Right Whales Cuban Protected Waters
February 2016
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I n the T ides 12
04 Contributors 05 Editor’s Note 06 Community Updates 08 Letter to the Editor 10 Introducing SARP 12 Right Whales North Atlantic Right Whales call the Southeast Coast home for much of the year and our waters are the only known calving ground in the world.
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17 Did You Know? 18 Partnering with Cuba A new partnership has been formed between National Park Service, NOAA, and Cuba’s National Center for Protected Areas to protect vital marine habitats in Cuban waters.
22 The Bitter End 23 SEAMAMMs Promo About the Cover: The golden variation of the smooth trunkfish has been documented only in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf of Honduras. Photo by George Schmahl Photos Above: Top - Right whale calf “lobtailing” Photo provided by GA DNR Wildlife Resources Division Bottom - Coral at Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary Photo by George Schmahl February 2016
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Contributors Captain J. Gary “Gator” Hill is a born Virginian but claims to be a native of Savannah by osmosis. Captain Gator is an avid naturalist and historian; he describes himself as one part story teller, one part educator, and one part entertainer. He works as a boat captain and as a camera operator for Broken Chain Productions; if not at work you will find him doing aerial videography around the lowcountry.
Corrections Southern Tides would like to apologize to last month’s featured artist Amber Angeloni for placing two of her pieces in the layout horizontally rather than vertically, and for our mistake in stating that she has no formal training - she in fact holds a college degree. In last month’s Did You Know? segment, the wrong photo was used in the layout and the bird was not a piping plover. The photo to the right, by Briana Ondich, is a piping plover.
Subscribe to Southern Tides Magazine Have the magazine delivered right to your door, or give it as a gift to someone outside the area. Send a check for $25 (1 year - 12 issues) to: Southern Tides Magazine PO Box 30724 Savannah, GA 31410
Staff Publisher/Editor – Amy Thurman Editorial Assistant - Amelia Dence Editorial Assistant – Jack Gandolfo
Special Thanks to Brittany Rehan & Jeff Lazenby of Pocket Media for Design Assistance! Copyright © 2015 All content herein is copyright protected and may not be reproduced in whole or part without express written permission. Southern Tides is a free magazine published monthly and can be found at multiple locations from St. Marys, GA, to Beaufort, SC. PO Box 30724 Wilmington Island, GA 31410 (912) 484-3611
info@southerntidesmagazine.com www.SouthernTidesMagazine.com Visit us on Facebook at facebook.com/pages/southern-tides-magazine
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February 2016
E ditor’s N ote
O
ur community has suffered a great loss with the passing of Don Adams, of Adams’ Bait House, in Thunderbolt. His kindness, sense of humor, generous spirit, his stories, and his knowledge of our local history and our local waters will be deeply missed by all who knew him. When I first started Waterside News nearly a decade ago, and again last summer with the launch of Southern Tides, Don asked to advertise – not because he needed to promote Adams’ Bait House, but to support the boating community as a whole by supporting the publications, and he always kept copies on the counter of the bait house for distribution. Over the years, rather than having a delivery person drop the paper off each month, I delivered it to the bait house myself so I could sit a spell and visit, and there were plenty of times I’d stop by when I needed a few minutes to decompress and let go of stress or worry. Don and his dear friend Earl Gantt (and in recent years Earl’s grandson Michael), always had an encouraging word about one article or another, ideas for future articles, stories about people in the community he thought I should talk to (and never an unkind word about anyone), suggestions on who might be interested in advertising, information about fishing, and to ask me how this person or that person was doing and what I’d heard about things going on around the area. But there was far more to Don than you might suspect if you only saw him at the bait house. Back in the day, his brother James gave him an old Dodge pick-up. He put a 440 engine in it and raced it at Savannah Dragway – it was the first truck to race that track – and he won a quite a few trophies with it. He went on to a 71 Plymouth Duster that he rebuilt and raced for years, regularly winning his class. He never sold it and according to Earl, it’s still in immaculate condition. February 2016
