By Mike Daniel
Our high-quality beach fishing in the Space Coast Reef area, from Patrick Air Force base down to north Indialantic, should be safe for at least another year. There will very likely be no funding in the state’s budget for the dredge and fill ”beach project” that would bury at least three acres of our reef, dirty our water, and interrupt the food chain by killing off mole crabs and coquina clams. Why anyone would want to spend $36,000,000 of taxpayer money to bury parts of a natural reef that has been designated ”Essential Fish Habitat” by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) remains a mystery.
A recent Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) assessment of the project points out that the area is actually accreting sand, not eroding. Lots of money could be saved or put to better uses if this ”project” was abandoned – and thousands of snook, pompano, flounder, sheepshead, stone crabs, and other marine life would be much happier.
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