1 00:00:08,960 --> 00:00:13,320 Speaker 1: This is me eat your podcast coming at you shirtless, severely, 2 00:00:13,480 --> 00:00:17,680 Speaker 1: bug bitten, and in my case, underwear listening. Don't eat podcast. 3 00:00:18,280 --> 00:00:23,520 Speaker 1: You can't predict anything presented by first light. Go farther, 4 00:00:23,840 --> 00:00:36,760 Speaker 1: stay longer. Oh all right, um A very special guest, 5 00:00:36,840 --> 00:00:41,440 Speaker 1: Kelly Rawlston. Hello. My first question for you, it's like 6 00:00:41,479 --> 00:00:43,720 Speaker 1: a It's like a structural question. Do you think I 7 00:00:43,720 --> 00:00:49,760 Speaker 1: should ask you first to explain the A s A 8 00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:55,040 Speaker 1: or should I ask you first to explain the Everglades? Well? 9 00:00:55,080 --> 00:00:57,040 Speaker 1: A s A would be a lot easier, So maybe 10 00:00:57,080 --> 00:01:01,240 Speaker 1: we'll go with that one. Okay. So within that keep 11 00:01:01,720 --> 00:01:07,800 Speaker 1: Florida fishing like roll that into it. Okay. So I 12 00:01:07,840 --> 00:01:10,880 Speaker 1: am work for the American Sport Fishing Association. Where are 13 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:14,560 Speaker 1: a trade association for the sport fishing industry, and so 14 00:01:14,720 --> 00:01:22,039 Speaker 1: our members range from UM tackle retailers, tackle manufacturers, UM clothing, 15 00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:27,280 Speaker 1: eye wear, boat manufacturers, pretty much anything associated with sport 16 00:01:27,319 --> 00:01:30,920 Speaker 1: fishing industry. Retailers UM are are our members um A. 17 00:01:31,120 --> 00:01:34,319 Speaker 1: S A also puts on eye Cast, which is the 18 00:01:34,319 --> 00:01:38,319 Speaker 1: world's largest sport fishing trade show every July here in Orlando. 19 00:01:38,480 --> 00:01:40,440 Speaker 1: So would welcome you all back to Florida if you 20 00:01:40,440 --> 00:01:44,200 Speaker 1: want to make another trip coming up this summer. UM. 21 00:01:44,240 --> 00:01:48,160 Speaker 1: Because of the importance of Florida to the sport fishing industry. 22 00:01:48,240 --> 00:01:50,360 Speaker 1: It's the most fishing estate right it is as the 23 00:01:50,400 --> 00:01:53,680 Speaker 1: fishing capital of the world, and so UM, you know, 24 00:01:53,720 --> 00:01:56,320 Speaker 1: we have our industry has a huge investment in this state, 25 00:01:57,240 --> 00:01:59,840 Speaker 1: and we wanted to make sure that we ensured that 26 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:04,840 Speaker 1: for the industry moving forward. And so UM we started 27 00:02:04,840 --> 00:02:07,800 Speaker 1: the Key Florida Fishing Initiative. I guess about two and 28 00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:09,680 Speaker 1: a half years ago. It's about how long I've been 29 00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:13,160 Speaker 1: with a s A to really focus on Florida specific issues. 30 00:02:13,320 --> 00:02:18,000 Speaker 1: So our motto is um a bennet fisheries, clean water 31 00:02:18,200 --> 00:02:21,600 Speaker 1: and access to both for Florida anglers, UM and our industry. 32 00:02:22,120 --> 00:02:24,720 Speaker 1: How many states get a how many states get to 33 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:28,560 Speaker 1: keep X fishing? Well, you know, as special as Florida is, 34 00:02:28,880 --> 00:02:30,639 Speaker 1: we are the only one at this point. We also 35 00:02:30,680 --> 00:02:34,440 Speaker 1: have to keep America Fishing Advocacy program that Florida was 36 00:02:34,520 --> 00:02:38,440 Speaker 1: so sort of important and so complex. Yeah, you guys 37 00:02:38,440 --> 00:02:41,120 Speaker 1: had a set up shop in Florida. Yeah, it's UM. 38 00:02:41,160 --> 00:02:44,080 Speaker 1: It's a nine point six billion dollar industry in the state, 39 00:02:45,080 --> 00:02:48,080 Speaker 1: thousand jobs and that's just within the state. So A 40 00:02:48,080 --> 00:02:51,440 Speaker 1: lot of our industry. UM. Their sales are really important here, 41 00:02:51,440 --> 00:02:54,160 Speaker 1: but manufacturing takes place across the country. So from a 42 00:02:54,240 --> 00:03:00,240 Speaker 1: nationwide perspective for the sport fishing industry, Florida is extremely important. UM, 43 00:03:00,280 --> 00:03:03,560 Speaker 1: you're gonna hate this. Who are the like, who are 44 00:03:03,600 --> 00:03:07,360 Speaker 1: your enemies? Yeah, that's a that's like you're not gonna 45 00:03:07,360 --> 00:03:09,560 Speaker 1: want You're gonna reframe the question. But you know what 46 00:03:09,560 --> 00:03:12,120 Speaker 1: I'm saying, Like, so you have you have a like 47 00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:15,080 Speaker 1: and I'm not talking about on the Florida sens but 48 00:03:15,120 --> 00:03:17,400 Speaker 1: on the national scale, not your enemies. But what do 49 00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:20,399 Speaker 1: you when you look at if if the association looks 50 00:03:20,440 --> 00:03:24,240 Speaker 1: and says, okay, we want to like promote the industry, 51 00:03:24,440 --> 00:03:29,040 Speaker 1: promote fishing, where do you wind up having friction? Like, 52 00:03:29,080 --> 00:03:31,079 Speaker 1: where does the friction occur? Because because I think that 53 00:03:31,200 --> 00:03:35,280 Speaker 1: on the surface, everyone's gonna be like, yeah, of course, yeah, 54 00:03:35,320 --> 00:03:37,720 Speaker 1: of course I like fishing. UM. I would say it 55 00:03:37,720 --> 00:03:43,520 Speaker 1: really depends on the issue. UM. Different issues you're in 56 00:03:44,520 --> 00:03:47,240 Speaker 1: agreement with different folks on. UM. A lot of the 57 00:03:47,320 --> 00:03:51,000 Speaker 1: federal fisheries management issues, which is where we have been 58 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:56,680 Speaker 1: focused primarily at the national level, tend to UM involve 59 00:03:56,800 --> 00:04:01,160 Speaker 1: environmental groups and commercial fishing, because it's all about dividing 60 00:04:01,240 --> 00:04:03,520 Speaker 1: up kind of the allocation that that you're given for 61 00:04:03,560 --> 00:04:06,080 Speaker 1: a particular fishery, particularly red snapper you may have heard 62 00:04:06,120 --> 00:04:10,640 Speaker 1: of UM, so that one's probably more controversial. But there 63 00:04:10,640 --> 00:04:14,400 Speaker 1: are other instances, uh California salmon, where we are actually 64 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:18,280 Speaker 1: working closely with environmental groups to ensure UM that there's 65 00:04:18,400 --> 00:04:21,520 Speaker 1: enough available water for salmon in the state. And that's 66 00:04:21,560 --> 00:04:25,720 Speaker 1: more of like a farmer versus fish type set up 67 00:04:26,360 --> 00:04:28,640 Speaker 1: because waters in such sorts of short supply out there. 68 00:04:28,839 --> 00:04:32,120 Speaker 1: So when all of the just I'm just talking like 69 00:04:32,200 --> 00:04:36,400 Speaker 1: high level general one is a fisheries issue and all 70 00:04:36,480 --> 00:04:40,160 Speaker 1: of the stakeholders, that's the term you get here all 71 00:04:40,200 --> 00:04:43,000 Speaker 1: the time, all of the stakeholders come to the table. 72 00:04:44,960 --> 00:04:50,000 Speaker 1: Recreational fishing is one of those, and oftentimes you will 73 00:04:50,040 --> 00:04:53,680 Speaker 1: find that also seated at the table would be commercial 74 00:04:53,920 --> 00:05:00,440 Speaker 1: fishing industry in the environmental movement. Yeah, and I think 75 00:05:00,440 --> 00:05:04,440 Speaker 1: a lot of that goes back to how federal fisheries 76 00:05:04,480 --> 00:05:07,040 Speaker 1: management was established in this country with the Magnus and 77 00:05:07,080 --> 00:05:10,159 Speaker 1: Stevens Act, and that was originally intended well, first, it 78 00:05:10,160 --> 00:05:13,479 Speaker 1: was originally intended to deal with international fishing in UM 79 00:05:13,760 --> 00:05:17,719 Speaker 1: United States waters. But after that it morphed into addressing 80 00:05:17,960 --> 00:05:21,000 Speaker 1: over fishing in the commercial industry, and so that's where 81 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:23,279 Speaker 1: a lot of the regulations that we have right now 82 00:05:23,800 --> 00:05:27,240 Speaker 1: UM are. They're they're focused on commercial fishing, which if 83 00:05:27,279 --> 00:05:31,080 Speaker 1: you think about it, it's really an entirely different activity 84 00:05:31,200 --> 00:05:33,640 Speaker 1: then recreational fishing. I mean, yes, you want to go 85 00:05:33,680 --> 00:05:35,839 Speaker 1: out and encounter a fish, which is what a commercial 86 00:05:35,880 --> 00:05:38,200 Speaker 1: person wants to do, but they need to encounter a 87 00:05:38,200 --> 00:05:40,520 Speaker 1: lot of them in a short period of time, and 88 00:05:40,520 --> 00:05:43,719 Speaker 1: they're trying to harvest everyone that they see. From a 89 00:05:43,760 --> 00:05:48,960 Speaker 1: recreational perspective, you know, it's more about relationships with people 90 00:05:48,960 --> 00:05:50,800 Speaker 1: that you're going out on the water with. It's more 91 00:05:50,839 --> 00:05:55,360 Speaker 1: about the experience of being out there and fishing. And so, yes, 92 00:05:55,400 --> 00:05:59,360 Speaker 1: there is some harvest involved UM for some species more 93 00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:03,040 Speaker 1: than others UM, but it's it's an entirely different approach. 