Category Archives: Ethics

Conservation, DIY, Ethics, Everglades, Local, Mosquito Lagoon, New Smyrna Beach, Social Media

Make An Impact

There are a broad array of issues swirling throughout social media these days regarding conservation.  Whether it relates to Everglades Restoration, Opposition to Pebble Mine or improving water quality in Mosquito Lagoon and the Indian River Lagoon, we can all agree on something; each issue is important.

Too often there are bombs being thrown by advocates for what many of us perceive as the right side of the issue.  The bomb throwing serves little to change minds or create solutions, yet the air raid sirens sound almost daily.

Much of the rhetoric comes from charity organizations, 501 c (3) designated companies that are “not for profit”.  Don’t lose sight of the fact that they are companies. It matters.

Choose Wisely

While we all very much want to do something to improve our environment, we should make reasoned decisions  on how its being done.

One of the best things you can do in life is be involved in causes you care about.  The simplest, and often most effective is through personal action.  

One of your choices is to invest in a company that you believe will give you the best return on investment towards the goal you value in conservation efforts.  The second, is rolling up your sleeves and creating some sweat equity for your cause the good old fashioned way, with boots on the ground.

Direct action is often the most impactful.

Making an Impact is the Goal

Simply writing a check, swiping a credit card, plastering a sticker on your rear window of your truck or re-posting the latest shocking post on social media may be all you have time to do if that’s all you have to invest.  If you’re confident in the company you’ve invested in is making every dollar count, go for it.

There in lies the challenge.  Do some due diligence before you invest.  If you were buying stock, you would want to know how revenue was being spent.  What does the “leadership” make?

Has this “not for profit” business simply become a source of income for a couple of individuals?

You might be surprised if you looked at salaries in the “not for profit” space.  Very surprised.

If you’re the sweat equity type, its easy to provide real results that are meaningful.  Volunteer to join a clean-up group, commit to cleaning up a section of your neighborhood or a shoreline and make it yours.  Often the larger conservation companies are only interested in broad strokes at the policy level and their impact may happen, if ever, in timelines measured in decades.

A completion timeline of 28 years provides lots of fundraising opportunity.

Projects like The Everglades Agricultural Area Storage Reservior have been in planning since around the year 2000 and won’t be completed until 2028 at the earliest.

Thanks for wanting to be part of the positive solutions for coastal conservation issues.  Now, make an informed decision on how you’re going to do it and make an impact!

Act Locally, Adventure, Conservation, Ethics, Lifestyle, Mosquito Lagoon, Mosquito Lagoon Fly Fishing Guide, Space Coast

Catch A Buzz

Have you ever had the pleasure of poling a remote shoreline in Mosquito Lagoon early in the morning while being serenaded by the buzzing of thousands of wings?

No, not the insects for which the area earns its well deserved name; honey bees and bumble bees are omnipresent when mangroves are blooming. So much so, their collective buzzing nearly drowns out all other sounds in the area.

The next time it happens, slow down and poke your nose into the shoreline and watch them work. It’s a fascinating service they perform as they glean nectar from blossoms and collect pollen.

The lagoon is an amazing place, down to its smallest detail. Just like these little overachievers, we all need to do our part to make sure we’re acting in a manner that contributes to its sustainability.

Our responsibilities lie in how we treat it today and how we leave it for tomorrow.

Act Locally, Catch & Release, Conservation, Ethics, fly fishing, Lifestyle, Mosquito Lagoon, Mosquito Lagoon Fly Fishing Guide, Social Media, Travel

Mosquito Lagoon Fly Fishing Guide

For decades Mosquito Lagoon has been know to some as “The Redfish Capital of The World”.  The area earned the title due to the presence of redfish of all sizes that roamed lush grass flats, shoals and oyster strewn bays.  The highlight being the presence of schools of  breeder size “bull” redfish in many areas that sustained the local population by remaining in the estuary to spawn.

Over the years, water quality has suffered and what was once an estuary known for its gin clear water has become a place where often times you will face limited visibility due to algal blooms and turbidity caused by a devastating reduction of seagrass.

Now more than ever, the guides that work in Mosquito Lagoon must be committed to loving the imperiled estuary.

Loving the estuary starts with how and where they fish, how they handle and release the fish and what they teach anglers about efforts to restore Mosquito Lagoon.

There are approximately 80 guides who may legally operate charters on Mosquito Lagoon.  Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge is responsible for the permitting process and enforcement of commercial operations across a vast area.  The Law Enforcement Officers tasked with doing so are understaffed and underfunded.

Due to the wholesale lack of a law enforcement presence, guide operations are not unlike the wild west frontier.  Routinely you will see behavior that is unprofessional and unethical in the name of putting fish in the boat.

A large number of the permitted guides are merely part-time operators who merely see their trips as extra cash in their pocket, not a lifestyle or profession.  Their behavior in exploiting the resource is shameful.

The small number of working guides who are out there nearly everyday are working hard to highlight these problems and have taken on a leadership role in advocating for policies and practices amongst guides that will aid in sustaining Mosquito Lagoon.

If you’re looking forward to booking a fly fishing guide in Mosquito Lagoon, please make sure you’re supporting the resource by choosing a guide who has demonstrated a commitment to preserving and protecting it.

Not sure who that is?  Contact me and I’ll make sure you get the names of guides that I would trust.  I’ve spent a long time fishing alongside them and know who is worthy of your hard earned money.

More importantly, I know who loves the Lagoon.