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Don and Earl went to a big race at the South Georgia Motorsports Park near Valdosta recently and had a great time. The race saw a huge turnout in participants and there were no hotel rooms available, so these two dedicated fans slept in Don’s truck rather than drive back to Savannah and miss the race. “It was the best race we ever went to,” Earl said. Don also loved to shoot. He and Earl and long list of family and friends would regularly visit a private range and do a little long-range rifle shooting. As an avid shooter myself, I wish I’d had the chance to join them, though the subject being what it is in today’s world, it never came up in our chats. (You can bet I’ll coerce Earl into letting me go in the near future!) “That’s why we started hanging out together,” Earl said. “We loved the same things – fast cars and fast guns. We may have wasted our lives doing frivolous things, punching holes in paper with rifles and watching cars go fast, but we sure had fun.” As many of us hope is the case when our time comes around, Don went out doing what he loves. The day of his heart attack, he’d been at the range with Earl sighting in a rifle at 600 yards, enjoying the nice weather and the chance to be out doing what they both enjoyed. Don gave a lot to our community. He volunteered his time to charitable causes like the Salvation Army, was there to lend a hand when someone was in need, and never charged a dime for bait when non-profit organizations took out a group of folks less fortunate for a day of fishing. In his 71 years, Don interacted with so many people, saw a lot of our local history take place, and impacted countless lives. He was a consistent presence in our community and we’re less for having lost him. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends. A special thank you to Earl and Don’s family members who shared stories and information. Amy Thurman Editor in Chief
Community Updates Palmetto Pipeline Being Pushed Back in Two States
Kinder Morgan’s proposed Palmetto Pipeline would stretch 360 miles from Belton, South Carolina, down the beautiful Georgia coast to end in Jacksonville, Florida--if it’s approved, that is. If approved, it would transport gasoline, diesel, and ethanol across major river systems and sensitive coastal wetlands. Kinder Morgan has notified landowners along the route of the company’s rights under eminent domain, and been met with fierce public opposition. While the project is currently held up in Georgia courts, legislators in South Carolina have responded preemptively to citizens’ demands for stronger protection. Senate Bill S868 would bar privately-owned, unregulated companies like Kinder Morgan from seizing private lands. The bill passed in the Senate Judiciary Committee in early February and will go on to be decided on the House and Senate floors.
LSRA Joins SRK Affiliate Program; Hires Outreach Coordinator
The (LSRA)
Lower Savannah River Alliance has
announced
its
partnership
with Savannah Riverkeeper (SRK). LSRA is dedicated to enhancing opportunities for ecotourism,
nature-based
adventures
and
responsible use of the river in the Lower Savannah River region. Savannah Riverkeeper Tonya Bonitatibus is excited about the partnership, “We hope that joining forces will strengthen our impact in these communities.” LSRA Chairman Steve Baxter agrees that
Outreach Coordinator Jacob Oblander.
this is “a step in the right direction for the Photo provided by Savannah Riverkeeper future of this organization, for the river and the local community.” In addition to their partnership, SRK has hired Jacob Oblander Docks • Seawalls • Boat Hoists • Decks Dock Repairs • Gazebos • Permitting Anything made of treated wood!
912-655-7545 locally owned, licensed and insured
as full-time outreach coordinator. He is expected to work closely with LSRA and communities in the Lower Savannah River Region to promote recreation and respect for the river. 6
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February 2016
Ships of the Sea Museum Call for Entries
On May 7, 2016, Ships of the Sea will hold its second “Maritime Arts Festival.”
The event is a one-day outdoor
exhibition of maritime related arts, crafts, and antiques. The Museum invites artists, model ship builders, and antique dealers to submit images of their maritime/nautical related paintings, drawings, ceramics, jewelry, prints, mixed-media, woodworking, and collectable pieces for consideration. For prospectus and entry information please go to www.shipsofthesea.org Entry deadline is April 22, 2016.