94 00:06:03,160 --> 00:06:06,200 Speaker 1: And so the big issue for us at the federal 95 00:06:06,279 --> 00:06:10,839 Speaker 1: level has been trying to kind of modernize the way 96 00:06:11,120 --> 00:06:16,840 Speaker 1: UM recreational fishing is managed because the commercial paradigm does 97 00:06:16,880 --> 00:06:21,360 Speaker 1: not work well for saltwater recreational fishing. So fresh water 98 00:06:21,440 --> 00:06:23,360 Speaker 1: is a whole different story that one is typically very 99 00:06:23,360 --> 00:06:26,440 Speaker 1: well done, but the magazine stevens act Um because there's 100 00:06:26,480 --> 00:06:30,320 Speaker 1: not a huge commercial fishing footprint, and there's some you know, 101 00:06:30,360 --> 00:06:33,599 Speaker 1: obviously in some minor mountain the Great Lakes and some 102 00:06:33,640 --> 00:06:36,760 Speaker 1: of the Mississippi drainage, but really not like when I 103 00:06:36,760 --> 00:06:39,720 Speaker 1: think about that sort of that the two paradigms or 104 00:06:39,760 --> 00:06:44,880 Speaker 1: the two like the recreational commercial relationship, be like when 105 00:06:44,920 --> 00:06:47,840 Speaker 1: we're out fishing in our skiffs in southeast Alaska, right 106 00:06:47,880 --> 00:06:49,880 Speaker 1: and you're out fishing out of sport fishing license and 107 00:06:49,880 --> 00:06:52,719 Speaker 1: you're allowed whatever, you know, like a couple of salmon 108 00:06:52,800 --> 00:06:56,279 Speaker 1: or sometimes one sam or particular species, but you're honestly 109 00:06:56,320 --> 00:07:02,600 Speaker 1: fishing where you could converse right with per sayers, who 110 00:07:02,680 --> 00:07:07,479 Speaker 1: are you know, using a hydraulic winch to haula like 111 00:07:07,480 --> 00:07:11,800 Speaker 1: I feel very inadequate here. You compare like one of 112 00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:14,960 Speaker 1: their halls with your lifetime of bag limits and realize 113 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:17,640 Speaker 1: that like if you if you got your limit every 114 00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:20,920 Speaker 1: day all season for your lifetime, you wouldn't achieve one 115 00:07:21,240 --> 00:07:24,520 Speaker 1: basketfull of fish. And you know, and I'm not trying, like, 116 00:07:24,720 --> 00:07:27,240 Speaker 1: I'm not trying to criticize what I'm saying, it winds 117 00:07:27,320 --> 00:07:30,040 Speaker 1: up being like it's like this funny juxtaposition to be 118 00:07:30,120 --> 00:07:33,480 Speaker 1: like sitting in a boat comparing the two, you know, 119 00:07:34,120 --> 00:07:37,400 Speaker 1: the footprints of each well. And I think that's that's true, 120 00:07:37,840 --> 00:07:40,480 Speaker 1: especially in certain fisheries where there is a very large 121 00:07:40,480 --> 00:07:43,480 Speaker 1: commercial element. In Alaska's a prime example of that. We 122 00:07:43,520 --> 00:07:46,000 Speaker 1: have a lot of mixed use fisheries, particularly down here 123 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:47,880 Speaker 1: in the southeast, and then we have some that are 124 00:07:47,920 --> 00:07:52,280 Speaker 1: almost exclusively recreational. So it does skew both ways. UM. 125 00:07:52,320 --> 00:07:54,280 Speaker 1: But to kind of bring it back around to UM, 126 00:07:54,320 --> 00:07:59,080 Speaker 1: you know who's at the table, I think the commercial industry. UM, 127 00:07:59,160 --> 00:08:02,240 Speaker 1: it's very comfortable with the Magnusine Steven's Act where it is, 128 00:08:02,280 --> 00:08:04,440 Speaker 1: and rightfully so, it's done a really good job of 129 00:08:04,480 --> 00:08:07,760 Speaker 1: bringing back, UM a lot of fisheries that were in trouble, 130 00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:09,760 Speaker 1: and we're in a good place as far as our 131 00:08:09,840 --> 00:08:14,520 Speaker 1: fish stocks in most cases nationwide. UM. The issue comes 132 00:08:14,680 --> 00:08:16,840 Speaker 1: when you look at kind of the poster child of 133 00:08:16,920 --> 00:08:19,360 Speaker 1: federal fisheries management, which is Red Snopper, which is a 134 00:08:19,400 --> 00:08:22,800 Speaker 1: mixed fishery. It's almost fifty fifty split in the allocation 135 00:08:22,920 --> 00:08:28,320 Speaker 1: between commercial and recreational. So there's so in that case, 136 00:08:28,360 --> 00:08:32,880 Speaker 1: there's a significant impact from from recreational fishing um. But 137 00:08:32,960 --> 00:08:36,320 Speaker 1: you look at it in the recreational private recreational anglers 138 00:08:36,360 --> 00:08:40,120 Speaker 1: had initially a three day season federal season last year. 139 00:08:40,320 --> 00:08:42,360 Speaker 1: Now there's other factors that go into why that was 140 00:08:42,400 --> 00:08:44,960 Speaker 1: a three day season, like Joe blow or the fishing 141 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:47,360 Speaker 1: license had a three day season if he wants to 142 00:08:47,400 --> 00:08:49,440 Speaker 1: go out fishing in federal waters, which is where the 143 00:08:49,520 --> 00:08:52,080 Speaker 1: larger snapper are. So what has happened is the states 144 00:08:52,080 --> 00:08:54,120 Speaker 1: have tried to compensate for some of that because they 145 00:08:54,160 --> 00:08:58,000 Speaker 1: have jurisdiction over their waters. So they've opened longer, progressively 146 00:08:58,040 --> 00:09:00,560 Speaker 1: longer and longer state seasons to compense state for the 147 00:09:00,679 --> 00:09:03,800 Speaker 1: increasingly shorter and shorter federal seasons. And we're actually we've 148 00:09:03,800 --> 00:09:06,719 Speaker 1: actually been a victim of our own success because as 149 00:09:06,760 --> 00:09:11,040 Speaker 1: red snapper have continue to rebound an increase in size 150 00:09:11,200 --> 00:09:14,319 Speaker 1: and in number, we meet the quota faster because we're 151 00:09:14,320 --> 00:09:15,959 Speaker 1: able to just go out and pick them out of 152 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:19,439 Speaker 1: the water. Um. And so trying to look at ways 153 00:09:19,480 --> 00:09:21,480 Speaker 1: to balance that is one thing. But anyway, so back 154 00:09:21,480 --> 00:09:25,040 Speaker 1: to the issue, So that's what designates the state control 155 00:09:25,040 --> 00:09:28,880 Speaker 1: of water versus federal waters. So um, it's nine miles 156 00:09:28,880 --> 00:09:33,280 Speaker 1: out is state waters Gulf wide now um, and then 157 00:09:33,320 --> 00:09:36,320 Speaker 1: beyond that is the easy out to two miles which 158 00:09:36,320 --> 00:09:39,320 Speaker 1: is federal jurisdiction. So how does that work as like 159 00:09:39,400 --> 00:09:42,320 Speaker 1: leaving Florida's side? Just so people can understand, if you 160 00:09:42,360 --> 00:09:45,520 Speaker 1: just imagine it's sort of like the the Atlantic and 161 00:09:45,559 --> 00:09:51,280 Speaker 1: Pacific coasts, what is like just generally there, at what 162 00:09:51,320 --> 00:09:55,280 Speaker 1: point does state regulated water turn into federal regulated water? Um? 163 00:09:55,320 --> 00:09:57,280 Speaker 1: On the I know, I'm not sure about Pacific. I 164 00:09:57,280 --> 00:09:59,520 Speaker 1: would assume it's similar to the Atlantic, which is three 165 00:09:59,559 --> 00:10:02,200 Speaker 1: miles out. Once you take your boat three miles out, 166 00:10:02,200 --> 00:10:06,439 Speaker 1: you're in federal honors. Yep. So but anyway, back to 167 00:10:06,800 --> 00:10:08,360 Speaker 1: back to magazine. So it's been a really great job 168 00:10:08,400 --> 00:10:11,560 Speaker 1: on the commercial side addressing their issues. They're very comfortable 169 00:10:11,600 --> 00:10:13,880 Speaker 1: with it. From a recreational side, we have some challenges 170 00:10:13,880 --> 00:10:16,319 Speaker 1: and I think there needs to be some additional flexibility 171 00:10:16,400 --> 00:10:18,960 Speaker 1: in