Articles

You've started already, just by being a member of Teen Anglers. I'll have more to say about this later.

Meantime, what are we actually doing to bring estuaries and other wetlands back to health?

I can't speak for other states; I don't live there. But I do know a little about national efforts, and about what we're doing here in Florida. So here goes.

Generally speaking, I have a lot of admiration for commercial fishermen. Most barely make a living, and only fish because they love the water so much. It is sad that this often involves damaging or even destroying the very resource they depend upon.

Finally, overfishing. I'll share with you a lesson I learned from a Professor at Appalachian State University about managing wild populations which are subject to either hunting or fishing (just another kind of hunting). What he said was this:

1. Rules and regulations. Size limits, bag limits, open and closed seasons are the typical ones. In Florida, we also limit nets.

The population continues to decrease, so more is needed. The rules and regs are kept, and something is added.

2. Restocking. Raise wild animals and turn them loose, to be "taken" (killed) by hunters or fishermen. Game farms and fish hatcheries are common in many states.

While I was in North Carolina during the 1970s, we had what is called a "put'n'take" fishery for rainbow trout. Every Tuesday the hatchery truck would dump 7 inch trout at specific points (which everyone knew), Wednesday was no fishing, and on Thursday folks would go out and catch these hatchery trout on corn niblets. The niblets resembled the food pellets the hatchery fish were used to eating.

Result: the native populations continue to decline. Time for the third step, which often made the difference and allowed native populations to rebuild.

3. Habitat restoration. Control and remove sources of pollution, prevent habitat destruction, and actually rebuild (or replant) habitat. In the Indian River Lagoon, we are replanting cordgrass and mangroves and experimenting with seagrass restoration. In many lakes, FADs (fish attracting devices) are placed on the bottom of the lake to provide what fishermen call "structure," an important hiding place for fish. In many streams, downed logs may be used to create eddies in the current where fish can rest and to increase the diversity of species living in the stream.

The most important of these is controlling and/or removing sources of pollution. It is also the most difficult.

common is the philosophy of "catch and release." This is especially important with the bigger fish; the difference in egg production between a ten pound grouper and the same grouper at fifty pounds is thousands of times more eggs. More eggs,

Remember I mentioned that being a member of Teen Anglers was a good start? You can go further!

Seriously consider joining one of the conservation organizations which are both nationwide and even worldwide. Generally, a donation of $25 to $50 makes you a member, and brings their magazine or newsletter to you. Some you might consider include the National Audubon Society, the National Wildlife Federation, the Sierra Club, Greenpeace, the Sea Shepherd Society, Ducks or Trout Unlimited, the Rainforest Alliance, Zero Population Growth - and there are many more. Google 'em.

At no cost, you can take part in public hearings about conservation issues, read your local newspaper about issues, write letters to the editor, join blogs on the web - just keep the overall goal in mind. Conservation first!

In the first part of this series on how estuaries really work we talked a little about some of the magic involved. It revolved around the presence in an estuary of three totally different and independent plant (producer) communities. Actually, there are four, if you separate out the seagrasses from the drift algae community.

No other ecosystem on earth has this advantage.

Now it's time to talk a little about the power sources for the estuary. And again, there is no other ecosystem on earth which has this combination of sources of power to drive life.

When biologists talk about the power that drives ecosystems, they start (of course!) with the sun. It powers the magical biochemistry of photosynthesis which allows plants to store energy in a form animals can use, and it powers the plant communities of an estuary.

But there is another source of power available in estuaries which is not found in most other ecosystems. The exception is the coral reef -- but the estuary uses this power in ways the critters of the reef cannot.

I'll let you wonder for a little bit, while I digress into food chains and webs, which are really energy relationships: who eats who?

In the world of science, we recognize a pair of rules which work every time. They are called the Laws of Thermodynamics (thermo = heat, dynamics = movement) and they describe how energy (heat) is moved through chemical reactions to produce life.

The First Rule (and that's really what it's called) says "you can't get somethin' for nothin'." In other words, you can't create energy from nothing. A corollary to this says you can't destroy energy, either. You can change it from one form to another, but you can't destroy it.