Geechee Sailing Club to host 37th Annual St. Patrick’s Regatta
The weekend-long event begins Friday evening, March 18, with a captain’s meeting at Johnny Harris Restaurant, at 7:00 p.m. Races will be held Saturday and Sunday, March 19-20, and starting sequences will begin at noon, at or close to Marker 27 in the Wilmington River in Savannah. An awards presentation and dinner will be held at Johnny Harris Restaurant at 6:30 p.m. Sunday evening. Self-righting sailboats over 19 feet are invited to participate. The entry fee is $50 per boat and includes a commemorative hat and t-shirt and one ticket to Sunday’s dinner. Additional hats, t-shirts, and dinner tickets will be available for purchase. First, second and third place trophies will be awarded in spinnaker, non-spinnaker, and cruising classes. Early registrations should be submitted to Mark Willman c/o Geechee Sailing Club, Post Office Box 15293, Savannah, Georgia, 31406. Competitors
Photo by Mark Willman
who have not pre-registered may register at the captain’s meeting. For more information, visit www.geecheesailingclub.org or contact Mark Willman (912) 658-0814 or mswillman@bellsouth.net.
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Letter (912) 201-3630
2815 River Drive • Thunderbolt, GA
to the
Editor
Altamaha Riverkeeper Fights for Efficient Wastewater Treatment
family owned and operated
T
he Altamaha River is designated by The Nature Conservancy as one of the “Last Great Places” on earth. Conversely, the river is also listed as one of Georgia River Network’s recent “Georgia’s Dirty Dozen.” Why? For more than 60 years, the Altamaha River has served as a convenient toilet into which a large pulp mill flushes 60 million gallons per day of partially treated effluent. Rayonier Advanced Materials (AM) is the world’s largest producer of acetate tow, most of which is used to produce cigarette filters. Located near Jesup, Georgia, Rayonier began operations in 1954. Under
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Rayonier AM on the banks of the Altamaha River. 8
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February 2016
pressure from the state, Rayonier cleaned up the fish kills it was known for in the 50s and 60s, and has donated land for conservation along the riverbanks. Corporate restructuring in 2015 created Rayonier AM, a subsidiary of parent company Rayonier, in Jacksonville, Fla. Rayonier AM was left to fend for itself with almost a billion dollars in debt and an archaic wastewater treatment facility. Each day Rayonier AM draws more water from the aquifer than is pulled for public consumption in all of Glynn, Camden and Chatham counties combined. Post-production, this wastewater is piped to the bottom of the river and released, like a long colostomy bag open to all who venture out on the river. The nauseating stench and the discolored plume are often noticeably present as far as 20 miles downstream. The leniency of Rayonier AM’s wastewater permit, issued by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD), enables continued pollution by the mill rather than forcing a change to proven and economically feasible treatment processes. The technology exists. A successful pulp mill with a modern wastewater treatment process in Chile, for example, produces clean effluent prior to joining adjacent natural water bodies. In 2014, Altamaha Riverkeeper filed a lawsuit for violations of the Clean Marine Art Water Act by Rayonier AM. The judge ruled that ambiguity in EPD’s permit Unique Apparel language did not include the Clean Water Act, resulting in dismissal, and simultaneously revealing the stunning omission on the part of the permit authors. Recently, a new permit was issued by EPD, again without the Clean facebook.com/signs-of-life-studio Water Act narrative, despite public comments voicing stricter wastewater 912-506-2767 measures and enforcement of the Clean Water Act and Georgia clean water signsoflifestudio@gmail.com standards. Rayonier AM management in Jacksonville could end this contentiousness and litigation if they would admit that there is a problem in the river and assume responsibility for adopting closed-loop sustainability measures, such as recovering all waste by-products and chemicals now pumped into the river. Rayonier AM has never acknowledged the pervasive stench, and to the astonishment of anyone with more than a 5th grade education, dares to compare the dark staining in the river to natural decay in tannic streams in South Georgia. Rayonier AM management engages in self-deception if it believes that readers are taken in by that nonsense. The Altamaha Riverkeeper, represented by GreenLaw, Stack & Associates and Southern Environmental Law Center filed an appeal in late January of the issuance of a state permit that allows Rayonier AM to continue discharging treated process water into the Altamaha River at its huge Jesup mill. We will continue to fight on behalf of all users of the river for a tighter permit that addresses the issues of stench and stain, and doesn’t just delay action by allowing for another foot-dragging study. The Altamaha River drains into the largest, most intact estuarine system in the world, teeming with shrimp, crabs, clams, and young fish. These are our marshlands, this is our coast. Big industry has no ownership of our water, and its continued excessive use and pollution of our waterways is contrary to “good stewardship. You can help the Riverkeeper by becoming a member, and letting us know about your experiences on the Altamaha River. Help us stop the pollution of our river and our coast.