management there. And so that's been one of the 172 00:10:18,960 --> 00:10:21,679 Speaker 1: big issues that we have been UM. We have brought 173 00:10:21,720 --> 00:10:25,120 Speaker 1: to the table um and and Congress appears to be 174 00:10:25,559 --> 00:10:29,679 Speaker 1: interested and poised to take action. UM. So fingers crossed, 175 00:10:29,800 --> 00:10:32,480 Speaker 1: so we can see some significant changes. There's some other 176 00:10:32,520 --> 00:10:34,640 Speaker 1: things that they're working on in the Gulf UM that 177 00:10:34,679 --> 00:10:38,880 Speaker 1: no offisheries. UM is working on with the Gulf States 178 00:10:38,920 --> 00:10:42,240 Speaker 1: to actually look at state management, turning over management of 179 00:10:42,280 --> 00:10:45,040 Speaker 1: that nine the two miles over to the States and 180 00:10:45,080 --> 00:10:47,719 Speaker 1: seeing what they can do with it. They've they've just 181 00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:51,400 Speaker 1: um submitted each of the states has submitted exempted fishing 182 00:10:51,440 --> 00:10:54,880 Speaker 1: permits UM. And this goes beyond it's like red snapper, 183 00:10:54,920 --> 00:10:57,240 Speaker 1: which is so this this is exclusively for red snapper 184 00:10:57,400 --> 00:11:00,199 Speaker 1: kind of as a test trend UM and and see 185 00:11:00,200 --> 00:11:03,480 Speaker 1: how how they do with that UM because I think 186 00:11:03,920 --> 00:11:06,800 Speaker 1: I think the States, especially from a recreational perspective, have 187 00:11:07,280 --> 00:11:10,240 Speaker 1: a much closer relationship with anglers and there's a lot 188 00:11:10,240 --> 00:11:12,880 Speaker 1: more trust there UM. And they've actually done a really 189 00:11:12,880 --> 00:11:16,240 Speaker 1: great job managing their inshore fisheries. So UM, this will 190 00:11:16,320 --> 00:11:19,040 Speaker 1: kind of be a test run. And there's some amendments 191 00:11:19,080 --> 00:11:21,400 Speaker 1: going through count the Council, the Gulf Council to see 192 00:11:21,559 --> 00:11:23,800 Speaker 1: if there's there are ways to do it permanently. So 193 00:11:24,200 --> 00:11:26,440 Speaker 1: what are some other um And I want to I 194 00:11:26,440 --> 00:11:27,880 Speaker 1: do want to get back to what we're supposed to 195 00:11:27,960 --> 00:11:30,760 Speaker 1: talking about. But if you look, okay, so in the Gulf, 196 00:11:31,440 --> 00:11:34,920 Speaker 1: like if you follow sort of the news around fisheries, 197 00:11:35,080 --> 00:11:37,040 Speaker 1: you do hear a lot about sort of the context, 198 00:11:37,200 --> 00:11:41,199 Speaker 1: like a limited resource that has a lot of people 199 00:11:41,720 --> 00:11:43,520 Speaker 1: wanting to make sure they're getting their fair share of 200 00:11:43,520 --> 00:11:47,360 Speaker 1: it would be red or red snapper in the Gulf. 201 00:11:47,360 --> 00:11:54,840 Speaker 1: In the Pacific Northwest, people there's constant conflict around salmon resources. Okay, 202 00:11:54,920 --> 00:12:00,600 Speaker 1: so tribal, commercial, recreational, like who make sure everybody jockeying 203 00:12:00,640 --> 00:12:03,480 Speaker 1: to get what they feels rightfully, there's what are other 204 00:12:04,160 --> 00:12:06,920 Speaker 1: besides those two sort of corners of the country. What 205 00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:10,000 Speaker 1: are other species that kind of like generate that same 206 00:12:10,040 --> 00:12:13,480 Speaker 1: those same kind of tensions. I quite honestly can't think 207 00:12:13,480 --> 00:12:15,880 Speaker 1: if any. We've had some issues in the South Atlantic 208 00:12:15,960 --> 00:12:21,440 Speaker 1: with Kobea recently mainly due to UM trying to come 209 00:12:21,520 --> 00:12:25,480 Speaker 1: up with better estimates of recreational harvest UM because a 210 00:12:25,480 --> 00:12:29,840 Speaker 1: lot of the commercial fisheries have UM reporting requirements in place, 211 00:12:30,080 --> 00:12:33,400 Speaker 1: and recreational fishermen are a little bit more challenging to 212 00:12:33,480 --> 00:12:35,960 Speaker 1: kind of pin down how much they're bringing in, like 213 00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:39,600 Speaker 1: how much there actually catching, yeah, UM. And so actually, 214 00:12:39,640 --> 00:12:43,480 Speaker 1: the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council is considering an amendment 215 00:12:43,480 --> 00:12:45,480 Speaker 1: that would similar to what we're talking about in the Gulf, 216 00:12:45,480 --> 00:12:49,120 Speaker 1: that would turnover management of kobia to the Atlantic States 217 00:12:49,160 --> 00:12:51,760 Speaker 1: Marine Fisheries Commission, which is from Florida all the way 218 00:12:51,800 --> 00:12:55,400 Speaker 1: up the coast. UM. And that's primarily because Kobea are 219 00:12:56,240 --> 00:13:00,440 Speaker 1: a state water species almost exclusively. So mean they're not 220 00:13:00,520 --> 00:13:06,600 Speaker 1: out far, not typically typically Okay, So that's the American 221 00:13:06,640 --> 00:13:13,079 Speaker 1: Sport Fishing Association built into that is key Florida fishing. UM. 222 00:13:13,240 --> 00:13:17,560 Speaker 1: Now you can't talk about Florida fishing without talking about 223 00:13:17,559 --> 00:13:21,079 Speaker 1: the Evergades, right. It's well, you know, it's funny when 224 00:13:21,080 --> 00:13:23,200 Speaker 1: I when I started this position, I thought I'll be 225 00:13:23,240 --> 00:13:27,280 Speaker 1: doing fisheries issues and UM. And then we had the 226 00:13:27,320 --> 00:13:33,400 Speaker 1: big rain event UM in January of s and I 227 00:13:33,480 --> 00:13:36,000 Speaker 1: was like, right, we still haven't fixed the Everglades danging 228 00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:40,120 Speaker 1: it um because it was a huge, huge deal. Um. 229 00:13:40,240 --> 00:13:44,360 Speaker 1: We had you know, guacamole six inch thick blue green 230 00:13:44,400 --> 00:13:48,640 Speaker 1: algae in um in our coastal estuaries as a result 231 00:13:48,679 --> 00:13:52,800 Speaker 1: of discharges from like cocachobee UM. That affected tourism, It 232 00:13:52,880 --> 00:13:57,319 Speaker 1: affected habitat, it affected fisheries not only in the estuaries, 233 00:13:57,360 --> 00:13:59,920 Speaker 1: but also um in Florida Bay down in the Keys. 234 00:14:00,040 --> 00:14:03,560 Speaker 1: So it is a south it's really a central in 235 00:14:03,600 --> 00:14:05,679 Speaker 1: South Florida issue when you want to get down to it, 236 00:14:05,800 --> 00:14:09,400 Speaker 1: and that's so important to our industry here in the state. 237 00:14:09,520 --> 00:14:11,360 Speaker 1: So explain the rain event and then we'll back up 238 00:14:11,360 --> 00:14:14,320 Speaker 1: on top of just like everybodies in general. Yeah, but 239 00:14:14,320 --> 00:14:16,520 Speaker 1: but I'm aware of this, remember like it made national news, 240 00:14:16,880 --> 00:14:22,120 Speaker 1: international news, international news. So a ton of rainfalls in 241 00:14:22,400 --> 00:14:25,200 Speaker 1: the off season and the typically dry season. So we've 242 00:14:25,240 --> 00:14:30,320 Speaker 1: had issues with discharges from like Cochobi going back to 243 00:14:31,240 --> 00:14:35,440 Speaker 1: the eighties and the seventies. Um, but it really came 244 00:14:35,480 --> 00:14:39,160 Speaker 1: to a head that year because it was in January, 245 00:14:39,200 --> 00:14:42,200 Speaker 1: which is typically a really dry month down here, and 246 00:14:42,280 --> 00:14:44,800 Speaker 1: so all of the tourists that were down here, the 247 00:14:44,800 --> 00:14:48,920 Speaker 1: snowbirds that were down here, um, saw what happened, and 248 00:14:48,960 --> 00:14:52,200 Speaker 1: so it started out as freshwater discharges. I realized, I 249 00:14:52,200 --> 00:14:54,560 Speaker 1: gotta interrupted because I feel like people are not gonna 250 00:14:54,600 --> 00:14:56,080 Speaker 1: understand what we're talking about. So there's a wet season 251 00:14:56,120 --> 00:14:57,720 Speaker 1: in a dry season. Now I want to go back here, 252 00:14:58,360 --> 00:15:00,400 Speaker 1: let me do let me do another thing for and 253 00:15:00,720 --> 00:15:03,320 Speaker 1: you check me where I'm wrong on this. So everybody 254 00:15:03,320 --> 00:15:08,200 Speaker 1: can picture the Florida Peninsula. There's a like kind of 255 00:15:08,240 --> 00:15:10,680 Speaker 1: in the middle up and down there's a big, huge 256 00:15:10,760 --> 00:15:13,720 Speaker 1: lake which everybody's heard the word. Most everybody's heard of 257 00:15:13,760 --> 00:15:17,720 Speaker 1: Lake Okeechobee, big huge lake. There are rivers that flow 258 00:15:18,800 --> 00:15:21,520 Speaker 1: There are a number of primary rivers right that flow 259 00:15:21,680 --> 00:15:28,160 Speaker 1: southward into Lake okeechobe Historically, when that lake would fill up, 260 00:15:29,640 --> 00:15:35,600 Speaker 1: it would flow southward from there, and that everything southward 261 00:15:35,640 --> 00:15:38,720 Speaker 1: from there. Where that overfill, where all that overspill would 262 00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:42,200 Speaker 1: historically go, is what we call the evergrades. Right. Yeah, 263 00:15:42,240 --> 00:15:44,520 Speaker 1: it actually really starts at Mickey Mouse if you really 264 00:15:44,520 --> 00:15:47,480 Speaker 1: want to get technical, So Orlando, Um, there's a chain 265 00:15:47,480 --> 00:15:49,920 Speaker 1: of lakes and the Kissimi River and all of that. 266 00:15:50,160 --> 00:15:52,000 Speaker 1: It used to be a big floodplain, but now it's 267 00:15:52,000 --> 00:15:55,840 Speaker 1: been very channelized, so the water comes in pretty quickly. 