Fight to protect native fish under Blue Heron Bridge escalates

The ongoing fight to protect tropical native fish being taken from the waters under the Blue Heron Bridge escalated this past weekend when a Texas-based aquarium came to town and removed dozens of the colorful creatures — legally — to use for a breeding project.

Moody Gardens, of Galveston, Texas, initially received a permit from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission on Sept. 27. It then began collecting fish, but state officials then amended the permit on Saturday to say the group could not take from the Blue Heron Bridge area.

The amended permit, however, appears to allow for the removal of a large collection of fish -- more than 70 species and as many as 50 of each variety.

They also stipulated that fish specimens must be collected across multiple sites so that no single location is disproportionately impacted, according to the special license.

[embedded content]

But the diving and snorkeling community had already seen the Moody group take fish from the bridge area, and to them, the damage already had been done. Members of the local diving community spread the word about fish being taken on social media and called for Moody to release all the fish.

“Technically it was not illegal based on their permit but it was unethical,” said Bill Parks, a member of the Florida Marine Life Association. “The divers here are livid.”

Local shark dive operator Jim Abernethy started an online petition titled “End Collection & Removal of Marine life from Phil Foster Park by Tropical Fish Collectors!”

READ: County to ask fish, wildlife agency to protect Blue Heron Bridge fish

“They basically just stole everything legally,” Abernethy told The Palm Beach Post on Tuesday.

In response to the uproar, Moody posted a statement and video on its Facebook page.

In the video, Greg Whittaker, Moody’s animal husbandry manager, said the group went to three dive sites over seven days, conducted 13 collections and brought back 50 fish and 11 invertebrates. The majority of the fish — about two-thirds — came from the bridge and the Blue Heron Bridge Snorkel Trail and the rest from the Fort Pierce Marina Dock. He said the group decided to release between 10 and 20 fish near the bridge after they felt threatened by advocates there.

MORE: Why it’s a good thing if you see sharks beneath the Blue Heron Bridge

The diving community says the group took about 200 fish — a statement Whittaker disputed.

“We would not be taking that many animals from a sensitive ecosystem,” Whittaker said in the video.

One fish died in transport but the others are doing well in quarantine systems, the Moody statement said.

The waters under the bridge and around Phil Foster Park are considered a sacred place by the diving community and are known nationally as a tourist attraction. But the diving community has been adamantly critical of the removal of fish by people and entities who take them to populate their own aquariums or sell them for profit. After an outcry from the Blue Heron Bridge Preservation Initiative, the Palm Beach County Commission in July asked the FWC to implement regulations to stop the taking of the fish.

The FWC in September told commissioners the state agency is expected to discuss the topic at the FWC’s December meeting in St. Augustine.

“In the meantime, I’d like to assure you that the FWC is committed to increasing law enforcement presence in the area to minimize any impacts related to potential illegal harvest,” Thomas Reinert, FWC’s regional director of the south region, wrote to the county.

The Post on Tuesday sent a list of questions to the FWC about the permit it issued to Moody but a spokeswoman said it could take a “few days” to answer because most of the agency’s Tallahassee office is closed due to Hurricane Michael.

County Commissioner Hal Valeche, who asked the county to request that the FWC regulate the area, said he was surprised the agency issued the permit after it sent that September letter to the county.

Valeche said he asked County Administrator Verdenia Baker to speak to the FWC and ask the agency to speed up making a decision on regulating the area. “If this continues to happen we won’t have anything left there,” he said.

A similar push for regulation failed about seven years ago. And while some measures have been implemented to stop the taking of fish, divers and snorkelers say they still see it happen.

The county has signs posted at the park that “strongly discourage the taking of tropical fish,” according to Eric Call, the county’s director of parks and recreation. The county’s park ordinance prohibits commercial activity in parks without the director’s authorization, and the county uses that rule to prohibit commercial aquariums and fish stores from taking the tropical fish.

But the county doesn’t have the authority to stop a business entering the area by boat to harvest fish, or a resident from taking fish for their home aquariums, Call told county officials.

Whittaker said the Moody “collecting venture” targeted about a dozen species of fish as part of a long-term project with Texas A&M University to breed them. The FWC checked Moody’s permits twice and determined their activities were legal, Whittaker said.

Valeche said the fact that Moody came from Texas shows the uniqueness of the fish and the importance of protecting them.

But now they’re not only Palm Beach County’s gems.

Said Moody CEO John Zendt in a statement: “I am very excited to have the privilege to share these wonderful species with our visitors.”

Let's block ads! (Why?)