 

Adventure, Catch & Release, Conservation, DIY, Ethics, Explore, Film, fly fishing, Friendships, History, Lifestyle, Mosquito Lagoon, Podcast, Social Media, Space Coast, Stories, Tactics, Tiller, Travel

– Ben Sittig Is A Huge Fly Fisherman – I’m A Huge Fly Fisherman Too

Recently, I had the good fortune to spend a few days on the water with my good friend, Ben.  As always, I picked him up at the Orlando International Airport and within an hour or two, he was tight on a redfish. Its become quite the tradition for us.

Ben is working on a new YouTube project and it was a “work trip” for him, so it seemed fitting to put him on the back of the skiff.

Here’s the result of that effort to get him up to speed with a push pole.

I’d say he’s well on his way to becoming a regular Pusherman.

In addition to stabbing a few fish in the face, we spent time talking about more technical issues like the following:

Make sure to follow Ben on his new YouTube channel, Huge Fly Fisherman, more content is on the way, including conservation issues facing Mosquito Lagoon.

Ben will also have his writings about the state of conservation efforts in Mosquito Lagoon featured in This Is Fly magazine very soon, check it out.

Stay Huge!

 

Act Locally, Conservation, Ethics, Mosquito Lagoon, NASA, Social Media, Space Coast, Space Florida, SpaceX, Stories, Updates

MINWR Shiloh Commercial Space Launch Environmental Impact Could Be Epic

Yesterday, as Tropical Storm Hermine brought wind and rain to the Space Coast; very few, if any, skiffs were on the water enjoying the mostly pristine beauty of Mosquito Lagoon.

The serenity of the quiet moment was interrupted when a thunderous series of booms shook the house again and again.

I immediately  went outside to investigate, knowing it wasn’t thunder from a storm band rain shower approaching.

Moments later, social media began to break the story of an “anomaly ” that had just occurred when SpaceX was testing a rocket motor in preparation for an early morning launch on Saturday.

I went to a nearby dock and immediately saw the smoke plume rising to the south, nearly 17 miles away.

Thanks to safety protocols, no human life was lost, nor were there any injuries.  The question that remains is: how much environmental damage might be done by the remnants of rocket fuel that were surely washed into the surrounding marshland when a deluge of water was applied to extinguish the massive fire.

Currently, Space Florida is awaiting an environmental impact study’s completion in an effort to bring just such a launch site to the MINWR, just 5-7 miles south of my home along the shores of Mosquito Lagoon.  I hope that a fully transparent and objective study includes the aftermath of this incident in the study.  The area being considered is home to many endangered and threatened species and is opposed by US Fish & Wildlife staff that run the Refuge.

Environmental Impact Study Pending
Environmental Impact Study Pending

Yesterday was a wake-up call.  Space flight remains a risky business and with that in mind, I remain opposed to the Commercial Launch Facility that is proposed.

Shiloh Commercial Spaceport

In 2012, the State of Florida requested 150 acres of NASA land located at the north end of the Kennedy Space Center, near Daytona. The site – known as “Shiloh,” which is largely unpopulated at this time, would be developed into a dedicated commercial spaceport. Kennedy Space Center Director Robert Cabana communicated his support to the Federal Aviation Administration in April 2013 for the preparation of an Environmental Impact Study of the site. Today, the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation is working with the State of Florida to complete the Environmental Impact Study, which is anticipated to be complete by late 2015. Following the successful completion of that study, Space Florida will submit a formal application to the FAA for consideration of a Spaceport Operators License at the site.

I support the creation of a new launch facility on the current NASA campus where infrastructure already exists to respond to and manage the next inevitable “anomaly” when it occurs.

Continue to stay engaged on this issue and have your voice heard saying No Shiloh Launch Complex.  The MINWR needs to remain pristine and clean.

 

Conservation, DIY, Ethics, Secrets, Social Media

Loose Lips Sink Ships

Have you ever found a special place on the water that seems to be that out of the way location which always produces days that leave you smiling?  You know, the one I’m talking about, that lonely slice of water that takes a bit of effort to reach, where you never see another soul.

The truth is, you’re not the only one that knows where it is, its just that the effort to get there limits even you and it it quickly becomes the spot reserved for special days when solitude is required and you know it can be found there, if you’re in the mood to work for it.

After a while, you’ve grown so fond of your out of the way slice of heaven that you take someone along to show them the unreal beauty and charm your little Shangri-La possesses.  Even though that little voice in the back of your head cautions you to keep it to yourself, you convince yourself it will be kept in confidence, so off you go.

The magic is in the air and the birds are chirping as you and your guest revel in the moments where your rod is bent and fish come to hand in a way that never happens on a normal day, in the usual spots.  You keep reminding them that the place you’re visiting is special and warrants secrecy, hoping that your trust won’t be betrayed.

By day’s end, you know that you’ve shared a truly special place and time and the allure of it is almost fairytale in its splendor, which makes you nervous.

As you finish a beer with your friend, they thank you for the special day and reassure you that the secret is going to be kept.  They express reverence for the location, and pour on the charm letting you know its safe.

A month or two later, it happens.  There in all of its glory, laid bare for the world to see on Instagram or Facebook is the spot you’ve cherished for so long.  That place you’ve always held dear and protected. Your pulse quickens, and in mere moments, you know its over, the secret is out.

The temptation was too great for the person who didn’t earn it.  They were given the privilege, and without the investment of sweat equity, they gave it away.

Worse yet, they begin to abuse it.  Almost weekly at first, them more and more often, until its not just the recipient of your friendly benevolence, but now others are there and posting about too.

Forgiving those who trespass against you is tough.  But truth be told, its best that you do, for they know not what they’re doing.  The  luster will fade on that place of beauty in due time, for once its been burned, the patina of overuse will erase it.

Don’t despair, but rather, channel your efforts in finding your next quiet corner and remember, Loose Lips Sink Ships.