to motorboats, but reduce the existing slow-speed zone established in Tampa Bay to protect manatees.

• Establish a pole-or-troll zone at Little Cockroach Bay with designated higher-speed corridors running perpendicular from the shore to the bay.

• Make Cockroach Bay a pole-or-troll zone from the Little Manatee River to the Hillsborough-Manatee county line but designate higher-speed corridors for motorboats to reach fishing and recreational areas.

• Designate Little Cockroach Bay as a pole-or-troll zone but establish a higher-speed corridor running approximately parallel with the shoreline from the Little Manatee River south to Big Pass. Ash said that option would require reconnaissance to determine where a corridor could be located without significant damage to seagrass.

'I certainly wouldn't propose that we just plow a corridor through there,' he said.

Ash predicted it would be impossible to create such a corridor without having seagrass in the path of boaters and at risk of propeller scarring. Possibly the vegetation could be transplanted to replace damaged seagrass meadows, he said.

'Is everyone willing to sacrifice a little bit of seagrass to protect a lot of seagrass?' he said.

Discussions about creating a pole-or-troll zone in Little Cockroach Bay stem from the county's recent adoption of a seagrass management plan for Hillsborough's jurisdictions in Tampa Bay.

A draft of the plan in the spring proposed banning use of outboard motors in Little Cockroach Bay after aerial photographs identified heavy propeller scarring in the area's seagrass beds. The ban was to remain in place for five years. Scientists would then evaluate the results to determine whether the protection should continue and possibly expand to other areas.

Boaters and fishing guides objected to the proposal, and EPC set up the task force to try to find a seagrass protection plan that was acceptable to users of the bay.

Final recommendations will go to county commissioners. Ash said he couldn't say how long that will take.

'I think we're still a long way off,' he said.

Reporter Susan M. Green can be reached at (813) 865-1566 or sgreen@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT