305-852-6918 home 305-393-2587 cell or email
Specializing in sight fishing for bonefish, tarpon, redfish and permit on fly or light tackle.
Capt. Barry Hoffman's
at the water's edge
To all anglers, guides, and Florida Bay users,
Over the last year Everglades National Park has made moves to install Coast Guard navigation markers in Florida Bay. Due to increasing public opposition this plan to mark channels with Coast Guard markers has not yet come to fruition. However, there is now a modified plan which involves installing Coast Guard approved markers in three selected channels in Florida Bay and “studying” them for three years. Many see this study as potential stepping stones to a future with Florida Bay filled with Coast Guard markers creating a highway system for boaters throughout the Bay.
This issue of Coast Guard markers being installed in the channels of Florida Bay is the most dangerous thing we’ve ever had to face as Florida Bay users.
The reason is that Coast Guard markers installed in Florida Bay as a result of a channel marker study could very easily set a precedent for the rest of the Florida Bay channels to be marked with these same kinds of markers. And once Coast Guard markers go into Florida Bay, no matter what the effects, there is very little chance they will ever be removed.
In addition to public opposition, many who are prominent members of the science community feel the proposed channel marker study is fatally flawed in that no usable data will be obtained, and with the only result being the waste of the $312,000.00 that has been allocated to fund it.
Issues that have to do with boating are issues that have to do with an entire industry and a huge politically powerful lobby. Therefore, any bad thing that ensues from the installation of Coast Guard markers in Florida Bay is something Park managers will never be eager to address. Once Coast Guard markers go into Florida Bay they may be permanent, and any bad thing that may arise from it, which subsequently destroys our fishery, is something we’ll be stuck with forever.
An example of how things involving boating can spiral out of control occurs every October in Biscayne National Park. It is called the “Columbus Day Regatta.” It began as a simple sailboat race. It has morphed into a flotilla of over seven thousand powerboats loaded with mobs of partiers engaged in activities which decorum prevents being described here. It is the worst case scenario, and no matter what the expense to Biscayne National Park, its managers are not willing to deal with it.
All guides and anglers need to understand the ramifications of marking Florida Bay's channels with this type of marking system, and its potential effects on the fishery. Based on past experience, it is very likely that Coast Guard markers will alter boat use patterns in ways that will certainly be detrimental to the fishery. The tarpon is the facet of the fishery most sensitive to an increase in the number, size, and speed of boats. There are already plenty of places in Florida Bay that tarpon have abandoned because of boat traffic. We can’t afford to loose any more. We also can’t afford to loose the most important aspect of Florida Bay, to which we are still clinging: its wilderness.
We guides and anglers understand what we have to lose. Our fishery is fragile and is dependent on the integrity of Florida Bay's wilderness. There is a good chance Coast Guard markers in Florida Bay will imperil this wilderness. Anyone who is concerned with Florida Bay and its fishery should let the Park know how you feel about this issue with the potential use of Coast Guard markers in Florida Bay. We the users of Florida Bay, and our opinions, are something the Park pays close attention to. If you have something to say about this then please e-mail the Superintendent at: Dan_Kimball@nps.gov
Please read the letter below which I sent to Jon Jarvis, Director of National Park Service concerning the use of Coast Guard approved markers in Florida Bay. It explains the some of the key problems with Coast Guard markers in Florida Bay.
Please reply if you have any further questions. johnmkipp@bellsouth.net
Sincerely,
John Kipp
----- Original Message -----
From: John Kipp
To: jon_jarvis@nps.gov
Sent: Monday, January 25, 2010 8:06 PM
Subject: Threat to ENP's Fl. Bay Wilderness
John Kipp
P.O. Box 2010
Islamorada, FL.
33036
January 25th. 2010
Dear Sir,
I am writing in regard to the idea of Coast Guard regulation day-markers being used on the navigable channels in the Florida Bay region of Everglades National Park, which has become a major issue with Park users. My name is John Kipp and I have been a fishing guide in Everglades National Park for over thirty-four years. I have been a very vocal opponent of using Coast Guard markers in Florida Bay since the idea was first mentioned by Park managers a little more than a year ago.
My baseline in Florida Bay is basically the decade from 1975 thru 1985. Since the mid eighties I have seen a drastic decline in the fishery and health of the shallow water habitat of the Bay. Though water quality is a main reason for the degradation of the habitat and fishery, boater impact is also a substantial factor.
The effect of motorboats on Florida Bay is the primary concern with a Coast Guard regulation type marking system in the Bay. All channels in Florida Bay, with the exception of one, have a controlling depth of less than two feet at the approaches. The bay bottom of these channel approaches is made up of soft marl covered by seagrass, which is supposed to be protected by the law of a federally designated wilderness area. Currently, boaters are for the most part aware of this and operate accordingly with minimum negative impact to the bay bottom. A Coast Guard marking system, unlike the one that is currently used, will be required by law to be displayed on all charts and navigation software. The manner in which these markers are displayed on charts and GPS software is uniform, i.e., the markers are all displayed the same no matter what their physical size. So, any C.G. markers in Florida Bay, no matter how small and unobtrusive they may be, will be displayed exactly the same as the towering markers of the yacht channels outside the Park boundaries. Boaters unfamiliar with the shallow nature of Florida Bay will be encouraged to enter the bay in boats which are too large to operate without causing permanent damage to the bay bottom. Over time the activity of these boaters will end up dredging out the shallow approaches of the channels which will encourage even more boaters with inappropriately large boats to enter the bay causing yet more damage to the bay bottom. In the end permanent thoroughfares will be established in Florida Bay with more boats, larger boats, faster boats, and noisier boats running through them.
Presently, the Park is considering a channel marker study which includes the option of installing Coast Guard regulation markers in several select channels in Florida Bay and monitoring them for three years. The N.P.C.A. is offering to fund this study. The consensus in the science community is that, among other problems with the study, three years will not be a sufficient amount of time to collect the data necessary to be able to conclude whether or not Coast Guard markers will actually end up being effective in keeping boats in the channels and out of the sensitive shallow water habitat of Florida Bay. Anyone who takes the time to fly over the protected shallow water areas of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary or the Lignumvitae Aquatic Preserve, both of which have their channels marked with Coast Guard markers, will see the vast amount of deep propeller scarring on the grass flats which proves that Coast Guard markers have no effect in keeping boats in the channels and off the flats, and may actually make matters worse by causing an overall increase in boat use in these areas.
We in the guiding/angling community are fearful that, regardless of the inherent flaws of the study, the Park will move forward with it anyway, mark several channels in Florida Bay with Coast Guard markers, and at the end of the three years, with insufficient data to make any conclusions one way or the other, will go ahead and mark all the channels in Florida Bay with Coast Guard markers.
The ecology of Florida Bay supports a fishery that is globally unique. Everglades National Park contains a four-hundred thousand acre shallow water estuary that is home to some of the most sought-after gamefish species in the world. The king of these species in Florida Bay is the tarpon. Nowhere else in the world is there such an estuary with shallow clear water where tarpon reside. Anglers come from all over the globe to Everglades National Park to take advantage of this opportunity to seek these fish with fly tackle. This fishery depends on Florida Bay remaining in a pristine state. Over the last twenty-five years we have seen the tarpon abandon many areas in Florida Bay because of an increase in boat traffic. The increase in the size and number of boats resulting from Coast Guard markers being installed in Florida Bay could easily be the last nail in the coffin for this irreplaceable resource.
The effects of Coast Guard marked channels in the Bay will also impact other species including manatees and sea turtles all of which are already threatened and protected.
Finally, and most significantly, it will be the visitors that will suffer the most when more boats and noise forever erase the wilderness aspect of Florida Bay.
Putting Coast Guard Markers in Florida Bay is a “Pandora’s Box.” Once it’s opened and the evil things come out there is no way to put them back. Once Coast Guard Markers are in Florida Bay they will never be removed, and the negative impacts they cause will be impossible to reverse. This flys in the face of the National Park Service’s mandate to maintain its natural resources in their untrammeled and pristine state.
Therefore, we are adamant that, instead of pursuing a road to disaster, the Park should focus its resources on bolstering the current marker system and keeping it impeccably maintained.
The consensus among users of this Park is that what Florida Bay needs more than anything else is more law enforcement rangers. Many of us feel that the money that will be spent on this channel marking study will be a total waste and could be used instead to increase the number of law enforcement rangers patrolling and protecting Florida Bay. Money spent on this will go much further to protect the resources of the Park and will be money well spent.
Looking forward to your reply.
Sincerely,
John Kipp
Park Service plans to install Coast Guard Navigation markers in Florida Bay...
I was sent this letter by a third party.. I believe in what Capt. Kip has to say. For those that have been here a while, you've seen the destruction and the decreasing numbers of fish partly due to the channel markers placed by ENP, which has helped to increase the boat traffic in Florida Bay. Remember when Jimmy's channel (twisty mile) was unmarked, three feet wide and 1 foot deep?(the park service has told us that boat traffic in Florida Bay is up tenfold what it was 10 years ago) Please read on and respond NO to the placement of Coast Guard markers in Florida Bay. email the Everglades Park Superintendent at: Dan_Kimball@nps.gov
