The History of Diving Museum in Islamorada dedicates its Bauer Diving History Research Library on Feb. 29 at the museum, mile marker 83 bayside.
The ribbon-cutting celebration is from 6 to 8 p.m. RSVP is required, call 664-9737 or send an e-mail to info@divingmuseum.org.
Named after the museum’s founders, Joe and Sally Bauer, the new facility serves as the repository of the Bauer Library Collection, which consists of about 2,500 volumes. It is one of the most comprehensive collections of rare books relative to the story of undersea exploration and was amassed by the Bauers over four decades.
The collection is focused on titles published prior to the mid-1900s and includes some publications dating back to the 1700s. Included are books, prints, woodcuts, catalogues, and photographs illustrating diving history, treasure hunting, submarine warfare, natural history and other aspects of underwater exploration.
The project was made possible with a grant from the Monroe County Tourist Development Council. The grant allowed the museum to purchase custom archival-quality bookshelves, document storage drawers, a waterless fire-suppression system, light fixtures and an art hanging system. There is also wireless Internet and audio-visual equipment to make it a functional space for business meetings and events, available for rent.
“The staff, board, and volunteers have all worked extremely hard on this project and its completion signifies a very important step forward for our young museum,” said Erin Wolfe, manager of collections and administration.
Tickets for the opening event are $25 ($15 for museum members). Drink tickets and hors d’oeuvres are included. The deadline to RSVP is Feb. 22.
The museum is open to the general public daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The research library and meeting room will be accessible during those hours.
No tags for this post.
Categories:
Diving, Islamorada Tags:
BY Les Neuhaus Citizen Staff
Fifteen to 30 trucks a day bring in fresh veneer of sand. Smathers
Beach is recapturing some of its former good looks with a massive infusion of silicon.
Key West city officials say the makeover — “renourishment” in beach-speak — consists of a fresh new veneer of lily-white sand, and has been a long time coming.
Heavy equipment staging for the project began on June 7, but it wasn’t until Thursday that crews began spreading 17,500 tons of sand to restore aspects of the popular man-made beach.
Mother Nature is responsible for the beach’s loss of luster, city spokeswoman Alyson Crean said.
“The Smathers Beach renourishment is a project to replenish sand that wears away over the years from storms and erosion,” Crean said. “It’s a $749,000 project with 50 percent grant funding from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. The other 50 percent of the cost is split by the city and by a grant from the Monroe County Tourist Development Council (TDC).”
The TDC’s capital improvement fund helps sustain areas and resources that attract tourists to the Keys — such as beaches, she said.
“It’s been over seven years since the last full renourishment,” she said. “In the intervening years, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has funded occasional berm repair projects after tropical storms.”
The project will continue through early July, said Janet K. Luce, the on-site inspector for Atkins Global, a London-based global engineering and design consulting firm that recently acquired the Tampa firm PBS&J.
“We provide construction oversight and permit compliance,” Luce said. “We have an environmental-services contract set up with the city of Key West.”
The project is moving west to east along the beach, which will remain open to the public, said Doug Bradshaw, senior project manager for the city’s Engineering Department. “There may be periodic closings of small sections of the beach for safety, but we’re trying to keep everything there operating normally.”
Between 15 and 30 trucks a day are bringing loads of sand to the beach, he said.
Tags:
Beach
Categories:
Beaches, Key West Tags:
Beach
BY ADAM LINHARDT Citizen Staff
alinhardt@keysnews.com
It took a jury four hours Friday to find Harry Bethel Jr. and his two mates guilty of pulling another fisherman’s lobster traps three years ago.
Bethel Jr., 48, and co-defendants Shamus Davis, 32, and Lawrence Pinder, 54, were found guilty of one count of trap molestation, a third-degree felony with a maximum punishment of five years in prison. Each is scheduled to be sentenced before circuit Judge David Audlin on June 28.
