Tortugas

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar toured the Florida Keys

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar toured the Florida Keys by air, boat and on foot on Saturday, focusing on the four national wildlife refuges and 30 federally endangered and threatened species managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The refuges are on the front line of conservation, where encroaching development, exotic species and the future challenges of sea level rise in the island ecosystem present threats to wildlife and habitats found nowhere else in the world.

“As the department responsible for managing world-class national wildlife refuges as well as the Dry Tortugas National Park in the Florida Keys, we view the conservation and restoration of the unique ecosystems and wildlife of South Florida among our highest priorities,” Salazar said. “It is important for me to see these areas personally and meet with the dedicated professionals with the Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service who do such an outstanding job of managing them.”

The tour was part of Salazar’s third trip to the Everglades as Interior secretary. He also spoke at the annual conference of the Everglades Coalition, the largest annual forum for Everglades’s conservation and restoration.

In his remarks, he underscored the Obama administration’s commitment to restoring the great River of Grass. In two years, for example, the administration has increased federal construction funding for Everglades Restoration by more than $660 million.

In addition, Salazar met with the Greater Everglades Partnership Initiative and announced a partner-driven effort to work with private landowners, conservation groups and federal, tribal, state and local agencies develop a new 150,000-acre national wildlife refuge and conservation area, the Everglades National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area.

As part of his tour, Salazar toured National Key Deer Refuge on Big Pine Key. The federally endangered Key deer, a smaller cousin of the white-tailed deer, has rebounded from a population of just 50 in 1950 to more than 500 today.

In the past two years, the refuge began integrating on-the-ground research to improve the prescribed burning program. This benefits the Key deer and other wildlife and their fire-dependent habitats, while protecting lives and properties from the threat of wildfire.

Salazar also toured the EcoDiscovery Center in Key West. The center, which promotes resource conservation and stewardship across the Keys, is sponsored and operated by NOAA’s Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary in partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service and South Florida Water Management district.

“Working with our many federal, state, local and non-profit partners, we continue to make great progress in conserving these unique island ecosystems, where the Caribbean meets North America,” he said.

To view photos from the Secretary’s trip, click here.

To read a copy of Secretary Salazar’s remarks at the Annual Everglades Coalition Conference click here.

Dry Tortugas Video

This 13-minute video — which can take a while to load, so be patient — is the work of the South Florida National Parks Trust, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. It explains the background that led to creation of the natural area, which is hoped to allow fish populations to rebound and to provide a sanctuary if you will for coral reefs, which face threats from anchor damage, degraded water quality, and warming oceans.

Biologists Observe Spawning Mutton Snapper in Florida Keys

Biologists recently witnessed an extraordinary sight while conducting an underwater study of mutton snapper in the Florida Keys.

For the first time in Florida waters, scientists with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s (FWC) Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the University of South Florida observed this species spawning in a Marine Protected Area in the Florida Keys. The site was established, in part, to protect spawning schools of snapper and grouper in the Tortugas Ecological Reserve.

Mutton snapper is an important species to both recreational and commercial fisheries. When fish group together in large numbers to spawn, they are more vulnerable to fishing pressure. Allowing the fish to spawn without angler pressure will help sustain the fishery. The data collected from this study will help biologists understand the effectiveness of creating no-take Marine Protected Areas to protect a variety of sea life, including fish and coral reefs.

Biologists spotted the large school of spawning snapper while working on an acoustic tagging project. The purpose of this research is to obtain information regarding the movement, spawning and migratory habits of snappers and groupers. They conducted surgeries underwater at depths of up to 120 feet to implant acoustic tags inside the fish. Conducting the tagging at this ground-breaking depth causes less stress to the fish than bringing them to the surface by conventional hook-and-line methods to complete the surgeries.

Biologists will continue to receive data from the tagged fish for the next few years. This information will help them learn more about the movement, spawning and migratory habits of these fish.

For more information on FWRI’s marine fisheries research, visit http://research.MyFWC.com.

via Biologists see spawning fish in Marine Protected Area | Chipley Bugle.

National Parks Waive Fees for 3 Weekends This Summer

National parks, including Everglades National Park and Dry Tortugas National Park in South Florida, will drop fees for three summer weekends. The parks will lift admission fees June 20-21, July 18-19 and August 15-16. About half the parks charge entrance fees. Everglades charges $10 per car for a pass that is good for one week. Dry Tortugas charges $5 to visitors, who must get to the site 70 miles west of Key West by boat or ferry.

The waiver does not include other fees for camping, reservations, tours and use of concessions. But some tour operators, hotels, restaurants, gift shops and other vendors also will offer additional discounts and special promotions, the park service said. At Shark Valley, for instance, the tram tour will offer a discount: Buy one ticket, get a second ticker of equal or lesser value at half price. For more information on fees and discounts, go to www.nps.gov/findapark/feefreeparks.html.

U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced the fee waivers on Tuesday, calling it a dual effort to provide affordable vacations and to boost the economy in communities bordering the nation’s 319 national parks.