The Second Rule says "Not only can't you get somethin' from nothin', you can't even break even." In other words, any time you change energy from one form to another, most of the energy involved is lost (as heat).

Think about your car and the Second Rule. You put gas in the tank, and then you burn it in the engine. That's a change of energy from one form to another; In burning inside the engine, the gas allows the engine to power the wheels, which move the car.

Question: When it is running, does your engine get hot? WHY? The Second Rule!

Now let's apply this idea of the Second Law to a living thing: you.

How do you get the energy to play soccer? Or to work out an algebra problem? Or just to stay alive?

You eat, right?

Let's say your eat one pound of food per day. Yeah, I know - some of you can eat that at just one meal, and you eat more than once a day. But let's stick with just that one pound of food per day.

How much do you weigh? And one year ago today, how much did you weigh then? But in the meantime, you ate 365 pounds of food! Do you now weigh 365 pounds more than a year ago?

So where did all that food-energy go? Well, you lost some as sweat, a lot more to the toilet. But even that doesn't add up to 365 pounds. So where did the rest go?

Some of that energy you used in playing soccer or using your brain, but even that doesn't add up.

What's your temperature? And what does that have to do with food? The Second Law, again. Much of the energy we take in as food goes only to keep our body temp at about 37C (99F, give or take). We here in the USA live in the temperate zone; it takes about 2500 Calories per day to keep us going. If you were an Aleut or Inuit, though, living in extremely cold conditions, you would need at leat 5,000 Calories per day just to stay alive (and keep your body temperature at +37C when it is -40C outside).

So what's all this stuff about the Second Law have to do with estuaries?

Only everything. We're talking food, after all. And that means food chains and food webs in the estuary. And now things get a little complex; not a lot, just a little. Remember that there are at least three, maybe four different communities of producers in an estuary, and that means that many more food chains and webs. Just for example, a food chain involving mullet which feed at the roots of the grass beds would have no relationship to a plankton-based food chain which involves herrings, sardines and anchovies. Except that a hungry predator won't really care whether it's a mullet or a herring; they are both food.

Let's follow a food chain which starts with emergent plants: cordgrass in the temperate zone, mangroves in the tropics. These plants live at the edge of the estuary, with their leaves in the air and their roots under water in the mud. In both cases, the energy they store in their leaves, stalks and roots only becomes available when those parts of the plant die; year-round for mangrove leaves in the tropics, winter for cordgrass in the temperate zone. Once these plant parts actually die, they become available as stored food for other critters.

Now we eat dead plant stuff, too. I happen to love mashed potatoes, especially mixed with peas or green beans. They've all been cooked before I eat them, so they are dead plant material. And dead plant stuff is where this food chain begins.

A mangrove leaf or a cordgrass stem (leaves still attached) dies and falls to the mud. Now what?

Well, that leaf or stem is stored energy from the sun. It's FOOD! And the first critters to take advantage of this energy source is a community of bacteris and viruses which begin their attack within minutes. Soon - several days or weeks - that leaf or stem is covered with a slime coat of bacteria and fungi, and they in turn become food for the next set of critters up the chain. These guys - amphipods, ostracods, isopods and more - graze their way across the surface of the leaf or stem, eating the slime coat of bacteria and fungi.

So now this leaf or stem is covered with a bunch of things which are rich in proteins, carbohydrates, lipids (oils and fats) and nucleic acids, and new characters arrive to chow down. These new guys include baby lobsters, shrimps of many species, crabs of many species - and they all carry a tool which they can use to cut a leaf up into manageable pieces. They all have some kind of pincer claw.

So they grow. And soon other predators find them, and feast. But remember what they are really feasting upon: leaves and stems.

What's the most common bait used by fishermen in an estuary? Shrimp! Not to mention small crabs and baby lobsters. And how come those shrimp are there? That food chain, powered by the sun.