268 00:15:55,920 --> 00:15:59,920 Speaker 1: They're almost finished with restoring the Kissimi River because initially 269 00:16:00,120 --> 00:16:02,720 Speaker 1: the Army Corps of Engineers, who is kind of the 270 00:16:03,080 --> 00:16:06,480 Speaker 1: construction lead on all of this from start to finish, 271 00:16:06,840 --> 00:16:08,320 Speaker 1: I thought would be a good idea to straighten it 272 00:16:08,360 --> 00:16:10,200 Speaker 1: out because that would be a lot easier to get 273 00:16:10,240 --> 00:16:12,960 Speaker 1: to and from right Um, But then we found out 274 00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:16,080 Speaker 1: that the water was just coming in way too quickly, 275 00:16:16,480 --> 00:16:20,160 Speaker 1: um and causing even greater problems. So historically it would 276 00:16:20,240 --> 00:16:22,520 Speaker 1: kind of meander down this flow way of the Cassimi 277 00:16:22,680 --> 00:16:26,360 Speaker 1: River into shallow but huge like Cochobe. It's over seven 278 00:16:26,360 --> 00:16:29,480 Speaker 1: d square miles but about nine ft average depths, so 279 00:16:29,520 --> 00:16:32,320 Speaker 1: it's pretty shallow. Um. And you think of it kind 280 00:16:32,320 --> 00:16:34,720 Speaker 1: of like a really shallow bowl. When it would when 281 00:16:34,720 --> 00:16:37,200 Speaker 1: it would get filled up, the southern end of it 282 00:16:37,560 --> 00:16:40,400 Speaker 1: would just overflow and it would be this huge sheet 283 00:16:40,440 --> 00:16:45,040 Speaker 1: of water about six inches deep that would flow primarily south, 284 00:16:45,120 --> 00:16:48,000 Speaker 1: but really it hooks kind of tour It hooked historically 285 00:16:48,080 --> 00:16:52,520 Speaker 1: towards the gulf side. And then there was ye, yeah, 286 00:16:52,560 --> 00:16:55,040 Speaker 1: it was um. I want to say it was four 287 00:16:55,520 --> 00:16:58,960 Speaker 1: thousand square miles originally and right now we have about 288 00:16:59,080 --> 00:17:01,320 Speaker 1: half of that little bit less than half of that 289 00:17:01,320 --> 00:17:05,199 Speaker 1: that's remaining. UM. So there's been this huge development obviously 290 00:17:05,240 --> 00:17:10,040 Speaker 1: along the southeast coast of Florida, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Stuart, Florida. 291 00:17:10,119 --> 00:17:13,800 Speaker 1: All of that has was historic Everglades as well, but 292 00:17:13,840 --> 00:17:17,359 Speaker 1: it was on a higher ridge. Um. And then we've 293 00:17:17,359 --> 00:17:21,399 Speaker 1: had agriculture south of the lake on the fertile muck 294 00:17:21,600 --> 00:17:24,560 Speaker 1: grounds that are down there, um as a result of 295 00:17:24,560 --> 00:17:26,440 Speaker 1: the flooding. But yeah, it would take almost a year 296 00:17:26,560 --> 00:17:29,399 Speaker 1: from the for the water to get from Lake Okochobe 297 00:17:29,520 --> 00:17:34,760 Speaker 1: to Florida Bay. It was that slow movie wants that. 298 00:17:35,080 --> 00:17:38,880 Speaker 1: Sorry I did not do it. I am not a hydrologist, 299 00:17:38,960 --> 00:17:40,840 Speaker 1: but that that's what I've been told. That would take 300 00:17:40,840 --> 00:17:44,920 Speaker 1: a year. So just like its way through, it's so 301 00:17:45,080 --> 00:17:49,119 Speaker 1: ultimate ultimate filter really um. And so then that freshwater 302 00:17:49,240 --> 00:17:51,560 Speaker 1: would go into Florida Bay, which is so important for 303 00:17:51,600 --> 00:17:56,600 Speaker 1: our marine nurseries UM and fisheries. You have everything from 304 00:17:56,960 --> 00:17:59,800 Speaker 1: lobster to tarpan down there, um. And that used the 305 00:18:00,080 --> 00:18:03,480 Speaker 1: shore areas of Florida Bay as as nurseries UM. So 306 00:18:03,560 --> 00:18:06,359 Speaker 1: it's a huge breeding ground um and really really important 307 00:18:06,359 --> 00:18:09,560 Speaker 1: for our fisheries. So that okay, So that's how the 308 00:18:09,600 --> 00:18:14,200 Speaker 1: system once functioned. I rose, I'm throwing you off. Some'm 309 00:18:14,280 --> 00:18:17,520 Speaker 1: changing how I want to do all, okay, because because 310 00:18:17,520 --> 00:18:19,439 Speaker 1: I feel like but but I want I want to 311 00:18:19,480 --> 00:18:21,720 Speaker 1: get to like what happens now when you get a 312 00:18:21,720 --> 00:18:23,960 Speaker 1: ton of rain, which is becoming more important because we 313 00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:26,480 Speaker 1: just had like a couple of crazy hurricanes too. So 314 00:18:28,440 --> 00:18:32,680 Speaker 1: what was the big huge flood in the twenties, right, 315 00:18:32,800 --> 00:18:34,960 Speaker 1: and it killed a bunch of people. Yeah, so well 316 00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:37,240 Speaker 1: so what happened there, so maybe step back a little 317 00:18:37,280 --> 00:18:41,960 Speaker 1: bit before that. So the development happened because of agriculture 318 00:18:42,080 --> 00:18:45,399 Speaker 1: and because of population. Right, people wanted to move to 319 00:18:45,920 --> 00:18:49,360 Speaker 1: South Florida. Henry Flagnol and his rail road huge component 320 00:18:49,400 --> 00:18:52,679 Speaker 1: of that. Let's bring them all south, drain out um, 321 00:18:52,720 --> 00:18:55,240 Speaker 1: you know, the swamp, and and have a great place 322 00:18:55,280 --> 00:18:58,760 Speaker 1: for people to come and visit and recreate. Um. And 323 00:18:58,920 --> 00:19:02,840 Speaker 1: so south of the lake was this fertile muck ground. 324 00:19:02,880 --> 00:19:05,119 Speaker 1: I think even the Seminole Indians when they were kind 325 00:19:05,119 --> 00:19:08,400 Speaker 1: of pushed into the Everglades, realized how fertile the land 326 00:19:08,440 --> 00:19:10,640 Speaker 1: was there and used it for farming land that would 327 00:19:10,640 --> 00:19:16,280 Speaker 1: periodically flood. Yes, yes, um. And so originally um, the 328 00:19:16,359 --> 00:19:19,199 Speaker 1: two rivers that now connect to Lake Okeechobe that go 329 00:19:19,240 --> 00:19:21,159 Speaker 1: to the east and the west, the Kloosa Hatchie's on 330 00:19:21,200 --> 00:19:23,680 Speaker 1: the west and the St. Lucy's on the east, were 331 00:19:23,720 --> 00:19:27,520 Speaker 1: not originally connected to Lake Cochechobee. And so that's how 332 00:19:27,560 --> 00:19:30,760 Speaker 1: you ended up with that straight southern will relatively straight. 333 00:19:30,920 --> 00:19:32,679 Speaker 1: That's what I was. That's why I wasn't clear on 334 00:19:32,840 --> 00:19:35,760 Speaker 1: as I look at it and read about it, I wasn't. 335 00:19:36,119 --> 00:19:38,320 Speaker 1: I was always wondering, like, how could one lake head 336 00:19:38,440 --> 00:19:40,760 Speaker 1: rivers that flowed in three directions? But it didn't know. 337 00:19:41,160 --> 00:19:44,000 Speaker 1: It just went south. So those rivers were this their 338 00:19:44,040 --> 00:19:48,120 Speaker 1: own minor they were their own minor drainages, not connected 339 00:19:48,119 --> 00:19:53,240 Speaker 1: to this primary flow exactly. And so um. So back 340 00:19:53,280 --> 00:19:55,800 Speaker 1: to the agriculture south of the lake. So people started 341 00:19:55,800 --> 00:19:58,320 Speaker 1: farming there and they built a really kind of small 342 00:19:58,359 --> 00:20:01,119 Speaker 1: earthen berm around the south side at the lake. And 343 00:20:01,800 --> 00:20:05,160 Speaker 1: huge hurricane, Um, they think it was, you know, Category 344 00:20:05,240 --> 00:20:09,600 Speaker 1: five hit and blew out that dyke and thousands of 345 00:20:09,640 --> 00:20:13,359 Speaker 1: people died south of the lake because they had built 346 00:20:13,440 --> 00:20:16,280 Speaker 1: that bern So they had founding a fertile they had 347 00:20:16,280 --> 00:20:21,480 Speaker 1: founded a fertile floodplain which was prone to periodic flooding. 