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How the rest of the world sees Key West
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Key West Parks
Dry Tortugas Home Page In two incidents on December 16, 2001 and January 3, 2002, three shrimp boats grounded in the Dry Tortugas National Park, 68 miles west of Key West, Fla. One vessel grounded and was successfully removed, but not before significant damage to coral and seagrass beds occurred. The second incident involved two shrimp boats that grounded close to the historic Fort Jefferson. One vessel broke-up and spilled approximately 2,000 gallons of diesel fuel. The other was carried by surge and wind up against the moat wall, where it partially broke-up. The area of these groundings is both within and adjacent to the park's most popular swimming and snorkeling area. The groundings caused significant injuries to seagrass and numerous reef corals. Given the remote location of the site, response and salvage
efforts are difficult and expensive. The NOAA Restoration Center secured funding
agreements from several sources: NOAA Restoration Center funds, the NOAA
Fisheries Southeast Region coral reef initiative, the Florida Department of
Environmental Protection Bureau of Emergency Response and the Disney
Corporation's Wildlife Conservation Fund. Tortugas Ecological Reserve
After years of planning, and the signature of the Florida Governor and cabinet
on April 24th, rules designed to protect the diverse marine life and lush
coral reefs of the Tortugas in a no-take Ecological Reserve take effect July
1, 2001 in the westernmost waters of the
Florida Keys National Marine
Sanctuary.
The Tortugas Ecological Reserve is broken into two sections. Tortugas North is
located to the west of Dry Tortugas National Park, comprises 90 square
nautical miles of ocean habitat, and contains some of the most spectacular and
pristine coral reefs in the Florida Keys and North America. Tortugas South is
located to the southwest of Dry Tortugas National Park, comprises 60 square
nautical miles of ocean and includes the critical spawning grounds of Riley’s
Hump.
In Tortugas North, the new regulations prohibit all taking of marine life,
restrict vessel discharges to cooling water and engine exhaust, prohibit
anchoring and prohibit use of mooring buoys by vessels more than 100 feet in
combined length. The regulations would allow diving and snorkeling, but
require visitors to obtain a simple no-cost, phone-in permit to ensure that
all vessels have access to mooring buoys, ease enforcement and assist in
monitoring visitor impacts. To request a permit to visit Tortugas North,
contact the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary office in
Key West (305)
292-0311 or in
Marathon (305) 743-2437.
Regulations for Tortugas South also prohibit taking of marine life and
restrict vessel discharges. In addition, to ease enforcement in this remote
region, the regulations prohibit diving in Tortugas South (the majority of
which is beyond normal recreational diving depth), requiring vessels to be in
continuous transit through the area with fishing gear stowed.
The National Park Service has been working side-by-side with NOAA and the
Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary to designate a type of no-take area
called a Research Natural Area which would be located within Dry Tortugas
National Park and would be compatible with the Tortugas Ecological Reserve.
Plans for this Research Natural Area can be found in the revisions to the
General Management Plan for Dry Tortugas National Park. These combined actions
would result in a world-class “no-take” ecological reserve in the Tortugas.
The Sanctuary based the Tortugas Ecological Reserve plan on a proposal drafted
by the Tortugas 2000 working group and adopted by the Sanctuary Advisory
Council. The 25-member working group included commercial and recreational
fishermen, divers, scientists, conservationists, citizens-at-large and
resource managers. The process to develop the reserve has drawn accolades as a
model for collaborative reserve design.
The Tortugas Ecological Reserve will join the Sanctuary’s network of 23
no-take areas established in 1997 (including one ecological reserve). The
Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (305) 743-2437.
Clyde's Key West Hotels
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April 15, 2008
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