http://wfsu.org/blog-coastal-health/?p=4270 The Adventure of Discovery Where the Land Meets the Sea Wed, 15 May 2013 12:01:12 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://wfsu.org/blog-coastal-health/?p=4270#comment-66508 WFSU In the Grass, On the Reef Mon, 19 Nov 2012 14:49:37 +0000 http://wfsu.org/blog-coastal-health/?p=4270#comment-66508 [...] that’s what I get for making her pose with a bloody finger and the hook that got her and then posting it here a couple of months ago.  No blood though, it just snagged my [...] [...] that’s what I get for making her pose with a bloody finger and the hook that got her and then posting it here a couple of months ago.  No blood though, it just snagged my [...]

]]> http://wfsu.org/blog-coastal-health/?p=4270#comment-58799 Robin Rickel Vroegop Fri, 07 Sep 2012 19:08:50 +0000 http://wfsu.org/blog-coastal-health/?p=4270#comment-58799 An emergency meeting was held yesterday 9/6 with many state officials in attendance, as well as 450 to 500 local bay workers and citizens. Here is a link to a video: http://youtu.be/nqeKr2quRHk Things are looking up! An emergency meeting was held yesterday 9/6 with many state officials in attendance, as well as 450 to 500 local bay workers and citizens. Here is a link to a video: http://youtu.be/nqeKr2quRHk Things are looking up!

]]> http://wfsu.org/blog-coastal-health/?p=4270#comment-58746 Robin Rickel Vroegop Wed, 05 Sep 2012 04:52:34 +0000 http://wfsu.org/blog-coastal-health/?p=4270#comment-58746 Rob, while I commend your work, and your coverage, it may be too late. I, and other OSPREY volunteers attempted to document salinity killing freshwater aquatic vegetation upriver as far as Saul's Creek in June of 2011. We could not get any response from people in the community, including the Riverkeeper. The Board of County Commissioners for Franklin County met this morning in a standing room only courthouse meeting and declared a State of Emergency for the County because of the rapidly deteriorating seafood productivity of the Apalachicola Bay. The winter oyster bars opened this past weekend, and the consensus is unanimous from all quarters: there are no legal sized oysters to catch on the winter bars, and no oyster spat to be found in the Bay. But the alarm extends to other catches as well: no bay shrimp for nearly two years; extremely reduced blue crab catch; recreational species flagging as well, and few pogies and other types of bait fishes. Whatever the underlying causal factors, the results, long recognized by those that must make a living from the water, have suddenly become undeniable by those who previously chose to ignore them in the past. I pray that while some here "Fiddled", this "Last Great Bay" has not been allowed to teeter past the tipping point of no return, as the Chesapeake was allowed to do. All the fresh water in the world will not help if no wild, native seed oysters survive to make spat for the future. God help us all. Rob, while I commend your work, and your coverage, it may be too late. I, and other OSPREY volunteers attempted to document salinity killing freshwater aquatic vegetation upriver as far as Saul’s Creek in June of 2011. We could not get any response from people in the community, including the Riverkeeper. The Board of County Commissioners for Franklin County met this morning in a standing room only courthouse meeting and declared a State of Emergency for the County because of the rapidly deteriorating seafood productivity of the Apalachicola Bay. The winter oyster bars opened this past weekend, and the consensus is unanimous from all quarters: there are no legal sized oysters to catch on the winter bars, and no oyster spat to be found in the Bay. But the alarm extends to other catches as well: no bay shrimp for nearly two years; extremely reduced blue crab catch; recreational species flagging as well, and few pogies and other types of bait fishes. Whatever the underlying causal factors, the results, long recognized by those that must make a living from the water, have suddenly become undeniable by those who previously chose to ignore them in the past. I pray that while some here “Fiddled”, this “Last Great Bay” has not been allowed to teeter past the tipping point of no return, as the Chesapeake was allowed to do. All the fresh water in the world will not help if no wild, native seed oysters survive to make spat for the future. God help us all.

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