The last three steps in this food chain are easy to figure. Little fish eat shrimp, bigger fish eat the littler fish, and I eat the biggest striper or snook I can catch -- and I don't share!

This is a "detritus-based food chain," called that because it starts with dead leaves and stems (detritus), rather than with living plant material. In this example, there are eight steps in the chain:

1. The sun (the source of energy for photosynthesis)

2. Dead leaves and stems (the basic food in this chain)

3. Bacteria and fungi which begin the process of decomposition

4. The grazers who travel the surface of the dead leaf or stem, feeding on the slime coat of

bacteria and fungi (they can't digest the plant material itself)

5. The shredders (crabs, shrimp, lobsters, etc.) who tear the plant material into small fragments which they ingest; these shredders can't digest plant stuff, either, and their food is the grazers. They excrete the small pieces of leaf or stem back onto the bottom, where the bacteria and fungi, and the grazers, do their thing all over again. The original investigators (Eric Heald and William Odum in 1969) found that a single piece of stem or leaf is reused (recycled?) as many as six times before it is finally gone.

6. Small fish, who will eat every shrimp or crab or baby lobster they can get into their mouth

7. Larger fish, like snook, stripers, salmon and so on who eat the smaller fish

8. ME!!!

This food chain is typical of an estuary. Let's compare it to a corn field. Corn is used for two different purposes by humans. We eat it as food, or we feed it to livestock.

If we eat it as food, it's a two-step food chain. Sun (energy), corn, you (or me). If we use it to feed livestock, then the chain is one step longer: sun, corn, cow, me.

But no other ecosystem on earth has food chains as long as those found in the estuary. And that's part of the Magical Power of Estuaries. The longer the food chain, the more steps it has, the more productive the ecosystem.

Uh-oh. I told you there was a whole 'nother source of power for an estuary, other than the sun. But I have not yet given you an answer to the question. Can you make an educated guess? And can you figure out why it's important to the estuary?

BY Robert Bergen

Professor of Science, retired

Estuaries are places where fresh water from the land mixes and mingles with salty water from the ocean. This not-quite-fresh - but not so salty either - water is often called "brackish."

It makes for a stressful environment. Critters that live in fresh water - like largemouth black bass - can't handle the saltiness, and critters that live in the ocean can't tolerate the fresher water. We'll look at some other stressors a little later.

But estuaries are biologically extremely productive; that is, they are home to lots of living things of different kinds and they produce more food per acre per year than almost any other ecosystem on earth. There are only two other ecosystems that are more productive than estuaries, and you can probably name them: tropical rain forests and coral reefs.

In the end, though, we humans, even with all our modern technology, can't grow as much food on our farms as a healthy estuary does.

So what makes estuaries so exceedingly productive?

And that's where the magic gets explained. You know there is no such thing as true "magic;" it's misdirection and illusion, easy to understand once someone shows and explains it to you.

Same thing in the estuary. They aren't really magic; it's just that we are just now learning how they really work, and why they are so productive.

Let's compare an estuary with a forest, or a prairie, or even a corn field. A first glance shows that an estuary is really a mix of different plant communities, and since we know that plants are the base of any food chain, the more different kinds of plants the better. A forest, on the other hand, is made up mostly of one kind of plant: trees. And a prairie is made up of small shrubs, wildflowers, grasses and other smaller plants. A corn field is tended by the farmer to prevent any other kinds of plants from growing; they are called weeds.

Since plants are the only critters on the planet that can make food from sunlight, we call them producers. Any estuary worth its salt has at least three different kinds of producer communities: submerged plants, emergent plants, and floating, microscopic plants we call plankton. The forest, the prairie, the corn field only have one kind of plant: roots in the soil, leaves up in the air. No plankton floating around.

And, since we call the plants producers, then animals become the consumers.

These three different kinds of estuarine plant communities provide shelter and food for many kinds of animals. We'll explore some of these.

Emergent communities: rooted in soil under water, with stems and leaves out of the water. Think mangrove trees in the tropics, cordgrass and black rush further north. Mangroves drop leaves year-round, while the grasses and rushes die back each winter. In both of these, the dead leaves and plants are the base of the food chain. They are fed upon by bacteria and fungi, which become food for grazers, which become food for crustaceans, which become food for fish.

