DOING IT FOR DING This week we honor a local resident of the Buck Key area who kayaks the area regularly noticed a troubling amount of garbage outside the channel. This including at least 4 shopping carts and plastic lawn chairs. The refuge was notified and a clean-up plan was put into motion to clear out the garbage and prevent boating incidents or wildlife injuries. The local resident was kind enough to mark all of the debris with rope and floating markers, and “Ding” personnel (Jeremy Conrad) with 4 interns (2 biology interns, 1 visitor services intern, 1 biology Youth Conservation Corps) were able to boat to the area on July 10, 2014. After pulling the first shopping cart out of the water and into the boat, the need to remove the carts from the water became questionable. The length of time the carts had been in the water is unknown, but over time it had grown into an artificial reef complete with sponges, sea stars, barnacles, and even coral formations. Several minnows, crabs, snails, flat worms, sea urchins, and other salt water invertebrates had made the artificial reef home and had gotten scooped up in the cart when it was lifted from the water. Due to the success and health of these artificial habitats, the decision was made to leave the shopping carts in the water until further notice. All other garbage was collected and disposed of at Refuge headquarters. Great job to the local resident and refuge crew for responding!
Posted on: Fri, 11 Jul 2014 09:00:00 +0000
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