Permitting - May Be Easier Than Once Thought
The FDEP is primarily concerned with the protection of the state's natural resources which include shore bird and sea turtle nesting preservation. Any beach maintenance program that is shown to be superior to hopper dredging as a means of promoting nesting habitats may be looked on favorably by FDEP.
Periodic dredging has been conducted on Longboat Key for the past twenty years. During this process the entire beach is covered with a large amount of sand as the nourishment must be designed to last for a number of years of continuous sand loss due to storms and littoral drift. Two aspects of massive periodic dredging have a negative affect on shore bird and sea turtle nesting.
The first involves disruption of the beach habitat away from the water where both birds and turtles lay their eggs. FDEP requires that the beach be tilled yearly for several years to compensate for sand compaction by heavy equipment used to spread the sand during the dredge operation.
The second issue with periodic dredging is loss of beach nesting habitat due to sand loss. As the beaches recede over the years, some areas become so narrow that both turtle and bird nests are over washed by storm tides or disppear all together. This has occured on Longboat over the years.
Continuous beach maintenance accomplished via micro-dredging or permanent structures such as undercurrent stabilizers or groins and jetties maintain wide beach profiles without the need for periodic dredging and protect critical nesting sites.
As municipalities grapple with diminishing federal and state funds for beach maintenance, more and more communitiues may have to seak alternatives to massive periodic beach dredging and find more efficient ways of retaining they sand they already have. State and federal permitting agencies will most likely welcome innovative and eccologically friendly beach maintenance technologies and permit accordingly.