Audlin granted Assistant State Attorney Val Winter’s request that fishing licenses for each man be revoked pending sentencing. Each could have their licenses permanently revoked at that time, Winter said. None of the defendants was taken into custody, as Audlin did not find them to be a threat to the community, Winter said. Each initially was charged with two counts of trap molestation. Jurors found them guilty of pulling only one of the two traps the state argued they molested while fishing aboard Bethel Jr.’s crawfish vessel, the Kayla Renee II, near Sugarloaf Key in 2007.
“They found them guilty on the trap that [a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC)] pilot had under constant surveillance,” Winter said. Two FWC officers responded to the Kayla Renee II under the direction of FWC pilot Lt. John Murphy, according to court testimony. Much of the state’s case centered on Murphy’s testimony of what he saw while on patrol about 2,000 to 3,000 feet in the air.
Defense attorney Manny Garcia, who is representing Bethel, and Assistant Public Defender Christopher Bridger, assigned to the other two defendants, hammered away in their closing arguments Friday at what Murphy was able to see from that height. It was the second trial in the case, as prosecutors failed to convince a jury in January that the fishermen had molested any traps. Audlin declared a mistrial after jurors failed to reach a verdict in the first trial.
In an unrelated arson case, Bethel Jr. has not accepted a plea agreement offered by prosecutors. Winter declined to comment on the specifics of the offer until it has been legally accepted or rejected in court and made public. That charge carries a maximum of 35 years in prison and $5,000 in fines if Bethel is found guilty. Prosecutors allege he set fire to a thatched-roof tiki hut at the home of his cousin and business partner, with whom he was arguing, in September 2007.
Bethel is the son of former Key West City Commissioner Harry Bethel Sr. and current Key West Bight Board chairman.
Tags:
Lobster,
Lobster Mobster
by Barbara Ann Weibel at Hole In The Donut Travels
I’d often driven by Bahia Honda State Park on Big Pine Key in the Florida Keys, but had never stopped. During a recent trip to Key West, determined to rectify that oversight, I carved out a couple of days on the end of my trip, specifically for beach time.
Bahia Honda contains three separate beaches, each of which is completely different from the others. Caloosa Beach is tucked into a gentle cove at the foot of the old Overseas Railway trestle at the southern end of the park. A portion of the old bridge has been maintained as an elevated walkway that offers spectacular views of the beach and inlet. Caloosa is popular with families because restrooms, a snack bar, and ample parking are all located adjacent to the crescent.
At Loggerhead Beach, located in the center of the park, a submerged sandbar emerges at low tide. Sunbathers deposit coolers and perch folding chairs on these exposed sand hills and wade far out into the shallow aqua water to search for shells and sea glass. At low tide, the amazingly clear waters of Loggerhead Beach recede to reveal half a mile or more of sandbar flats.
Read more…
Tags:
florida keys beaches
BY TIMOTHY O’HARA Citizen Staff tohara@keysnews.com
Annual catch limits for commercially harvested fish have been a controversial issue bitterly opposed by local commercial fishermen. They soon will not have to worry about federally imposed quotas, however, for one popular species caught off the Florida Keys — stone crab.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) board on Thursday approved rules that extend its stone crab management to federal waters beyond state waters. The rule amendments are expected to take effect Aug. 31.
The news was welcomed by local commercial fishermen and the Florida Keys Commercial Fishermen’s Association, as it means stone crab would not be subject to federal quotas.
“The state of Florida does a wonderful job managing wildlife,” association President Bill Kelly said. “We are very comfortable with the FWC having sole jurisdiction.”
Kelly argued the move would remove the fishery from the jurisdiction of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, which he said places unnecessary quotas on fishermen and arbitrarily closes fishing seasons.
Stone crab is an important fishery in the Keys, with Monroe County fishermen accounting for the bulk of the annual harvest, roughly 3.5 million pounds, Kelly said.
Currently, the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council has a federal fishery management plan in place for stone crabs. The council recently voted to recommend the repeal of this plan to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries Service.
