Sea Grant Notes – Oct 30, 2020

Extension offices across the district are opened on a limited basis. Some essential programs are being provided with limited attendance and social distancing. It is still best to contact us by phone or email.

Happy Halloween!

Halloweed – Beach vitex removal for tomorrow has been canceled.

Youth Science Lessons – October The Water Planet

LESSON 4 – CLIMATE CHANGE

September Lessons – The Nature of Science

October Lessons – The Water Planet

You can find these lessons by scrolling through the natural resource page of the Escambia County Extension website. There should be four lessons for each topic – one topic for each month.

https://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/escambiaco/category/natural-resources/.

 

 

Panhandle Outdoors LIVE – Webinar – Wednesday Nov 4

Apalachicola Bay Oysters: A Treasured Natural Resource with an Uncertain Future

You can find a calendar of all presentations at the link below.

You can register for a talk by clicking on the title.

http://nwdistrict.ifas.ufl.edu/nat/panhandle-outdoors-live-online/.

Water Quality Updates

Health Advisories

  • Oct 26 only three water bodies sampled
  • POOR ADVISORY ISSUED: Bayou’s Chico, Bayou Texar
  • GOOD: Sanders Beach
  • See all data below

Rainfall

  • Rainfall collected weekly from East Hill (UF IFAS)
  • Jan (4.0) Feb (2.8) Mar (0.6) – Winter (7.4”)
  • Apr (3.2) May (1.6) Jun (6.5) – Spring (11.3”)
  • Jul (9.1”) Aug (13.9”) Sep (21.2”) – Summer (44.2”) – HURRICANE SALLY
  • Oct (4.2”)

Salinity

  • The objective to see who has a MEAN, MEDIAN, and MODE 20‰ of higher for seagrass and scallop restoration. Our goal is to get at least 100 readings (n = 100) from each location.
  • 2020 3rd Quarter Update
Body of Water No. of samples taken Surface Mean salinity (‰) Surface Median salinity Surface Mode salinity
Bayou Grande 24 20 20 21
Bayou Texar 4 9.4 8.4 NA
Big Lagoon 15 23 23 20
Big Sabine 24 21 21 22
Bruce Beach 1 18 18 NA
Kees Bayou 55 19 20 14
Little Sabine 21 23 24 25
Lower Perdido Bay 71 15 15 14
Old River 36 23 23 25
Sanders Beach 1 18 18 NA
Shoreline Park 1 18 18 NA

Red Tide & Harmful Algal Blooms

  • Report Date – Oct 23
  • SW Florida – not detected
  • Panhandle – background levels at one station in Gulf County
  • East Florida – background levels at one station in Volusia County

Fish Kills

Habitat Restoration Updates

  • Living Shorelines
  • – The living shorelines did very well during Hurricane Sally
  • – All living shorelines have been monitored. Report update can be found at https://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/escambiaco/2020/09/14/living-shoreline-success-stories/.
  • Seagrass Monitoring
  • – Monitoring has stopped due to poor water quality from Hurricane Sally. Report coming later this year
  • Mangrove Surveys
  • – The 2020 mangrove surveys are now complete. No mangroves were found in Escambia County this year.
  • OCEAN HOUR –

Until it is repaired – Ocean Hour will hold weekend clean ups on both sides of the 3-Mile Bridge so that people can reach them.

Oct 31

Bob Sikes Bridge – meet at Grand Marlin (southside)

Chimney Park – located at the foot of Langley Avenue on Scenic Highway

Payne Bridge/Bayou Texar – meet at the boat ramp off of strong street near Marina Oyster Barn.

BACK TO REGULAR HOURS – Meet at 8:45 – Clean up from 9:00 – 10:00 AM

 

Wildlife Monitoring Updates

 

  • Terrapin Surveys – Surveys are completed. Report coming out in the fall.
  • Horseshoe Crabs – This project was not able to survey due to COVID issues. Will attempt again in the spring of 2021.
  • Barrier Island Cottonmouth Survey – 2020 surveys are completed. Report coming soon.
  • The Great Scallop Search – Surveys are completed. Report coming.
  • Manatee Watch – More sightings this week. Reports coming from all over the bay area soon.
  • 64 reports since Jan 1
  • – PLEASE CONTACT ME WITH SIGHTINGS (roc1@ufl.edu)
  • – ALSO, APPROACH SHORE AND DOCKS SLOWLY WITH A LOOKOUT IF YOU CAN

 

Invasive Species Updates

 

  • Beach vitex – BEACH VITEX IS NOW LISTED AS A STATE NOXIOUS WEED. If you think you may have the plant, and want to remove it, please contact me.
  • Cuban Treefrog Records – there has been an increase in reports of these animals in our area. Read the following article to find out where and how to manage this before they become a bigger problem –

https://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/escambiaco/2020/07/02/are-we-being-invaded-by-cuban-treefrogs-maybe/.

