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Pinellas Bans Pets, Alcohol On Shell Key

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By CARLOS MONCADA, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 3, 2007

CLEARWATER - The party's over at Shell Key.
Pinellas County commissioners on Tuesday adopted an updated management plan that bans dogs and alcohol and restricts overnight camping on the undeveloped barrier island, long a destination for local boaters.

County environmental staff and groups including the Audubon Society of Florida said the new rules are needed to protect nesting shore birds. They have complained about humans and pets leaving trash and excrement on the ecologically fragile island, at the southern tip of Florida's most densely developed county.

Boaters, a minority of whom are blamed by officials for a party atmosphere that keeps families from the island, have argued that more stringent enforcement of existing rules would resolve the problems.

'I really have a problem that we're almost shutting people out,' Commissioner Susan Latvala said. 'We're taking something away from an existing group of users, and that's a problem.'

Nevertheless, commissioners voted unanimously to adopt the management plan, which updates the plan in place since 2000.

The new rules won't take effect right away, though. The plan requires state approval, which isn't expected until December.

County officials said the new rules should be in place by February or March, before next year's boating season. Until then, the rules will be publicized through brochures and mailings.

The 2.6-mile-long island, which the county manages for the state, attracts thousands of people annually. Crowds have increased sharply in the past six years, especially on weekends and holidays, officials said.

Officials and environmentalists said trash on the island attracts predators such as raccoons, fish crows and laughing gulls that threaten nesting shore birds, including such protected species as black skimmers, least terns and oystercatchers.

In all, Shell Key is home to 117 species of birds as well as three species of turtles.

The new rules prohibit dogs at all times, as recommended by the state. Since 2002, the island has been closed to pets only during the annual nesting season between April 15 and June 15.

The presence of dogs on the island is 'a serious problem,' said Will Davis, Pinellas environmental management director. 'Because one dog running through a nesting colony in the middle of the day has the potential to almost destroy the colony as the birds come off the eggs or come off the chicks.'

A dog doesn't even need to run through a nesting area, Davis said. The birds see dogs as a predator 'and they flare off their nests,' he said.

The rules also ban alcohol possession anywhere within the 1,828-acre Shell Key Preserve, including the island and surrounding waters.

Alcohol already is forbidden on Shell Key, but visitors get around the rule by legally drinking on boats offshore or even while standing in ankle-deep water. It's known as the 'Shell Key two-step.'

The varying rules confuse the public and are difficult to enforce, said Sgt. Glen Wilson, of the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office Environmental Lands Unit.

'We don't want it to be an adversarial situation between visitors and law enforcement,' Wilson said. 'We do want Shell Key to be someplace that somebody can go and visit and have a clear understanding of what's expected of them. There are a lot of gray areas and a lot of ambiguities to the rules that need to be cleaned up.'

Reporter Carlos Moncada can be reached at (727) 451-2333 or cmoncada@tampatrib.com.

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