348 00:20:22,720 --> 00:20:25,760 Speaker 1: Set up shop, they're moved in built communities. They're like, 349 00:20:25,880 --> 00:20:28,720 Speaker 1: let's protect it from any kind of to keep it dry. 350 00:20:28,800 --> 00:20:32,080 Speaker 1: We'll put this dyke up. And then all of a sudden, 351 00:20:32,080 --> 00:20:35,280 Speaker 1: when the dyke failed, the burn failed, So the core 352 00:20:35,359 --> 00:20:38,359 Speaker 1: stepped in and it killed thousands of thousands. Um. The 353 00:20:38,440 --> 00:20:41,360 Speaker 1: core stepped in and and built the Herbert Hoover dyke, 354 00:20:42,119 --> 00:20:45,800 Speaker 1: and it's still there today. Um, it's undergoing a rehabilitation. 355 00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:49,520 Speaker 1: In fact, there's still concerns about the stability of that dyke. 356 00:20:49,600 --> 00:20:53,320 Speaker 1: And that's why when we had Hurricane Irma this last fall, 357 00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:57,880 Speaker 1: UM Governor Scott ordered an evacuation of those communities south 358 00:20:57,920 --> 00:20:59,920 Speaker 1: of the lake for fear because we weren't sure exact 359 00:21:00,080 --> 00:21:01,840 Speaker 1: where it was going to go. UM, you know in 360 00:21:01,880 --> 00:21:03,439 Speaker 1: the projections where all that it was going to go 361 00:21:03,480 --> 00:21:06,560 Speaker 1: straight up the middle of the cause it to fail. 362 00:21:06,720 --> 00:21:11,080 Speaker 1: So it's a dyke, which is like a a big 363 00:21:11,080 --> 00:21:13,680 Speaker 1: trench full of water or like a big canal and 364 00:21:13,720 --> 00:21:16,040 Speaker 1: there like a big hill of water. Yeah, it's more 365 00:21:16,080 --> 00:21:19,439 Speaker 1: like a big, huge, tall hill um that they've built. 366 00:21:19,520 --> 00:21:22,119 Speaker 1: And so they're going around um and to rehability and 367 00:21:22,480 --> 00:21:24,800 Speaker 1: so it's not it's not canal long there. It's just 368 00:21:24,840 --> 00:21:27,200 Speaker 1: like it's just a big it's an earthen burn you 369 00:21:27,280 --> 00:21:29,160 Speaker 1: see on the Mississippi River, like an earth and damn, 370 00:21:29,240 --> 00:21:33,640 Speaker 1: I got you, okay, just made out of piled up Yeah. 371 00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:35,680 Speaker 1: So when they say failed, just that it would have 372 00:21:35,760 --> 00:21:39,280 Speaker 1: rolled away waters. What you saw in Houston, UM with 373 00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:41,240 Speaker 1: I can't remember the name of it out there, but 374 00:21:41,320 --> 00:21:43,560 Speaker 1: there was one that you could just watch that failed. 375 00:21:43,880 --> 00:21:47,200 Speaker 1: UM as the waters rose. It was just too much pressure. 376 00:21:47,680 --> 00:21:50,200 Speaker 1: So the core starts to get concerned when water levels 377 00:21:50,200 --> 00:21:52,640 Speaker 1: in the lake go above fifteen feet, because that's kind 378 00:21:52,640 --> 00:21:56,400 Speaker 1: of their key cut off for Okay, if it goes 379 00:21:56,440 --> 00:21:58,680 Speaker 1: above this, we need to start watching out for the 380 00:21:58,760 --> 00:22:02,119 Speaker 1: dyke and and how stable it is and and is 381 00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:04,720 Speaker 1: it are we seeing any signs of failure there? So? 382 00:22:04,840 --> 00:22:09,200 Speaker 1: Is that was that Herbert Hoover dyke? Was that sort 383 00:22:09,200 --> 00:22:12,800 Speaker 1: of like the first major kind of strike against the 384 00:22:12,840 --> 00:22:18,200 Speaker 1: Everglades was interrupting the southerly flow of water that in 385 00:22:18,280 --> 00:22:21,520 Speaker 1: tammy Amy Trail. I would say, we're the major um 386 00:22:21,680 --> 00:22:24,679 Speaker 1: major factors to begin with. And then the connection of 387 00:22:24,840 --> 00:22:27,440 Speaker 1: the St. Lucy River and the Clissa Hatchie River, which 388 00:22:27,440 --> 00:22:31,879 Speaker 1: are the east west flowing rooms. Okay, so so we 389 00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:36,600 Speaker 1: have this lake that would traditionally flow south as this 390 00:22:36,800 --> 00:22:40,040 Speaker 1: massive sheet shallow sticks and sheet of water, and you 391 00:22:40,200 --> 00:22:43,359 Speaker 1: block that flow. And so someone comes up to the idea, 392 00:22:44,760 --> 00:22:49,920 Speaker 1: probably over generations, I imagine, let's dig in and send 393 00:22:49,920 --> 00:22:53,480 Speaker 1: that water east and west. Different river system. It's doing 394 00:22:53,560 --> 00:22:55,840 Speaker 1: exactly what it was designed to do. I mean that 395 00:22:56,800 --> 00:23:00,919 Speaker 1: the way the system was altered, UM was intentionally to 396 00:23:01,080 --> 00:23:04,280 Speaker 1: not send water south, and it was intentionally to send 397 00:23:04,320 --> 00:23:07,280 Speaker 1: it out the two rivers to the east and the west. 398 00:23:07,920 --> 00:23:10,959 Speaker 1: UM that was the whole rationale. And at the time 399 00:23:11,160 --> 00:23:14,520 Speaker 1: when the decision was made, I I wonder if people 400 00:23:14,560 --> 00:23:19,119 Speaker 1: even back then I would say, but hey, what about 401 00:23:19,160 --> 00:23:22,600 Speaker 1: the Everglades. It was we had as a nation, we 402 00:23:22,640 --> 00:23:25,320 Speaker 1: hadn't really gotten around to the idea of grappling with 403 00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:29,200 Speaker 1: like finiteness. I think I think the perception, um, there's 404 00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:31,040 Speaker 1: a really great book on this subject by the way, 405 00:23:31,200 --> 00:23:33,879 Speaker 1: um called the Swamp Um that kind of gives a 406 00:23:34,480 --> 00:23:37,960 Speaker 1: fabulous history of the Everglades. I think the mentality was more, 407 00:23:38,240 --> 00:23:41,960 Speaker 1: you know, land ho let's go develop. And I don't 408 00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:44,879 Speaker 1: think there was a lot of thought too, um, you 409 00:23:44,920 --> 00:23:47,760 Speaker 1: know what what long term impact there might be from 410 00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:51,160 Speaker 1: all of this um And it was more about public safety, 411 00:23:51,240 --> 00:23:56,359 Speaker 1: water supply, agriculture, trying to develop, you know, the swamp 412 00:23:56,440 --> 00:23:58,840 Speaker 1: of Florida, and they hadn't really thought about anything like 413 00:23:58,920 --> 00:24:02,040 Speaker 1: living within the eco system as part of safety. I 414 00:24:02,080 --> 00:24:04,560 Speaker 1: don't think so. I think if the perception was we're 415 00:24:04,600 --> 00:24:07,040 Speaker 1: we're just gonna make it how we want it and 416 00:24:07,359 --> 00:24:12,920 Speaker 1: it'll be fine. So what were once you once that 417 00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:16,720 Speaker 1: flow was stopped, can you like kind of like quickly 418 00:24:16,840 --> 00:24:21,560 Speaker 1: encapsulate sort of like what we began to lose. So 419 00:24:22,080 --> 00:24:25,680 Speaker 1: in the sort of ecosystem that that water was coming through. Yeah, 420 00:24:25,800 --> 00:24:31,560 Speaker 1: so areas that were historically wet um got too dry 421 00:24:31,880 --> 00:24:34,760 Speaker 1: or they would be too wet for too long at 422 00:24:34,800 --> 00:24:39,720 Speaker 1: too high level. So you start seeing m vegetation changes, 423 00:24:39,880 --> 00:24:45,120 Speaker 1: you start seeing um exotics um in the system. You 424 00:24:45,200 --> 00:24:49,480 Speaker 1: start seeing pretty much an entire disruption of an ecosystem. 