Re: Peanut Island and Fighting Conchs, etc:
To proponents of pollution causing (or even contributing to) the demise
of the Fighting Conchs, Brown-lined Paper Bubble and the Flame Auger:
      With Peanut Island, being  (a) about as close to the Florida
Current as the US gets and thus (b) receiving some of the cleanest water
that the Gulf Stream System has to offer and (c) getting bathed in this
water twice a day...   how is it that 3 highly-collectible,
highly-desirable species disappear from this area while other species
(both flora and fauna) continue to flourish among the pollution?

     I do think that my "correlation" of actually seeing many hundreds
of conch taken over the years, along with ever greater level of
boater/tourist/pubic collecting (and speculation that it occurs to the
same or similar extent if I'm not watching) would carry a bit more
weight than beach nourishment possibly affecting their population.
Beaches have been nourished north of Palm Beach Inlet, and longshore
drift carries the sand southward.  Much sand is manually pumped from the
north side of the inlet to the south side, where it continues
southward.  What heavier sand particles make it into the inlet are
further contained by a sand trap, what little sand that may make it to
Peanut island would likely be the same fine grain sands typical of the
historical sand flats...   regardless of the sand quality put on the
beach 5-10 miles to the north.
     I stuck my neck out, and still stick to my observations and
conclusion: overcollecting.  The same thing (overcollecting) occured
with another conch species in Florida:  the Queen Conch.  This species
was overcollected so much that legislation occurred to halt its collection:
       http://www.floridaconservation.org/codebook/68b_16.pdf

Re:  Donax being buried:
    Burying a local population has its local and immediate effect.  The
greater problem is that it is being done at many places.  What
populations remain likely don't produce sufficient larvae to repopulate
Florida coastlines;  what larvae make it to the beach (or subtidal
areas) find incompatible sand to settle.  Life as a hard-shelled
juvenile or adult Donax in the surf zone has to be tough...   existence
as a small, very thin-shelled post-settlement individual in incompatible
sand:   Ugggh!

Paul

---------------------------------

Richard Petit wrote:

> The consensus seems to be that it was not "renourishment" that covered
> the
> Donax under several feet of sand but pollution from 100s of miles away.
> Perhaps we can figure out some way for Donax to evolve so they can
> exist in
> the off-shore reefs that are a proposed solution to the "extinction
> problem."
>
> dick
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Katherine Cordy" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Sunday, October 01, 2006 4:31 PM
> Subject: Beach Renourishment
>
>
>> Hey Ellen:
>>
>> They have replenished most of our beaches and there is NOTHING on them
>> shell
>> wise.  Even the thousands of coquinas are gone and little grey augers
>> that
>> used to come in by the thousands also.
>> >
>> They buried them all under 4 feet of sand!
>>
>> BC
>>
>> Jim and Bobbi Cordy
>> Merritt Island, Florida
>> Space Coast Seashell Festival
>> "Beneath the Coral Reef"
>>
>> January 19-21, 2007
>> in Melbourne
>> ATSC Sponsors "It's Better In the Bahamas Shelling Trips"
>>
>
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