Sponge diver story in the Times

[Ed Walker]

Kinda scary what Taso says about the bottom out here. He's a cool guy and has been walking the bottom out there longer than just about anyone. He and his son are friends of mine and the deckhand featured in the story works on my boat every summer. They did this 4 day trip with 2 photographers about 2 weeks ago when the funk water was upon us.
How about a 60 lb weight belt?

Check out the photo gallery link with this story:

http://www.sptimes.com/2005/11/27/Fl...he_water.shtml

[HeadHunter]

Enjoyed reading it....very sobering story. Thanks for posting it.

[inletsurf]

Very good read.

[deadend]

That was a great story. Makes you sad and mad about the death of the bottom.

[Ray Odor]

Yep! Here we go again. Just brush it off and say RED TIDE three times real fast. Was there even one time , where Taso said, "Every time we have a red tide the ocean dies"?
Whether it was the poisonous Piney Point dumping in the gulf or the dredging of ammonia laden silt from the Port Manatee channel mixing with the Tampa Bay waters and killing sea life unheard of before, we'll never know. Just brush it off.
Ray

[deadend]

I hear you Ray. With the outstanding results the FRA had this year, it is clearly not out of the realm of possibility that some form of organization of folks that care about this issue could get the ball rolling on this.

[Fish Tale]

Sad story but a good read.

Out of site out of mind. - Out of mind and the problems don't exist.

It's snowbird season in Florida again and that means we're supposed to put on a happy face and a hawaiian shirt for the visitors.

The industry that sells the "cheesburger in paradise" needs to get on board with tightening water quality standards and practices to a point that allows their "cheesburger factory" to be sustainable. Meatless cheeseburgers suck!

[MarkD]

I read it yesterday in the paper. Very well done story. Very sad story too. I feel for guys like Taso and those folks who work very hard to make a living off the sea in an ethical and sustainable way. Blights like this one will make his kind continue to vanish. I guess they can just tie up a couple more sightseeing boats at the Sponge Docks as it continues to evolve from a working dock to a tourist trap .

Mark

[diveskin.gr]

A great sad story.

[Screen Name]

Originally Posted by Ray Odor

Yep! Here we go again. Just brush it off and say RED TIDE three times real fast. Was there even one time , where Taso said, "Every time we have a red tide the ocean dies"?
Whether it was the poisonous Piney Point dumping in the gulf or the dredging of ammonia laden silt from the Port Manatee channel mixing with the Tampa Bay waters and killing sea life unheard of before, we'll never know. Just brush it off.
Ray

Does anybody know....

Where are these guys on this issue? http://www.fwfonline.org/ . How about these guys? http://florida.sierraclub.org/ . Or these guys........http://www.ccaflorida.org/

Seems like these huge organizations would have the muscle to get to the bottom of this.

[PatMyGreen]

Great read.

[BwanaR]

Screen....you don't want to be in any way associated with the SierraClub!

[Screen Name]

Originally Posted by BwanaR

Screen....you don't want to be in any way associated with the SierraClub!

Rich, that may be true. I am just wondering why these guys have not taken up this cause.

[Capt.Gene]

The Freedom of Information act would allow knowledge of what actually happened here with the reverse osmosis purification of the effluent from the Piney Point gyp pond.
In patricular, how was the material resulted from this "filtration" disposed of. What was the resulting chemical analysis of the material that resulted from the filtration? How much was there and where did it go?
I like the part about reverse osmosis filtration never before being used for this purpose and the company guaranteeing the results.
Somewhere else I read a report about the filtration system used clogging immediately and repeatedly.
I suspect there has been a cover up here. Perhaps the EPA has reason to protect US Filter. Perhaps someone here is criminally neglegent. Certainly financially liable for financialy losses in the billions in a cival court if this dumping was done illegally.
The details of the removal and disposition of the chemicals removed by the reverse osmosis filtration would shed light here.
If they don't have trip tickets for trucks going somewhere then nothing was removed and all that poison went offshore maybe with a little lime added for plausable deniability.
Red tide my big red butt. All the reefs I've been on look like they have been chemically poisoned.
If the spongers that walk the bottom for the last 50 years have never seen anything like this then this is not a naturally occuring event.
Red tide is just the scapecoat.
We are owed an appology by the EPA. Many of us suffer economic losses as well.

Here's a cut and paste from a press release by the company that treated the water. What do You think?

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Florida Fertilizer Plant Uses Mobile Water Treatment to Avoid Contamination of Tampa Bay



Challenge
In May 2002, USFilter signed a two-year service contract to support Florida Department of Environmental Protection's remediation initiative for the Piney Point Fertilizer plant.

Piney Point is the site of an inactive fertilizer facility, which following bankruptcy filing by the parent company in 2001, was taken over by the State of Florida to oversee closure. Heavy rainfall and tropical storms in 2001 demanded immediate response to potential breach of the site's pond dikes and hundreds of millions of gallons of acidic wastewater. The threat of releasing these wastewaters into Tampa Bay prompted the need for remedial service.

Solution
USFilter provided a number of solution options for removing the wastewater off-site by truck hauling, barging and use of the existing lime treatment and aeration systems. The customer chose to utilize the on-site solution provided, which utilizes a Mobile Water Treatment. The wastewater being treated contains high TDS and low pH, which posed significant scaling potential.

USFilter provided a solution which utilizes high rate clarification followed by filtration, reverse osmosis and demineralization. USFilter treats up to 1 mgd of brackish, acid pond water. The contract is performance based, with guarantees on discharge water quality following the treatment process.

Result
USFilter provided a rapid response, on-site treatment solution. This unique treatment solution features a patented clarification process which has not previously been used as the treatment standard for this type of wastewater. USFilter was able to help this customer reduce the volume of wastewater at the site and ultimately, assist in successfully bringing the facility to closure.






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[BwanaR]

Originally Posted by Screen Name

Rich, that may be true. I am just wondering why these guys have not taken up this cause.

If you'll notice, these organizations like Sierra and PETA don't really ever do anything constructive themselves. They just put out propaganda to support their views and raise money and get in the way of others who are at least doing something that they disagree with. Ultra liberals....and they don't believe in sustainable use of our resourses if it means something is gonna die and get eaten.