425 00:24:49,520 --> 00:24:52,600 Speaker 1: I mean you still you still see alligators, you still 426 00:24:52,640 --> 00:24:58,720 Speaker 1: see baths, you still see deer and tree islands, UM, 427 00:24:58,760 --> 00:25:04,720 Speaker 1: but they're becoming fewer and fewer and more impacted. UM. 428 00:25:04,760 --> 00:25:07,560 Speaker 1: You know. It's really I think on a if it's 429 00:25:07,600 --> 00:25:11,680 Speaker 1: an average day, I think things are probably not too 430 00:25:12,280 --> 00:25:16,000 Speaker 1: um too impacted within the system, at least to to 431 00:25:16,400 --> 00:25:19,080 Speaker 1: you know, the average person's eyes. When you have these 432 00:25:20,280 --> 00:25:25,080 Speaker 1: unusual events, high water events, that you start to really 433 00:25:25,160 --> 00:25:28,160 Speaker 1: see the stresses in the system and that it goes 434 00:25:28,280 --> 00:25:32,520 Speaker 1: beyond the Everglades UM, out to the coast and down 435 00:25:32,520 --> 00:25:37,199 Speaker 1: to the keys o case of now, the real the 436 00:25:37,280 --> 00:25:40,680 Speaker 1: real rainy event of what was the two thousand sixteen Yeah, 437 00:25:40,680 --> 00:25:44,440 Speaker 1: so that was like the unusual super rain Yeah. So 438 00:25:44,640 --> 00:25:48,320 Speaker 1: and then we had the hurricanes of is really interesting 439 00:25:48,359 --> 00:25:52,639 Speaker 1: because we had the rainfall event in January which the 440 00:25:52,720 --> 00:25:55,320 Speaker 1: Lake rose um I want to say it was close 441 00:25:55,400 --> 00:25:59,040 Speaker 1: to seventeen feet. So water is being discharged to the 442 00:25:59,080 --> 00:26:02,600 Speaker 1: east in the west at maximum volume as quickly as 443 00:26:02,640 --> 00:26:05,840 Speaker 1: possible to try and bring the lake levels down because 444 00:26:06,280 --> 00:26:09,600 Speaker 1: any rain event could can raise the lake level almost 445 00:26:09,640 --> 00:26:11,600 Speaker 1: three feet. So that's why the core, particularly in the 446 00:26:11,600 --> 00:26:14,000 Speaker 1: wet season, likes to have it lower so that they 447 00:26:14,040 --> 00:26:16,679 Speaker 1: have some play in there in case we have a 448 00:26:16,720 --> 00:26:19,200 Speaker 1: hurricane or we have a tropical system that sits there 449 00:26:19,240 --> 00:26:21,600 Speaker 1: for a little while so they can manage that flow. 450 00:26:21,640 --> 00:26:23,639 Speaker 1: So in December that year, you could have been standing 451 00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:26,720 Speaker 1: on dry ground. UM. At the end of January you 452 00:26:26,760 --> 00:26:29,400 Speaker 1: could have been you could have been in seventeen feet 453 00:26:29,440 --> 00:26:32,479 Speaker 1: of water. Yeah, there's a huge fluctuation in the natural 454 00:26:32,520 --> 00:26:35,399 Speaker 1: system there. And and what happened because it was in 455 00:26:35,440 --> 00:26:39,760 Speaker 1: an off time, we had these habitat impacts um, oyster 456 00:26:39,880 --> 00:26:43,800 Speaker 1: die offs, seagrass die offs, um. So there's freshwater inflows 457 00:26:43,840 --> 00:26:46,840 Speaker 1: to the estuaries that aren't normal. So you basically have 458 00:26:46,920 --> 00:26:51,080 Speaker 1: salinities dropping to zero um on the coast because they're 459 00:26:51,119 --> 00:26:53,840 Speaker 1: sending so much water east and west out of those rivers. 460 00:26:53,880 --> 00:26:57,520 Speaker 1: And you also have just the turbidity, so the waters cloudy, UM. 461 00:26:57,560 --> 00:26:59,760 Speaker 1: You may have seen. There's some great photos out there 462 00:26:59,800 --> 00:27:01,600 Speaker 1: if google them where you can kind of see this 463 00:27:01,760 --> 00:27:05,720 Speaker 1: dark cloud of water coming out of the rivers into 464 00:27:05,760 --> 00:27:09,520 Speaker 1: the estuaries and and that shades the sea grass, that 465 00:27:09,680 --> 00:27:12,760 Speaker 1: shades you know, all of the um the sea life 466 00:27:12,800 --> 00:27:16,760 Speaker 1: that's out there and really can impact fishing. And that's 467 00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:19,879 Speaker 1: what does the shading. Yeah, well so so well, so 468 00:27:19,960 --> 00:27:22,639 Speaker 1: then there's the second part. So so there's the impact 469 00:27:22,640 --> 00:27:25,359 Speaker 1: from the freshwater. But like you have these species that 470 00:27:25,400 --> 00:27:27,639 Speaker 1: are relying on they're sensitive to how much salt in 471 00:27:27,640 --> 00:27:30,560 Speaker 1: the water. Yes, absolutely, it can't be too much, can't 472 00:27:30,560 --> 00:27:33,800 Speaker 1: be too little. L Like you like oysters being something 473 00:27:33,800 --> 00:27:36,600 Speaker 1: that was like a brackish water species and they can 474 00:27:36,640 --> 00:27:39,399 Speaker 1: take low salinity for a certain number of days, but 475 00:27:39,560 --> 00:27:43,840 Speaker 1: once you get past that thresholds then they just can't survive. 476 00:27:43,920 --> 00:27:46,240 Speaker 1: So you're pumping out so much fresh water that you're 477 00:27:46,240 --> 00:27:50,879 Speaker 1: turning a saltwater body basically into a somewhat fresh water 478 00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:53,600 Speaker 1: or freshwater body by just inundating it with so much 479 00:27:53,800 --> 00:27:58,320 Speaker 1: exactly river water. And then the muddiness prevent sunlight from 480 00:27:58,359 --> 00:28:03,080 Speaker 1: penetrating through, and so that has that and the salinity 481 00:28:03,119 --> 00:28:08,480 Speaker 1: impact seagrasses and those estuaries and killed some. And so 482 00:28:08,560 --> 00:28:12,760 Speaker 1: because of when that when the rainfall fell, we also 483 00:28:12,880 --> 00:28:15,720 Speaker 1: had the algal bloom happened in the summer once the 484 00:28:15,720 --> 00:28:19,280 Speaker 1: temperatures warmed up, and there's some and that bloom happened 485 00:28:19,320 --> 00:28:22,280 Speaker 1: in the lake in Lake Oa, happened out in the marine, 486 00:28:22,280 --> 00:28:24,600 Speaker 1: and so it was both. There was an algal bloom 487 00:28:24,600 --> 00:28:28,680 Speaker 1: in Lake Cokachub wasn't which isn't terribly uncommon. Um, but 488 00:28:28,920 --> 00:28:32,399 Speaker 1: the blue green algal bloom in the estuary and the 489 00:28:32,600 --> 00:28:39,680 Speaker 1: extremeness of it was um unusual. Um, real quick? Do 490 00:28:39,720 --> 00:28:45,800 Speaker 1: you accept algil and algal? You do? I don't have 491 00:28:45,800 --> 00:28:51,680 Speaker 1: a problem with that. Yeah, there's certain words fungi, fun guy, tomatoes, tomato, 492 00:28:52,640 --> 00:28:56,440 Speaker 1: So yeah, I know what you're going for. Well, no, 493 00:28:57,000 --> 00:28:59,120 Speaker 1: I dig I'm digg an algal. But I grew up 494 00:28:59,120 --> 00:29:01,360 Speaker 1: saying algil, and I'm to think if I should switch. 495 00:29:02,880 --> 00:29:04,400 Speaker 1: So I don't need to switch right now. I don't 496 00:29:04,400 --> 00:29:06,640 Speaker 1: think so. I think you're good where you are. So 497 00:29:06,840 --> 00:29:08,720 Speaker 1: you explain the bloom, because I don't think this is 498 00:29:08,760 --> 00:29:12,280 Speaker 1: widely understood how something like this happens or why it happens. 499 00:29:12,320 --> 00:29:15,480 Speaker 1: So the most recent information that I've seen on it 500 00:29:15,600 --> 00:29:21,840 Speaker 1: was that the freshwater coming into the estuaries UM stressed 501 00:29:21,920 --> 00:29:27,200 Speaker 1: the system that caused the algal bloom there. There's been 502 00:29:27,280 --> 00:29:30,360 Speaker 1: some controversy about whether the algae came from the lake 503 00:29:31,000 --> 00:29:33,760 Speaker 1: and ended up in the estuary and that's what caused 504 00:29:33,800 --> 00:29:36,320 Speaker 1: the bloom, and it may or may not be that. 505 00:29:36,400 --> 00:29:40,200 Speaker 1: There's UM there's been discussion about whether what word septic 506 00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:43,480 Speaker 1: tanks play in the in the situation there too, because 507 00:29:43,520 --> 00:29:45,880 Speaker 1: then you would have within based on runoff basically in 508 00:29:45,920 --> 00:29:50,400 Speaker 1: the st lucy contributing to those algal blooms. UM. But 509 00:29:50,440 --> 00:29:53,240 Speaker 1: the most recent information that I've seen, UM, and so 510 00:29:53,360 --> 00:29:56,080 Speaker 1: this is subject to change, is that the freshwater stressed 511 00:29:56,240 --> 00:30:02,600 Speaker 1: the estuary system, causing the all any present algae there 512 00:30:02,720 --> 00:30:07,640 Speaker 1: or nutrients there to support an algoa bloom. There is 513 00:30:07,680 --> 00:30:10,480 Speaker 1: there uh nong a stack. Two more questions, can you 514 00:30:10,480 --> 00:30:15,080 Speaker 1: explaining people too estuaries? And and also is there sort 515 00:30:15,120 --> 00:30:17,120 Speaker 1: of a like when you look at the bloom right 516 00:30:17,120 --> 00:30:18,840 Speaker 1: and you'd be like it could have started in the lake, 517 00:30:18,880 --> 00:30:22,280 Speaker 1: It could have been influenced by uh septic systems that 518 00:30:22,320 --> 00:30:26,280 Speaker 1: were flooded out. Is there are there implications of who 519 00:30:26,320 --> 00:30:31,600 Speaker 1: owns the problem. Well, there's definitely controversy about that, and 520 00:30:32,120 --> 00:30:36,320 Speaker 1: you know, from from an A s A perspective, we 521 00:30:36,520 --> 00:30:40,120 Speaker 1: approach that's American Sport Fishing Association perspective. We we approach 522 00:30:40,200 --> 00:30:44,000 Speaker 1: Everglades restoration. UM from the philosophy that we want to 523 00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:46,120 Speaker 1: get this done as quickly as possible, and so we 524 00:30:46,160 --> 00:30:49,360 Speaker 1: need to look at everything. Um I said. The research 525 00:30:49,440 --> 00:30:53,760 Speaker 1: that's pointing to septic being a problem, um it makes sense. 