Signs of Life
Studio
Jenifer Hilburn Altamaha Riverkeeper Swimmable, Drinkable, Fishable Water!! jen@altamahariverkeeper.org www.altamahariverkeeper.org
February 2016
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Working to Conserve and Restore Southeastern Coastlines and Fish Habitat By Lindsay Gardner SARP Communications & Habitat Restoration Program Manager
H
ave you ever experienced the thrill of catching a red drum straight from the ocean, enjoyed a fresh oyster from a locally-sourced estuary, or kayaked through a peaceful saltmarsh at dawn? These are just a few of the many unique opportunities to enjoy the resources provided by the amazing coastal resources of the South Atlantic. If you live near, or have spent time on, any of the streams, rivers and wetlands of the southeastern United States, it may come as no surprise that these waters are home to more fish species and aquatic life than any other place in North America. This is especially evident when visiting the scenic and bountiful resources of coastal Georgia and South Carolina. Unfortunately these special places and the valuable fish and wildlife habitat, as well as resources and services for humans, are being threatened and degraded. However, there are outstanding efforts by federal and state agencies and area non-profit organizations to address these concerns, but did you know there is also another very active, regionally-coordinated effort to conserve and restore aquatic resources in the Southeast? In 2004, the Southeast Aquatic Resources Partnership (SARP) was formed as a regional collaboration of natural resource and science agencies, conservation organizations and private interests developed to strengthen the management and conservation of aquatic resources. Today, SARP is a nationally-recognized leader that is successfully addressing problems affecting fish, other aquatic wildlife and their habitats in 14 southern states (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, 10
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February 2016
Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia), and Puerto Rico. SARP contributes to conservation in two primary ways. First by developing sciencebased resources to assess the health of rivers and coastal habitats to help guide decision makers, and second, by working with partners to put cost-effective conservation projects on the ground in places where they are needed most. These include projects to enhance and restore some of the nation’s most economically and socially significant waters and aquatic habitats for continued benefit, use, and enjoyment by fish, wildlife and people. The organization not only prioritizes and facilitates restoration projects, but also works with partners to provide tools and resources through a variety of programs. SARP’s USFWS-NFHP Aquatic Habitat Restoration Program has successfully supported numerous on-the-ground restoration projects in the region. This includes several that have focused on coastal habitat restoration in Georgia and South Carolina. SARP-NOAA Community-based Restoration Program (CRP) fostered collaboration with state and local partners to implement and monitor 23 restoration projects with a coastal focus. This collaboration benefitted marine and anadromous fish habitat in the nine southeastern states that border the Gulf of Mexico and the South Atlantic (2010 – 2014). Through the years, SARP has sponsored a variety of projects in Georgia and South Carolina that have improved and restored estuarine and marine habitats, and are increasing fish and shellfish populations, and enhancing coastal wetlands. It has long-standing relationships with the Georgia and South Carolina Departments of Natural Resources (DNR) (both
Living Shoreline Project at Little St. Simon’s Island. Photo by UGA MAREX among the founding members of the Partnership). SARP also has a variety of other partners and works with these agencies and groups to identify and execute community-based projects that promote citizen action and opportunities for individuals to make a difference. In Georgia, these have included: habitat restoration to benefit rare species and natural communities, oyster reef restoration, and control of invasive species in the Altamaha River Watershed; enhancement of gravel bars in the Oconee River; island restoration and habitat enhancement in Lake Oconee; improvement of spawning habitats in the Ogeechee River; and living shoreline creation at Little St. Simons Island. In South Carolina, SARP-supported projects have included: oyster reef and habitat restoration using crab traps; the development of artificial estuarine habitats to increase abundance of recreationally-important fish; restoration of native aquatic plants in the Santee Cooper system to improve anadromous fish habitat; improved red drum habitat through community-based oyster reef habitat restoration; and community-based and larger-scale oyster restoration in ACE Basin National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR). SARP’s unique regional perspective, cutting edge science and connections to decision-makers is strengthening the management of aquatic resources and ensuring the conservation of precious waters, fish and wildlife for future generations. It is staffed by a core group of personnel who are dedicated to SARP’s vision and who work directly with key representatives from SARP’s partner agencies and organizations to accomplish its projects and goals.