  • Lionfish
  • – Small lionfish have once again been reported from the Ft. Pickens jetties. Please contact us if you see any while diving there
  • NISAW (National Invasive Species Awareness Week) – coming February 2021
  • Weed Wrangle – invasive plant removal work day – coming February 2021
  • LRAD (Lionfish Removal and Awareness Day) – coming May 2021
  • FLISAW (Florida Invasive Species Awareness Week) – coming May 2021

 

Seafood in Peak Season for November

Upcoming Programs

 

YOUTH SCIENCE LESSONS – every week

October focus – The Water Planet

September focus – The Nature of Science

One a week posted early in the week

You can find any of them by scrolling through the natural resource page of our website

https://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/escambiaco/category/natural-resources/.

 

SCIENCE HOUR – FACEBOOK LIVE – Nov 19

This month we will be with Beth Fugate (Florida Department of Environmental Protection) discussing restoration within our local aquatic preserves. Join us at 12:00 PM CDT on the Escambia County Extension Facebook

 

PANHANDLE OUTDOORS LIVE – WEBINAR – Nov 4

Apalachicola Bay Oysters: A Treasured Natural Resource with an Uncertain Future

12:00 – 12:30 CDT

1:00 – 1:30 EDT

Register, and see other webinars, at

http://nwdistrict.ifas.ufl.edu/nat/panhandle-outdoors-live-online/.

BITE SIZED SCIENCE WEBINARS – November

We will begin this month – the Spanish versions on Tuesdays and English on Thursdays

The programs will begin at 3:00 PM CDT

October Programs

Tue Nov 3 – Floraciones de Algas Nocivas

Thu Nov 5- Entangled Pelican Rescue

Tue Nov 10 – Monitoreo de Arrecifes Artificiales

Thu Nov 12 – Sea Turtle Nesting in the Archie Carr NWR

Tue Nov 17 – Desechos Marinos

Thu Nov 19 – Snook Expansion Northward in the Gulf of Mexico

Pre-register is required, you can register at the link below.

http://bit.ly/bite-sizedscience

SEAFOOD @ YOUR FINGERTIPS

MORE COOL RECIPES AND SEAFOOD DISHES FOR YOU TO TRY

5:00 PM CDT

Nov 4 – Shrimp Scampi

Nov 11 – Coconut Grouper Nuggets with Mango Chutney

Nov 18 – Pesto Pine Nut Trout Bake

You can view these, and any of the past programs, by visiting the Florida Sea Grant Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/floridaseagrant/.

Or get the recipes at our website – https://www.flseagrant.org/.

Current Articles

 

Weekly “What is it?” – Muhly Grass

Carrie Stevenson – Escambia County

https://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/escambiaco/category/natural-resources/.

 

HEALTH ADVISORY DATA

Enterococcus bacteria count rubric for health advisories (Florida Department of Health)

 

GOOD 0-35 colonies/100ml of sample

MODERATE 36-70 colonies/100ml

POOR 71> colonies/100ml

 

Health Advisory Frequency

Data provided by the Florida Department of Health’s Healthy Beaches Program

Body of Water # of samples collected # of POOR reports # of advisories issued % frequency of advisories
Bayou Texar 37 14 14 .38
Sanders Beach 35 8 8 .23
Bayou Chico 28 11 11 .39
Bayou Grande 23 9 9 .39
Big Lagoon SP 20 1 1 .05
Perdido Key SP 22 0 0 .00
Casino Beach 22 1 1 .04
Park East 22 2 1 .04
Park West 22 2 1 .04
Quietwater Beach 22 1 1 .04
Ft. Pickens 7 0 0 .00
Opal Beach 7 0 0 .00
TOTAL 261 46 39 .15

NOTE: SEVERAL OF THESE WERE DUE TO HURRICANE SALLY

 

Fish Kill Data provided by FWC (Escambia and Santa Rosa counties)

Month # of Fish Kills reported # of Dead Fish reported Cause
Jan 0 0  
Feb 0 0  
Mar 0 0  
Apr 0 0  
May 0 0  
Jun 0 0  
Jul 2 NR Baitfish at Navarre Beach and Perdido Key; probably a discard
Aug 0 0  
Sep 2 NR Fish kills occurred in two ponds (one in Pensacola and one in Gulf Breeze) during Hurricane Sally
Oct 0 0
TOTAL 4 0
0


Posted: October 30, 2020


Category: Coasts & Marine, Natural Resources
Tags: Sea Grant Notes


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