526 00:30:53,800 --> 00:30:56,160 Speaker 1: I mean, we we see that in North Florida where 527 00:30:56,200 --> 00:30:59,920 Speaker 1: I'm from, with our springs and septic systems, that the 528 00:31:00,080 --> 00:31:03,760 Speaker 1: higher levels of nutrients lead to alba blooms in the springs, 529 00:31:03,800 --> 00:31:06,520 Speaker 1: and so from that perspective it makes sense. But I 530 00:31:06,600 --> 00:31:10,120 Speaker 1: also recognized that discharges coming out of Lake a Chub 531 00:31:10,400 --> 00:31:14,200 Speaker 1: are significant contributing factor, and so we need to look 532 00:31:14,200 --> 00:31:18,640 Speaker 1: at all of it. Um. I remember when the lake 533 00:31:18,720 --> 00:31:21,640 Speaker 1: I grew up on. You know those companies that like 534 00:31:21,680 --> 00:31:26,080 Speaker 1: True Green or companies that come and do when yeah, yeah, 535 00:31:26,200 --> 00:31:29,120 Speaker 1: when I was a little kid, if you looked around 536 00:31:29,120 --> 00:31:30,480 Speaker 1: our lake, it was all it looked like just summer 537 00:31:30,480 --> 00:31:33,200 Speaker 1: cottages and people had houses that were set back up 538 00:31:33,200 --> 00:31:34,800 Speaker 1: in the trees away from the lake and no one 539 00:31:34,840 --> 00:31:37,720 Speaker 1: and there weren't yards, which just you know, it's like 540 00:31:37,920 --> 00:31:40,040 Speaker 1: kind of like a lot of white pine and oak, 541 00:31:40,840 --> 00:31:44,920 Speaker 1: and people just had what looked like forest litter generally. 542 00:31:45,600 --> 00:31:47,680 Speaker 1: And over time it became more of a bedroom community 543 00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:51,760 Speaker 1: and people started they take down the cabin and build 544 00:31:51,760 --> 00:31:54,760 Speaker 1: a much bigger house much close to the water, and 545 00:31:54,800 --> 00:31:58,160 Speaker 1: put in lawns, and then lawn care services caught on 546 00:31:58,920 --> 00:32:03,120 Speaker 1: and in a microcosm level, what that did to the 547 00:32:03,560 --> 00:32:08,920 Speaker 1: to the lake catastrophic is unbelievable. All that fertilizer well 548 00:32:08,960 --> 00:32:11,440 Speaker 1: they had, and so it even goes beyond septic tanks. 549 00:32:11,440 --> 00:32:15,640 Speaker 1: I know in um Tallahassee they actually traced y'all may 550 00:32:15,640 --> 00:32:19,320 Speaker 1: have heard of Wahla Springs. It's like an iconic international spring. 551 00:32:19,360 --> 00:32:22,160 Speaker 1: It's where they film Creature from the Black Lagoon. Wait no, 552 00:32:23,200 --> 00:32:27,760 Speaker 1: Um Edward ball Um with St. Joe Um. It's kind 553 00:32:27,760 --> 00:32:30,000 Speaker 1: of the big benefactor of that. But anyway, Um, they've 554 00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:34,920 Speaker 1: actually traced nutrients from the city of Tallahassee sewer sprayfield 555 00:32:35,600 --> 00:32:38,520 Speaker 1: into what color springs, And so the city went back 556 00:32:38,560 --> 00:32:41,640 Speaker 1: and reworked um how they were actually dealing with their 557 00:32:41,680 --> 00:32:44,840 Speaker 1: sewage much less septic tanks. Um that it would travel 558 00:32:44,880 --> 00:32:48,400 Speaker 1: that far. Um. I think a lot of it has 559 00:32:48,440 --> 00:32:50,400 Speaker 1: to do with the kind of the Florida geography. It's 560 00:32:50,400 --> 00:32:54,680 Speaker 1: all very poorous limestone based, and so I know, it's 561 00:32:54,720 --> 00:32:58,520 Speaker 1: kind of amazing, like the sort of the flatness that 562 00:32:58,640 --> 00:33:01,720 Speaker 1: you can just decide to send water, that you'd even 563 00:33:01,760 --> 00:33:04,480 Speaker 1: have the option right to be like, well this lake 564 00:33:04,600 --> 00:33:08,960 Speaker 1: drains south, we could move it to the southwest or east. Well, 565 00:33:08,960 --> 00:33:10,960 Speaker 1: that's why it took a year, right, I think it's 566 00:33:11,000 --> 00:33:12,760 Speaker 1: I want to say, it's like a six inch difference 567 00:33:12,800 --> 00:33:15,840 Speaker 1: in elevation. I mean that's why, because you're you're basically 568 00:33:15,880 --> 00:33:18,960 Speaker 1: almost moving horizontal, but just with a very very slight Yeah, 569 00:33:18,960 --> 00:33:22,160 Speaker 1: it's like a whole state made out of marine limestone, right, 570 00:33:22,400 --> 00:33:26,480 Speaker 1: just old seashells exactly. Um, I wanted you too. We're 571 00:33:26,480 --> 00:33:28,560 Speaker 1: gonna get back on track. Tell people what an estu 572 00:33:28,640 --> 00:33:30,320 Speaker 1: area is, because I think a lot of people live 573 00:33:30,360 --> 00:33:31,560 Speaker 1: in a lot of people live in the middle of 574 00:33:31,560 --> 00:33:34,120 Speaker 1: the country. Like, it's just not a yeah. So it's 575 00:33:34,240 --> 00:33:37,560 Speaker 1: it's basically where a river empties into a saltwater body, 576 00:33:37,640 --> 00:33:39,920 Speaker 1: and so you end up with this mixing of fresh 577 00:33:39,960 --> 00:33:43,760 Speaker 1: and saltwater, so you have brackish areas. Um, the one 578 00:33:43,800 --> 00:33:47,000 Speaker 1: that that the St. Lucy enters into is the Indian 579 00:33:47,080 --> 00:33:50,720 Speaker 1: River Lagoon because there's kind of some outer barrier islands 580 00:33:50,760 --> 00:33:55,000 Speaker 1: there that kind of provide this really protected um environment 581 00:33:55,120 --> 00:33:59,920 Speaker 1: and UM much like Florida Bay Um, the brackish environ 582 00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:04,280 Speaker 1: men is a really important nursery area for marine life species. Oh, 583 00:34:04,320 --> 00:34:06,760 Speaker 1: it's kind of amazing, like as far as and then 584 00:34:06,800 --> 00:34:10,000 Speaker 1: like bird life, I mean estuaries. It's such a unique 585 00:34:10,200 --> 00:34:12,480 Speaker 1: that one of it makes this unique ecosystem. My god, 586 00:34:12,520 --> 00:34:14,960 Speaker 1: it's like this melding of it's like this melding of 587 00:34:15,040 --> 00:34:18,840 Speaker 1: the land and the sea and salt and fresh and 588 00:34:18,880 --> 00:34:22,200 Speaker 1: it seems like as far as like biomass of creatures 589 00:34:22,440 --> 00:34:25,040 Speaker 1: well in North Florida. Mean it's where you have alligators 590 00:34:25,040 --> 00:34:28,880 Speaker 1: and oysters all in the same area and sharks and 591 00:34:28,920 --> 00:34:33,440 Speaker 1: I mean it's just it's it's a fascinating place. Now 592 00:34:33,440 --> 00:34:39,640 Speaker 1: I lost track of our main things though, Yes, and 593 00:34:39,800 --> 00:34:43,239 Speaker 1: a s A so from from the Sport Fishing Association perspective, 594 00:34:43,680 --> 00:34:45,759 Speaker 1: you guys aren't super interested and being like, well it's 595 00:34:45,920 --> 00:34:48,120 Speaker 1: their fault, it was their fault. Yeah, we don't want 596 00:34:48,120 --> 00:34:51,160 Speaker 1: to point the finger. We just want to find the solution. UM. 597 00:34:51,280 --> 00:34:55,360 Speaker 1: And you know, I guess sometimes that does involve finger pointing, um, 598 00:34:55,400 --> 00:34:58,920 Speaker 1: but really trying to work together and bring people together, 599 00:34:59,600 --> 00:35:02,400 Speaker 1: um to kind up with solutions is kind of our focus. 600 00:35:02,800 --> 00:35:04,759 Speaker 1: Do you ever look at the whole thing and think like, 601 00:35:04,920 --> 00:35:09,040 Speaker 1: oh my god, how could it be that, like we 602 00:35:09,080 --> 00:35:12,759 Speaker 1: want to make sure there's a good resource of fish, right, 603 00:35:13,600 --> 00:35:16,920 Speaker 1: that it would wind up being that as you you know, 604 00:35:16,960 --> 00:35:19,399 Speaker 1: you always here, like as you enter that, you wind 605 00:35:19,480 --> 00:35:23,120 Speaker 1: up in like a rabbit hole. Right, there's a lot 606 00:35:23,160 --> 00:35:25,239 Speaker 1: of rabbit hole. Yeah, no, no, I'm just talking. We 607 00:35:25,600 --> 00:35:27,279 Speaker 1: want a whole bunch of fish arounds. What's that going 608 00:35:27,320 --> 00:35:29,120 Speaker 1: to entail? And you're like, well, let me look into it, 609 00:35:29,120 --> 00:35:31,040 Speaker 1: and you wind up realizing that that it winds up 610 00:35:31,120 --> 00:35:33,200 Speaker 1: having a lot to do with sort of like engineering 611 00:35:33,400 --> 00:35:38,200 Speaker 1: and giant earthen works in American history, and so much 612 00:35:38,239 --> 00:35:40,240 Speaker 1: of it in Florida has to do with water quality 613 00:35:40,280 --> 00:35:43,800 Speaker 1: and population growth. I mean, it's not just a marine 614 00:35:43,880 --> 00:35:46,600 Speaker 1: fisheries issues. We talked talked a little bit about springs. 