Save the shore birds
To the editor:
Places where our Critical Wildlife Areas are threatened include one of our beaches on Fort Myers Beach on Little Estero Island where the owners want to put up boardwalk right where our shore birds nest, rest and rear their young. There will be a hearing on this.
Please write, email or call 239-765-0202, the Fort Myers Beach town offices, and tell them of your support to stop this boardwalk from being built to save our shore birds. Talk to Ms. Rae Blake, environmental coordinator. Please remind her this has been a CWA for many decades and there are no other beaches for the birds to relocate to because of high public use.
CWA’s on Pine Island Sound – top nest sites – are Broken Islands, Useppa Oyster Bar and Hemp Key. In Estero Bay, the other sites are Mantanzas Pass, M-52 and Coconut Point East. This is a total of 28 acres on land and 39 acres on the water. This will protect 36 percent of the aviary islands on our waterways. These rookery islands need to be protected from boat tour operators, fly fishermen, birders or boats that motor too close to the hundreds of birds that nest on these CWA islands. A hundred-foot buffer zone will save birds, chicks and eggs and prevent the birds from moving to other unsafe roosts.
Please comment in favor of this buffer zone in the areas mentioned above to the FWC Board at CWAComments@MyFWC.COM. Mention “Little Pine Island and Estero Bay CWA’s” in the subject line. Comment by Nov. 16. Thank you.
Carl Veaux
Cape Coral
Editor’s note: The proposal to establish 14 new Critical Wildlife Areas and modify five existing CWAs is on the Florida Fish & Wildlife Commission Meeting agenda for Nov. 16-17. The CWA discussion is the first action item on the agenda for Nov. 16; action items may be reordered or moved by the chair. The meeting will begin at 8:30 a.m. each day and will be held at the University of South Florida Student Center, 200 6th Avenue South, St. Petersburg. Meetings are open to the public. For more information visit myfwc.com/about/commission/commission-meetings/2016/november/16/agenda/