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Crist To Veto Questionable Seagrass Protection Measure

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By NICOLA M. WHITE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 11, 2008

Updated: 06/11/2008 12:15 am

TAMPA - It was supposed to be a bill to protect seagrass, the underwater greenery that provides food for marine life and nurseries for juvenile fish.

But a little-noticed add-on brought to light after lawmakers left Tallahassee for the session made some environmentalists balk. The amendment would allow coastal developers to destroy seagrass beds as long as they paid to restore seagrass elsewhere.

Critics characterized it as a blank check for coastal builders. E-mails and phone calls rolled in to Gov. Charlie Crist's office, calling for him not to sign the bill into law.

Tuesday, the governor bent to that pressure, saying he would veto the bill.

"To save the seagrass," he said Tuesday morning when asked why he wouldn't sign it.

Seagrass beds act as nurseries and feeding grounds for fish, shrimp, stone crab, lobster and a variety of other aquatic life. They shelter and feed manatees and sea turtles and form a food web for Florida birds, according to the Florida Audubon Society, which pushed the original version of the bill through the Legislature.

The original bill called for protections for seagrass, making ripping up beds with boat propellers an offense punishable with fines ranging from $50 to $1,000. The fines would apply only to damage done to seagrass beds in aquatic preserves such as Cockroach Bay.

The environmental lobby had been pushing for the bill for at least three years.

Although most backed the bill, they couldn't swallow it if it had the mitigation banking amendment tacked on.

"Because seagrass mitigation doesn't work and it never has," said David Guest, an attorney with Earth Justice, an organization that has spearheaded the charge against the bill. "When you destroy the seagrass beds, you're really destroying the whole foundation of sea life."

Guest cheered Crist's promise of a veto.

"This is the Charlie Crist the environmental community absolutely adores," he said.

The veto, however, nixes the entire bill, including the parts that environmentalists fought hard for. Eric Draper, the deputy director of Audubon of Florida, said he hoped the Legislature would commit to passing a stronger bill next year and that the governor would sign that one.

"The tragedy of this decision is the loss of the new enforcement for impacts to seagrass from vessels," Draper said. "There's 173,000 acres, according to the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which has sustained damage from boats and as we speak, that activity is virtually unregulated and uncontrolled."

With the lack of fines, he said, "The damage will continue."

The bill's sponsor, Rep. Will Kendrick, R-Carabelle, said he saw his amendment as a way for scientists to make strides to repair fragile seagrass beds that had been damaged.

Kendrick said he was disappointed Crist promised to veto the bill, which also called for accountability in the state's land buying conservation program, Florida Forever.

"You know, it's unfortunate that the other environmental things in the bill doesn't give him some comfort in it," he said.

Reporter Nicola M. White can be reached at (813) 259-7616 or nwhite1@tampatrib.com. Reporter Catherine Dolinski contributed to this report.

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