News
"Don't
Cut the Line" Fishing Signs
Another project SOS is working on are signs for local fishing piers warning fishermen not to cut their line if they hook a seabird. The signs give details on how to hold the birds and remove the hooks.
The signs will be made from weather-resistant aluminum and will be posted at obvious fishing locations in the bay area.
The funds for the project came from the money collected from the spillers of the 1993 Tampa Bay oil spill, received through the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the NOAA Restoration Center.
Because
of the overwhelming acceptance of these signs, SOS has applied for a
two-part grant to extend the area for these signs to include the entire
Tampa Bay watershed. (This will include installing 1,300 additional
signs.)
The first half of the grant has been accepted by Department of Environmental Protection Restoration Funds.
Signs Installed at the Sunshine Skyway North Fishing Pier
January 16th, 2001 saw the installation of the first of the "Don't Cut the Line" signs on the North Sunshine Skyway fishing pier in Tampa Bay at the Sunshine Skyway bridge.
Shown
in the photo at left and representing many of the agencies involved in
the project are (from left to right), Lee Fox (Director SOS), Bryan
Pridgeon (US Fish and Wildlife Service),
Jane Urquhart-Donnelly (Florida
Department of Environmental Protection), John Iliff and Tom Moore (NOAA
Restoration Center), Domenic Letobarone (also of Florida
DEP), and Robert Wilson (Asst. Park Manager, Gulf Island Geo Park,
Florida Park Service, part of Florida
DEP.)
This is the latest of the many signs to be installed on Florida's West Coast during this educational project spearheaded by SOS. (Watch for more to come!)
"Seabird
Savers"
SOS is in the process of construction of the "Seabird Savers" for the local fishing piers around Tampa Bay. These tubes will allow people cleaning fish to dispose of the fish carcasses after cleaning in a way that doesn't hurt the seabirds.
(In case you didn't know, the exposed bones in fish carcasses left after cleaning often, if fed to seabirds, puncture the bird's digestive system, causing infection and often death of the bird. PLEASE: DON'T FEED YOUR FISH CLEANING SCRAPS TO THE BIRDS!!)
The tubes will extend from the fish cleaning stations on the pier down into the sand below the water line. The scraps sink harmlessly to the bottom through a port cut into the lower section of the tube where they are eaten by other sea life.
Funding for this project came from the Tampa Bay Estuary program.
Photos from left to right: (1) SOS volunteers installing the first "Seabird Saver" at John's Pass Village; (2) Moving the "Seabird Saver" into position at the cleaning bench; (3) Aligning the top of the Seabird Saver with the cleaning bench