For more information about SARP, visit www.southeastaquatics.net or contact SARP Coordinator, Dr. Jessica Graham, jessica@southeastaquatics.net 850-769-0552, ext. 229. Facebook at http://facebook.com/sarp14
ACE Basin oysters. Photo by Lindsay Gardner February 2016
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R W ight
hales
By Amelia Dence
Photos provided by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Sea to Shore Alliance and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, using research permits issued by NOAA
Crew working to disentangle a right whale.
Clockwise from top left: Right whale #2040, Naevus, and her calf. Right whales swimming near Charleston. Juvenile whale breaching off Sea Island.
D
id you know that our coastal waters are home to a fascinating yet critically endangered marine mammal? The North Atlantic Right Whale calls the coastal waters of the Southeast home. In fact, from January through March the Southeast’s waters serve as the calving ground for these creatures. Scientists believe that these waters are the ONLY calving grounds for this particular species. Weighing in at approximately 70 tons and roughly 50 feet in length at maturity, the North Atlantic Right Whale is a large baleen whale that spends much of its time skimming for food. They use their baleen as a filter to separate tiny zooplankton from the water. While the exact life span of the Right Whale is unknown, scientists know they live for at least 65 years, possibly longer. Right whales can be distinguished from other species of whales by several features: they are black in color, lack a dorsal fin, they have a rotund body with large bowed lower lips, they have a bowed upper lip, their broad tails feature a deep notch, and they have white raised patches on their heads called callosities. Each right whale has a unique callosity pattern, which scientists use like fingerprints to identify individual right whales from one another. Right Whales reach maturity at around nine years of age
which is the typical age for females to have their first calf. After a one year gestation period females give birth to their calves, which can be up to 14 feet long at birth. Calves usually nurse for the first year of life before being weaned. Right Whales calve in the waters off the southeast coast from December to March. The span of time between each calf for an individual female ranges from three to five years. Currently, the only known calving grounds for these animals are located off the coast of North Florida and Georgia where they spend the winter months giving birth to, and nursing, their young. Even though our coastal waters are the calving grounds, according to NOAA, their summer feeding and nursery grounds are the waters off the coast of New England up into the Scotian Shelf and the Bay of Fundy, in Canada. Sadly, North Atlantic Right Whales are considered critically endangered. They were nearly driven to extinction by commercial whaling centuries ago. By the time whaling for Right Whales was banned in 1935, there were probably only 100 whales remaining. Today Right Whales are facing new and different human threats, such as ship strikes, entanglement in commercial fishing gear and habitat destruction. Despite these challenges, the populations is slowly rebounding thanks to ongoing conservation efforts; scientists estimate that around 450 Right Whales are alive today. This growth can be attributed to the efforts of organizations such as NOAA, Georgia DNR, Sea to Shore Alliance, and Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Commission, and their work to identify, protect and expand the essential areas for these whales. Eileen Sobeck, the assistant NOAA administrator for NOAA fisheries stated that “with two decades of new information and improved understanding since we first designated critical habitat for the species, we believe the expansion will further protect essential foraging and calving areas to further improve recovery of this animal.�
Right whale group socializing.