The NOAA secretary has not signed off on it yet, but is expected to soon. At that time, the final rule likely will be published in late August or early September. It probably will be in effect before the fishing season starts Oct. 15, said Carrie Simmons, a fishery biologist with the Gulf Council.
NOAA Fisheries Service intends to repeal the federal stone crab fishery management plan before the season opens.
The stone crab fishery is centered in Florida and the FWC already plays a leading role in stone crab stock assessments and management. Most of the stone crab fishery occurs in state waters off Florida, and existing federal rules for stone crabs are the same as the FWC’s rules.
Tags:
Stone Crab
By KEVIN WADLOW
http://www.keysnet.com
Wednesday, June 02, 2010
Fifteen lobster tails were seized as evidence Monday when state wildlife officers arrested a St. Augustine man spearfishing near Grassy Key. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers charged Bruce L. Beall, 39, with 19 misdemeanor counts of conservation violations.
FWC officers checked Beall when they saw him spearfishing in Gulf of Mexico waters north of Grass Key, FWC spokesman Bobby Dube said. It’s illegal to spear lobster, and to separate tails from the lobster body on the water. All the tails were undersized and taken in a closed season, Dube said.
If the lobster had been egg-bearing, “he’d have had the whole set” of possible crawfish violations, Dube noted. The incident was the most serious conservation violation reported from the Memorial Day weekend in the Keys, the officer said.
Lobster season is closed from April 1 to the sport-diving days the last Wednesday and Thursday in July.
Tags:
Diving,
Lobster,
Lobster Mobster
by Barbara Ann Weibel at Hole In The Donut Travels
Sombrero Beach in Marathon, Florida, may be the quintessential example of a multi-use beach. Am I talking swimming, snorkeling, sunbathing, picnicking, volleyball, barbecuing, and climbing on playground playground equipment? Well, all those things can be done at this beach, but that’s not what I was referring to.
Sombrero is a multi-use beach because humans are not the only ones that use it. Between April and October each year, Loggerhead turtles crawl up onto the beach at night to lay their eggs in the sand. During these months, city workers remove tables and park benches from the beach, nesting areas are roped off, and local officials and volunteers patrol the beach at least once a day to ensure nests are not disturbed. The rest of the year belongs entirely to humans and their canine friends, who are welcome as long as they are leashed (the dogs, not the humans).
With soft white sand, gentle waters, and no crowds, Sombrero Beach is a favorite with locals and visitors.
Read more…
Tags:
florida keys beaches
The much-anticipated opening of Florida’s stone crab season takes place Oct. 15 but the 2011-12 season opening is going to be followed by a tasty test of crab-consuming capacity.
The inaugural Stone Crab Eating Contest, a challenge for amateur eaters, is set for Oct. 22 beginning at 1 p.m. at Keys Fisheries Market & Marina, off U.S. 1 at 35th Street bayside, Marathon.
Entrants must register and be present by noon the day of the event, and are tasked with cracking and eating 25 stone crab claws, picking them completely clean, in the fastest time. In the event of a tie, those competitors must face off in a 10-claw competition to determine the winner.
Prizes are to be awarded to the top three finishers. The first-place winner is to receive a two-night lodging package at Key West’s Doubletree Grand Key Resort featuring champagne, dinner for two and a sunset cruise on a tall ship or catamaran.
The second-place crab consumer earns a Swim with the Dolphins package at the Dolphin Research Center on Grassy Key, while the third-place finisher wins a $50 Keys Fisheries gift certificate.
The entry fee is $25 per contestant, and you must be at least 18. The contest is limited to 50 participants. Among the rules:
No professional eaters — amateurs only.
Contestants will be allowed to drink water during the competition.
If a contestant throws up, he or she is automatically disqualified.
Grounds for disqualification include:
Not disclosing risks that could jeopardize the contestant’s health or well-being.
Being under the influence of any substance.
Your appearance and/or clothing is deemed inappropriate (dress is Keys attire).
