Sweet Deal?

Everglades restoration hinges on approved land deal.

Sugarcane-hauling trucks rumble along Florida’s U.S. 27 as sugar cane tops are burned off prior to harvest.

Since Florida Governor Charlie Crist announced plans to buy 186,000 acres of the 700,000-acre Everglades Agricultural Area south of Lake Okeechobee, there have been bumps in the negotiations, haggling over the cost of the land, and some doubts that the deal would actually get done.

Well, it just may be time to strike up the band thanks to an amended deal with landowner U.S. Sugar, passed by a majority of South Florida Water Management District members on December 16, 2008.

This conservation purchase, the biggest in Florida’s history, would finally restore the heart of the Everglades by reconnecting Lake Okeechobee to the River of Grass by means of a flowway through original Everglades marsh artificially drained since the 1960s to grow sugar. Quite simply, it will put water back where it belongs, as nature intended.

The sale price is $1.34 billion, and in fact is a counter-offer intended to provide more cost protections for taxpayers, who ultimately pay for the District’s operations. The approved deal allows the District to back out before the planned September 2009 closing date if it is determined that financing costs end up requiring deep cuts to the District’s day-to-day operating costs.

A prime benefit of a flowway is to eliminate or greatly reduce diversion of polluted fresh water to coastal estuaries in wet years.

For over half a century, the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee river estuaries have been treated as relief valves for pumped, tainted lake runoff during the wet season, degrading world-class recreational fisheries and coastal economies. Many are now convinced that only a flowway south from the lake will save the coastal estuaries and restore the sheet flow of fresh water that historically reached Everglades National Park and Florida Bay.

Another benefit of the land purchase is the potential for increased public recreation in a publicly owned Everglades. Just imagine the benefit of increased access for duck hunting and freshwater fishing, birding, canoeing and kayaking, and just the opportunity for millions to again enjoy restored Everglades lands long held captive by private owners.

Though the price tag seems high to some, the returns are well worth it. (For more information and updates, visit www.riverscoalition.org or www.sfwmd.gov.)

NOAA Saltwater Angler Registry to Begin by 2010

This Florida surf angler must register for the national registry due to Florida's saltwater license shoreline exemption.

The NOAA Fisheries Service released its final ruling in December to create a national saltwater angler registry. The registry is one component of the agency’s new Marine Recreational Information Program, and it requires that recreational hook-and-line and spear fishermen fishing in federal waters register by January 1, 2010. However, anglers will be exempt from the federal registration if they are licensed in states that have a system (state saltwater fishing license) which would be sufficient to provide complete information on their saltwater anglers to the national registry.

"NOAA wants to work closely with the states and recreational saltwater anglers to better capture the contributions and effects of sport fishing,” says Jim Balsiger, assistant administrator for NOAA’s Fisheries Service. “The registry will help us gather comprehensive data (angler name, address, date of birth, and regions where they intend to fish) to ensure sustainable fisheries built on the best available science."

In addition, more accurate recreational fishing data will help demonstrate the true economic value of saltwater recreational fishing and its effect on fish stocks. This information NOAA deems instrumental in helping to end overfishing as required under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.