Right whale with propellor scars off the coast of South Carolina. 16
NOAA has further pushed for increasing regulations in these protected areas and continue to actively work to identify areas crucial to these whales’ survival. Regulations include: lowered ship speed in protected waters, voluntary vessel routing around known habitats and mandatory ship strike reports. There is also a federal law in place aimed at protecting these creatures from individuals and one can face criminal and civil charges and fines up to $100,000 if the law is broken. This law mandates that all vessels an aircraft must maintain a distance of at least 500 yards between themselves and a Right Whale should one be spotted. If one is spotted near you, or if it approaches within the required 500 yards, move away slowly. There are other measures boaters can take in order to assist in creating a safe and harmonious environment in which man and beast can coexist. These include: operating at a speed of 10 knots or less if you are in a known area for Right Whale activity, learning how to identify Right Whales while on the water, wearing polarized sunglasses to make spotting them easier, avoiding times in which visibility is reduced or poor; report Right Whale collisions, injuries, deaths or entanglements to the Coast Guard radio channel VHF 16; and moving away slowly should you come across a Right Whale. SouthernTidesMagazine.com
February 2016
D id Y ou Know? Sea Spiders (Nymphopsis duodorsospinosa) have no body, just their eight legs. • Their internal organs and stomach extend into their legs • Dine on other sea creatures such as sponges and worms • Some have a long, tube-like proboscis, with which they stick prey and suck up food as if through a straw • Range in size from microscopic to as large as a dinner plate (though most tend to be on the smaller side of this range) Information contributed by Erin Weeks, SC DNR Image provided by Southeastern Regional Taxonomic Center
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This page: Research diver installs monitoring equipment. Photo by Michelle Johnson Opposite page: Sea turtle in Flower Garden Banks. Photo by George Schmahl
Partnering with
Cuba By Amelia Dence
S
ince the first trade embargo was issued in 1960 during the Eisenhower era Cuba has been virtually off limits to the United States and is a mystery to most U.S. citizens. Located just 90 miles south of the southern tip of Florida, Cuba has long held a tense relationship with the United States. However, the relationship between the U.S. and Cuba took a turn for the better and diplomatic relations were re-established last year. Since then we are learning to cooperate with our sister to the South and that’s all about to change. With the recently opened relationship between the two countries the United States and Cuba have the opportunity to work together as partners in order to protect the waters that lie between them. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was recently signed between NOAA, the National Park Service, and Cuba’s National Center for Protected Areas launching a cooperative aimed at
sharing information and other materials amongst the organizations. The goal of the MOU is to establish a partnership that assists efforts in scientific research, education, and preservation in relation to Marine Protected Areas. These areas include: Cuba’s Guanahacabibes National Park including the Banco San Antonio off Cuba’s coast, The Flower Garden Banks, and The
This Page: Cuban shoreline. Photo by Bill Kiene Opposite: Individual manta rays can be identified by spots on the ventral (belly) side. The sanctuary has a catalog of known manta rays that visit Flower Garden Banks. Photo by John Embesi Bottom: Bottom: Sea cucumbers spawning at Stetson Ridge. Though they normally lie on the ocean floor, when spawning sea cucumbers climb to release sperm and eggs. Photo by George Schmahl
Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Dr. Kathryn Sullivan a NOAA administrator was in Cuba for the
signing and explains, “we recognize we all share the same ocean and face the same challenges of understanding, managing, and conserving critical marine resources for future generations.” Jonathon B. Sarvis, the National Park Service Director, echoes Dr. Sullivan’s sentiments, “cooperation among protected area managers of Cuba and U.S. national park and marine sanctuaries is a great way to preserve our shared natural heritage of the wider Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico regions. After all, fish, marine mammals, sea turtles, birds and other marine life exist in ecosystems that rarely fall within maps drawn by man,” he stated. The MOU makes it easier for researchers in both Cuba and the U.S. to learn from each other and to work towards better managing the marine habitats. According to Bill Causey, regional director of the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries (ONMS) this will be beneficial to coral reef habitats in both countries, “for decades we have known that the ocean currents throughout the wider Caribbean serve as a conveyor belt, moving important marine life between our countries.”