Submerged plants: seagrasses, which provide shelter from sunlight and predators, and which provide solid surfaces for things to colonize: tiny sponges, barnacles, larvae of many kinds, algae and many others. These in turn become food for animals like the green sea turtle, which grazes on the grass and gets all the encrusting animals as extra protein.

Plankton, which float on the currents of the estuary and are the basic food of many filter-feeders like oysters and barnacles, and many kinds of fish such as herrings, sardines and anchovies.

No other ecosystem on earth has all three of these producer communities. The coral reef has no emergent plants, the tropical rain forest has no plankton, the prairie has no submerged plants - and the corn field is a killing ground for anything other than corn.

A basic rule in ecology is that species diversity leads to stability. A healthy estuary certainly has that diversity.

Let's explore this diversity and its role in the estuary a little further.

The emergent community is a part of the littoral zone, where the bottom of the estuary gradually shallows until it reaches the edge of the land. If you were in the Navy, the littoral is where the latest generation of submarines operates - in water less than 600 feet deep. If you are an estuarine ecologist, the littoral is the zone affected by the tides at the edge, where low tide finds mud flats exposed to the air and high tide finds them under several feet of water. In estuaries, the tides control what grows where in the littoral zone. North of Florida, cordgrass grows in the deepest water, where the soil is wet even at low tide, while black rush grows on higher ground wet only at high tide. In the tropics, different species of mangrove trees occupy different elevations in the littoral zone.

The animals that live in the littoral zone must adapt to periods of dryness followed by flooding tides on a daily basis. Where do fiddler crabs go when the tide comes in?

Little fish (little predators, really) move through the marsh or swamp following the water to find different kinds of food. Worms of many species retreat into their burrows at high tide, coming out and feeding only when they are again covered with water on the incoming tide. Oysters close their shells, barnacles close up, sea anemones retreat into little round clumps of soft stuff, all waiting for the tide to cover them again and bring food to them. We are still learning about these animals.

Another important role of the littoral zone is so common-sensical it is often overlooked or ignored. Shallow water is an exceptionally good hiding place for an inch-long minnow; what one pound predator can swim in water only an inch deep? But there's a price to pay if you are that minnow: wading birds like herons and egrets which wade those same shallows looking for you and your brothers and sisters.

Principle: a healthy estuary produces such a surplus of baby critters that the birds and the larger fishes cannot eat them all.

The seagrass meadows live in water deep enough to (nearly) always be flooded. These grassy meadows - and they are real grasses, only living underwater rather than on your front lawn - don't tolerate drying out, so they live in shallow water just below the low tide line. There are often several species of grasses, with different species of algae living with them, attached to the grass blades or just floating and drifting through the grasses.

Now grasses of all kinds like direct sunlight, the more the better. So a typical estuary, with water muddied up by runoff from the land, only has grass beds where the sun can reach. Often that means their grass beds can only exist to a depth of three or four or five feet. Deeper than that, and not enough sunlight gets through the murk to support photosynthesis. If you have a big tree in your yard, grass won't grow in its shade. An exception is the Florida Keys, where I have dived on seagrass beds in 30 feet of incredibly clear water.

These grass beds provide food for many predators, who hide in the grasses and ambush prey. Other predators graze on the grasses themselves, and the communities of organisms which live on the grass blades. Many of these grazers and predators are camoflaged to resemble the grasses; pipefish and some shrimps are good examples.

Finally, we come to the plankton community.

The plankton community is a world in itself. Microscopic algae like the many species of diatoms are fed upon by microscopic animals like copepods, and all of these tiny critters are then fed upon by predators like clams and oysters and herrings and sardines. But these tiny, microscopic producers and consumers cannot swim far enough to move around an estuary. So how do they get to the barnacles and worms that eat them?

Although we've talked a little about the magic of estuaries, we have not yet talked about the power of estuaries. And that's where we'll start next time. And, yes, it has to do with how plankton move through the estuary.