Starting prior to the start signal.
Any food in a competitor’s mouth at the final whistle counts toward the final tally if the competitor chews and swallows that portion of the competitive food. But competitors may not stuff food into their mouth in the final seconds of the contest to increase their total. Judges have the discretion to impose penalties on those who do.
Stone crabs are considered by many to be the finest Florida seafood for their succulent claw meat. In addition, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, they are the state’s only renewable seafood resource. Legal-size claws are harvested between Oct. 15 and May 15 each year, and the crab’s body is returned to the water to generate new claws.
To register for the contest, go to www.keysfisheries.com.
No tags for this post.
By ADAM LINHARDT Citizen Staff
Two Bay Point men were sentenced to a year in prison on charges that they conspired to poach lobster, a judge ruled Monday, closing the last chapter on two illegal lobster harvesting cases that snared eight people.
John Buckheim, 23, and Nick Demauro, 24, both apologized to federal Judge James Lawrence King, their friends, family and wildlife officers.
“I acknowledge and take full responsibility for what I did,” Buckheim said. “I was young and stupid and I’m not implying that I’m old or wise now, only that I’m heading in the right direction. … I’m sorry for this major mistake and you won’t find me in this position again.”
Demauro told the judge he had “taken everything for granted.”
Both men pleaded guilty in October to harvesting lobsters by diving on illegal artificial habitats, called casitas, primarily in the Content Keys area north of Big Pine Key, from July 2008 through October 2008, according to court documents.
The judge granted U.S. Attorney Thomas Watts-Fitzgerald’s request to delay their prison sentence 100 days so both men can continue their work removing as many as 600 casitas from Florida Keys waters. The judge ordered both to surrender to corrections officials on May 12.
The judge also allowed both men to resume legal commercial fishing immediately upon their release from prison, despite the prosecutor’s recommendation that both be prohibited during the two years of supervision that is to follow their release.
Miami defense attorneys Bruce Alter and Steven Potolsky urged the judge to consider the defendants’ ages, their clean criminal histories and their desire to make amends as mitigating factors at sentencing, but the prosecutor was unmoved, painting the men as astute fishermen who knew the risks involved.
“These were not youths who stumbled into this,” the prosecutor told the judge, describing taped conversations between the two men, and the hundreds of casitas they fished.
Buckheim and Demauro worked for David and Denise Dreifort of Cudjoe Key at one time. The latter were sentenced in July for spearheading a large lobster poaching ring that involved four other people, in a separate but related case. David Dreifort was sentenced to 2¬½ years in prison in July. His wife was sentenced to seven months in prison. Prosecutors found thousands of lobsters at one of their homes on Lookdown Lane last year.
Buckheim and Demauro began their own illegal operation after their stint with the Dreiforts, and they sold lobster to a Stock Island seafood company in 32 separate incidents for a total of $45,974, records say. The company has not been charged in the case, the prosecutor said.
Both men were warned by David Dreifort to cease their operation after he was indicted, but they continued, the prosecutor said. Federal agents began visual and electronic surveillance of Buckheim and Demauro during the larger investigation that involved the Dreiforts, reports say.
Both pleaded guilty as part of a plea agreement in which prosecutors dropped two charges that could have added at least 10 years to their sentences.
alinhardt@keysnews.com
Tags:
Diving,
Lobster,
Lobster Mobster
Jury selection began Monday and open arguments are expected today in the lobster trap molesting trial of three Key West residents. Harry Bethel Jr. faces two felony counts of lobster trap molesting for allegedly pulling fishermens traps near Mayland Shoal in the Atlantic Ocean off Sugarloaf Key in January 2008. Bethel, Lawrence Pinder, 59, and M. Shamus Davis, 30, rejected a plea agreement that called for a year in prison.Bethel is the namesake of a former Key West city commissioner and current Key West Bight Board chairman.
via Mile Markers | KeysNews.com.
Tags:
Lobster,
Lobster Mobster