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T he Bitter End
Birth of the Lowcountry Coast By Captain J. Gary Hill
L
Photo by Captain J. Gary Hill.
et’s take a look at the cycles of birth for a moment. For humans that’s about nine months from conception to birth, sperm whales take about 16 months, while elephants take nearly two years. While these numbers may seem large, they pale in comparison to the birth of the Lowcountry’s barrier islands and coastline. What we see today as we boat along the South Carolina and Georgia coastline has been a process spanning millions of years. However, the last 50-odd thousand years are what we’ll look at today. Fifty thousand years ago if you wanted to visit the beach, you would have had a much longer drive in front of you – all the way out to the Continental Shelf to be exact. This period of time was during the latter part of the Pleistocene epoch; the saltwater marshes we know today had yet to form. Huge swathes of forest dominated what is now our shallow water shelf. Large repositories of silt that accumulated from earlier eras were the beginnings of today’s marshes. As the Earth started a warming cycle, much of the ice that had been trapped in huge ice flows and polar caps melted. A major face lift was taking place, on a global scale. The Bering Sea land bridge that joined what are now North America and Russia disappeared, cutting off access between the two. This all started about 21,000 years ago. The average rise of water was about three feet per century, up until about the last 5000 years at which time the rate slowed to about a foot every hundred years. This gradual rise allowed the animals to move according to the rise in sea level. As the Pleistocene epoch gave way to the Holocene epoch (approximately 11,700 years ago) the islands that began forming toward the 22
end of the Pleistocene became more fully formed as water levels rose and fell, moving the coastline from as far inland as Macon, back out to the edge of the Continental Shelf and finally “stabilizing” as the coastline we recognize today. However, in many places, like Cumberland Island, little of the Holocene portions are left due to natural erosion on the northern ends and accretion on the southern ends. The Lowcountry coast is an ever changing palette of shifting sandbars and mud flats that are always ready to ensnare the unsuspecting boater. On one of my trips to Bulls Island in the Cape Romaine Preserve above Charleston, this sort of thing was very evident. What many of us refer to as “Bone Yards,” are all too abundant on these Barrier Islands, with trees laying on their sides, like toppled giants vanquished in battle. This same thing is now facing Daufuskie Island in South Carolina with steady erosion slowly taking its toll on vegetation, and on humans who have built closer and closer to the ocean to enjoy its natural beauty. Jekyll Island has also had to endure this erosion/accretion effect on her shoreline. What can be done to prevent or mitigate this you may wonder? Sadly I’m not sure there is an easy fix, or if there is it would come at a huge financial cost. Every few years, islands like Tybee or St Simons has to obtain funds for their beach renourishment programs. One day you will tell your grandchildren about Williamson Island, which we’ve watched disappear over the past ten years, or your favorite sandbar where you once enjoyed a quiet day on the water with friends. Just something to think about when you walk on one of these beaches. The next time you might wish to consider the history on which you tread, and how transitory it can be. See ya’ll on the water!
SouthernTidesMagazine.com
February 2016
SEAMAMMS is a forum for biologists conducting research on all species of marine mammals in waters from New Jersey to Texas. The purpose of the conference is to bring together scientists and students to present their latest research results in a regional, student-oriented meeting format. SEAMAMMS provides an opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students to present and discuss their research, and for marine mammal advocates to gain knowledge. For information and registration: http://www.savannahstate.edu/cost/mar-env-science/SEAMAMMS/index.shtml#sthash.dpeMmW3c.dpbs
Co-hosted by Savannah State University and The Dolphin Project
www.thedolphinproject.org