Can you figure it out before next month?

Component of our motto, " Recreation and Education for the Next Generation",

By bringing in experts in their fields from some very well known organizations.

While Teen Anglers in New York will be having their 2^nd annual Ice Fishing event at Guffin’s Bay on Lake Ontario. Teen Anglers in Florida will be getting a presentation from the folks at the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute. The great work they’re doing at the site in Fort Pierce Florida, has gotten the attention of politicians as well as Universities, and the public at large.

As Florida suffers from the ravages of point and non-point source pollution degrading our resources, Harbor Branch has been a leader in documenting those effects on our environment.

Earlier this year the Biologists from the Smithsonian Marine Station in Fort Pierce were the guest speakers at our meeting and gave a very informative presentation on the Indian River Lagoon and the effects that growth and development play on the health of the estuary.Scientists, Biologists, and the public are agreeing that the policies of the 1980’s and 1990’s are no longer adequate for the 21^st century growth that has been projected for Florida, and it’s water resources.

Kevin is part of the National organization founded by Joseph Kennedy to provide

Educated persons whose job it is to monitor government as well as America’s Rivers and watersheds so that action can be taken in a pro-active, rather than a reactive, approach.

It is the objective of our organization to recognize and help solve the problems that we

As teen anglers observe in our environment. And through our education sessions and scholarship program, we are getting educated anglers into the workforce to make a positive difference for the good of America and our waterways.

As one Teen Angler wrote to Bill Lane County Commissioner, " Just know that there are citizens out there doing YOUR JOB for you and they aren’t being paid for it, don’t worry people who care will take care of it for you"!

The Teen Anglers have until October 2007 to re-engineer an Osceola County Road that

Osceola’s engineering staff wanted to continue the dumping of storm water run-off into the Kissimmee Chain of lakes and eventually into the Indian River Lagoon.

" The natural flow is directly into the bay that’s what we want," said the engineering dept.

We are producing a video documentary to show the Teen Angler generation how we must accept the challenge if we want to change the mind set that got us so much pollution.

"Every gallon that we clean up is another gallon of storm water runoff that won’t adversely impact everyone downstream".

I really believe that the mindset of Osceola County is just "Flush the Toilet"! Let the folk’s downstream deal with it!

We have been overwhelmed with support from our Teen Anglers, their parents and our supporters to show the county of Osceola Florida that this mindset may have been acceptable to the last generation but not to the Teen Angler generation.

But we need all the support we can get! Send your donations, no matter how small!

$5.00, $10.00, or more if you can, to help us change this runoff from polluting our resource!

Remember we are a 501 (C) 3 Not-For-Profit, and your contribution is tax deductible to the full extent that the law allows.

Has been struggling to compete with other legendary lakes in other states, Lake Fork, Texas, Clear Lake, California etc., etc.

So one would think water quality would be a very important issue, at least that’s what you would get as the politically correct response from the public relations department. But recently we were shocked to be told that when the Osceola County Engineering Dept.’s staff was asked what they wanted a property owner to do?

(At his expense), to permit for a change in runoff and point source pollution from directly going into the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes, or restore the road to 1955 standards with no swales or consideration for storm water runoff, as the county staff had suggested.

Keith Jackson, Osceola County Engineering Dept, said " The natural flow is directly to the bay, that’s what we want". Actually the development was platted in about 1955, so we question whether that could be considered "Natural", but we’ll use his words.

We received comment from Osceola’s Lakes Management Specialist, "their expert",

Kimberly Lawrence, her response, "If that’s’ what engineering wants then that’s the way it will be". No, let me look into it, or maybe there’s a better way?

A 40 ft right-of-way, (public road), was at first not a county road, that was in 2005, now, the county claims it is under their jurisdiction, but they won’t maintain it, that remains the responsibility of the homeowners. And although the homeowners wanted to replace an unstable material with a more stable material, and redirect the water flow, at their expense, the county threatened a daily fine if the homeowners don’t start polluting by the end of the month!

But to be clear the homeowners are not given the option to correct the storm water runoff.

Lets look at this issue from the Teen Angler perspective, as you recall in education session #1 Orientation we discussed the "Teen Angler way",

Which is educating ourselves to be better able to protect our resource and by doing so,

We are making our sport of fishing better able to handle the pressure we tend to put on it!

Who would have the desire to "do the right thing", you remember that phrase from your Teen Angler education session as well, right?

Kimberly Lawrence want to "Do the right thing", the Teen Anglers would at first think, well of course! But we’d be wrong…right, at least that’s what she said, remember,

How about the engineering departments Keith Jackson, Would he have the desire to "Do the right thing", he lives in the area around the Kissimmee Chain, and he doesn’t care either, and remember what he said! " The Natural Flow is directly into the Bay"!

If he did wouldn’t he have done something to correct it. That’s what a Teen Angler would do! That’s what we ARE doing!

So.. Let’s look at who these folks answer to. If you still believe in the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus, your answer would be, the citizens of Osceola County! Right?

The people, the voters of Osceola County elected, have the ability to change the mind set, they don’t want to, that’s the bottom line! Period, end of story!

Bill Lane, Ken Smith and the others are, in our opinion, violating the federal clean water act, the Everglades restoration plan, as well as stonewalling; hoping this issue goes away!

The commissioner’s definition of Growth Management is managing the growth of their Campaign accounts as the developer’s contributions roll in.

All of us in Florida and the outdoors nation are watching you, Osceola, will you,

Why would an Osceola County School Teacher want to stop the raising of Scholarship funds for the "Teen Anglers"?

Why would Osceola County want to stop the raising of scholarship funds for the "Teen Anglers"?

Would Osceola County’s Engineering Department pollute the resource just to do a favor for a friend?

Draining Mentality North of Us

By ekiller
Posted at 11:57 AM on March 23, 2007

Business as usual when it comes to developers against the environment. Read this and contact the DEP.

Osceola Chooses to Pollute
March 12, 2007
Osceola County Florida

The home of Lake Toho, Lake Kissimmee, as well as other legendary Bass lakes,
Has been struggling to compete with other legendary lakes in other states, Lake Fork, Texas, Clear Lake, California etc., etc.
So one would think water quality would be a very important issue, at least thatâ€™s what you would get as the politically correct response from the public relations department. But recently we were shocked to be told that when the Osceola County Engineering Dept.â€™s staff was asked what they wanted a property owner to do?
The Osceola County Staff choose to pollute!
The owner offered;
(At his expense), to permit for a change in runoff and point source pollution from directly going into the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes, or restore the road to 1955 standards with no swales or consideration for storm water runoff, as the county staff had suggested.
The county staff elected to put the runoff directly into the water body.
Keith Jackson, Osceola County Engineering Dept, said " The natural flow is directly to the bay, thatâ€™s what we want". Actually the development was platted in about 1955, so we question whether that could be considered "Natural", but weâ€™ll us his words.
We received comment from Oceolaâ€™s Lakes Management Specialist, "their expert",
Kimberly Lawrence, her response, "If thatâ€™sâ€™ what engineering wants then thatâ€™s the way it will be". No, let me look into it, or maybe thereâ€™s a better way?
"Alex Iâ€™ll take Pollution for $ 1000.00 dollars"! Just pollute away!
A 40 ft right-of-way, (public road), was at first not a county road, that was in 2005, now, the county claims it is under their jurisdiction, but they wonâ€™t maintain it, that remains the responsibility of the homeowners. And although the homeowners wanted to replace an unstable material with a more stable material, and redirect the water flow, at their expense, the county threatened a daily fine if the homeowners donâ€™t start polluting by the end of the month!
But to be clear the homeowners are not given the option to correct the storm water runoff.
For more Information on this developing story contact:
Capt. Al Bernetti

Draining Mentality North of Us

By ekiller Posted at 11:57 AM on March 23, 2007

By ekiller
Posted at 11:57 AM on March 23, 2007