615 00:35:46,640 --> 00:35:49,880 Speaker 1: We've got a huge network of lakes that are i 616 00:35:49,880 --> 00:35:54,360 Speaker 1: mean Lake Cokachobee is internationally renowned bass fishing destination and 617 00:35:54,400 --> 00:35:58,280 Speaker 1: the whole multiple tournaments there every year up in North Florida, 618 00:35:58,400 --> 00:36:00,719 Speaker 1: Central Florida. I mean, it's just I think because of 619 00:36:00,800 --> 00:36:03,840 Speaker 1: kind of the Swiss Cheese nature of the under lyings 620 00:36:03,920 --> 00:36:08,200 Speaker 1: of the state. UM, there's a huge amount of resources 621 00:36:08,320 --> 00:36:11,279 Speaker 1: and UM that are impacted by water quality. And and 622 00:36:11,320 --> 00:36:14,840 Speaker 1: that that I mean are coral reefs are being dramatically 623 00:36:14,880 --> 00:36:17,920 Speaker 1: impacted by water coral quality. I just got it earful 624 00:36:17,960 --> 00:36:24,040 Speaker 1: from some deer hunters. Is that Everglades related? Or earful 625 00:36:24,040 --> 00:36:28,680 Speaker 1: from deer hunters all about who's moving what water where where? 626 00:36:29,800 --> 00:36:32,600 Speaker 1: Because because it was too high for too long and 627 00:36:32,880 --> 00:36:36,200 Speaker 1: moving deer and they're drowning deer here and and drying 628 00:36:36,200 --> 00:36:39,160 Speaker 1: out deer there. And I was kind of asking these 629 00:36:39,160 --> 00:36:44,160 Speaker 1: guys sort of like, well, historically, right, if you could 630 00:36:44,160 --> 00:36:46,160 Speaker 1: go back, like what did the deer picture look like? 631 00:36:46,760 --> 00:36:49,960 Speaker 1: It's it's been like the Everglades situation. The water has 632 00:36:50,000 --> 00:36:53,040 Speaker 1: been so confused for so long it's hard to remember 633 00:36:53,080 --> 00:36:55,520 Speaker 1: what it doesn't see. There's not like a sort of 634 00:36:58,080 --> 00:37:01,359 Speaker 1: like the baseline isn't well know. Yeah, I would say 635 00:37:01,400 --> 00:37:04,200 Speaker 1: probably the forties were when, because that was kind of 636 00:37:04,200 --> 00:37:07,480 Speaker 1: when they did the Central and South Florida Project, which 637 00:37:07,520 --> 00:37:10,480 Speaker 1: was UM where the Core came in and installed all 638 00:37:10,480 --> 00:37:13,399 Speaker 1: of the dikes and canals and water control structures and 639 00:37:13,520 --> 00:37:16,239 Speaker 1: all the water conservation areas, and all of that was 640 00:37:16,320 --> 00:37:19,600 Speaker 1: done after the dike. Um So you had tammy Amy 641 00:37:19,640 --> 00:37:23,680 Speaker 1: trail than the Dike, than the C and SF project. 642 00:37:24,480 --> 00:37:26,200 Speaker 1: Um So I think if you went back there you 643 00:37:26,239 --> 00:37:30,839 Speaker 1: could probably find relatively good information. But there's there's there's 644 00:37:30,880 --> 00:37:33,239 Speaker 1: not a lot of those folks around still. Yeah. So 645 00:37:33,360 --> 00:37:36,840 Speaker 1: someone like being born today and just becoming interested in 646 00:37:36,880 --> 00:37:39,480 Speaker 1: the out of doors and like interested in hunting and fishing. 647 00:37:40,200 --> 00:37:43,360 Speaker 1: Um it almost becomes like here, it almost probably becomes 648 00:37:43,360 --> 00:37:45,680 Speaker 1: like someone of an irrelevant question of like what did 649 00:37:45,680 --> 00:37:47,560 Speaker 1: it used to look like? Because it's just not much 650 00:37:47,560 --> 00:37:49,600 Speaker 1: of a chance. Yeah. I think it's more what can 651 00:37:49,640 --> 00:37:52,160 Speaker 1: we do to get it back? Um? So that we 652 00:37:52,239 --> 00:37:57,480 Speaker 1: don't have this kind of cyclical up and down um 653 00:37:57,680 --> 00:38:02,440 Speaker 1: series of stressful events on the system. So what Okay, 654 00:38:02,680 --> 00:38:05,320 Speaker 1: imagine for a minute that there's no that there's unlimited 655 00:38:05,320 --> 00:38:14,200 Speaker 1: budgets and absolute public will. All right, Yes, what needs 656 00:38:14,239 --> 00:38:20,719 Speaker 1: to happen money needs to happen is no issue. Just 657 00:38:20,760 --> 00:38:23,839 Speaker 1: as an exercise, let's as an exercise to start out, 658 00:38:23,920 --> 00:38:25,759 Speaker 1: let's say that what do we need to do to 659 00:38:25,840 --> 00:38:30,120 Speaker 1: reston is every person in Florida is like, my number 660 00:38:30,120 --> 00:38:33,719 Speaker 1: one priority is fixing the system. Yeah, so we need 661 00:38:33,719 --> 00:38:38,400 Speaker 1: to UM. We need to have storage, extensive water storage 662 00:38:38,400 --> 00:38:41,279 Speaker 1: around the lake. UM around the lake, but not in 663 00:38:41,320 --> 00:38:44,080 Speaker 1: the lake well, because the lake is storage. So we 664 00:38:44,120 --> 00:38:46,560 Speaker 1: need to be able to take the water that comes 665 00:38:46,680 --> 00:38:50,160 Speaker 1: in and move it around and clean it and then 666 00:38:50,200 --> 00:38:52,680 Speaker 1: direct it where it needs to go. Ideally, you wouldn't 667 00:38:52,719 --> 00:38:55,640 Speaker 1: have any water needing to be discharged out the St. 668 00:38:55,719 --> 00:38:58,799 Speaker 1: Lucy River on the east coast. You would want to 669 00:38:58,840 --> 00:39:02,080 Speaker 1: maintain some connect to the Clusa Hatchee because sometimes they 670 00:39:02,080 --> 00:39:05,080 Speaker 1: do have drought situations where they actually need water put in. 671 00:39:05,640 --> 00:39:09,280 Speaker 1: And we have UM two projects that are working reservoirs 672 00:39:09,320 --> 00:39:12,719 Speaker 1: that are working on those parts of the system. They're 673 00:39:12,760 --> 00:39:15,440 Speaker 1: planning storage on the northern side of the lake and 674 00:39:15,520 --> 00:39:18,440 Speaker 1: also water quality treatment so that we can take all 675 00:39:18,440 --> 00:39:20,640 Speaker 1: of that water that's coming in from the Kissimi River 676 00:39:20,760 --> 00:39:23,440 Speaker 1: and hold back some of it UM and clean it 677 00:39:23,480 --> 00:39:25,040 Speaker 1: before it gets to the lake that would be a 678 00:39:25,160 --> 00:39:29,120 Speaker 1: lake like yes, and and so some of that's to 679 00:39:29,200 --> 00:39:31,000 Speaker 1: make up for the fact that the water is not 680 00:39:31,080 --> 00:39:33,960 Speaker 1: coming in as slowly as it used to. Write UM, 681 00:39:34,000 --> 00:39:36,480 Speaker 1: we have more runoff basically than we used to because 682 00:39:36,520 --> 00:39:40,040 Speaker 1: it's because of development UM and modifications that we've made 683 00:39:40,080 --> 00:39:42,160 Speaker 1: to the system every time. And then to the south, 684 00:39:42,560 --> 00:39:46,279 Speaker 1: UM they're working on planning a southern reservoir and and 685 00:39:46,560 --> 00:39:50,000 Speaker 1: UM and treatment water quality treatment is really important. But 686 00:39:50,120 --> 00:39:54,000 Speaker 1: this would these things would look like water treatment facilities 687 00:39:54,080 --> 00:39:56,680 Speaker 1: or to the untrained ie, you would think there's a 688 00:39:57,400 --> 00:39:59,640 Speaker 1: big shadow lake. Yeah, I think you would know that 689 00:39:59,680 --> 00:40:03,319 Speaker 1: it's a reservoir just because it would have more of 690 00:40:03,360 --> 00:40:05,880 Speaker 1: a regular shape. But the ones that are in place 691 00:40:06,000 --> 00:40:08,480 Speaker 1: right now, there's stormwater treatment areas which are a little 692 00:40:08,520 --> 00:40:11,080 Speaker 1: bit different than a reservoir. They're operated at a little 693 00:40:11,080 --> 00:40:15,160 Speaker 1: bit shallower level. But the recreational access is allowed to 694 00:40:15,200 --> 00:40:17,880 Speaker 1: all of those. UM and I know UM with the 695 00:40:17,920 --> 00:40:20,879 Speaker 1: Southern Reservoir project that's in the planning phases right now. 696 00:40:21,480 --> 00:40:23,919 Speaker 1: UM they're looking at allowing fishing and hunting in those 697 00:40:23,920 --> 00:40:26,400 Speaker 1: types of activities on the lake, which is great. So 698 00:40:26,440 --> 00:40:28,680 Speaker 1: then once you get below that, we need to take 699 00:40:28,719 --> 00:40:31,359 Speaker 1: out all of the dike and canal systems that we've 700 00:40:31,360 --> 00:40:35,520 Speaker 1: put in. We well know the dike is going to 701 00:40:35,600 --> 00:40:37,960 Speaker 1: have to stay because people live there. So unless you 702 00:40:37,960 --> 00:40:40,279 Speaker 1: want to move those people out, the dike has to stay. 703 00:40:40,400 --> 00:40:43,120 Speaker 1: UM and so that's kind of where the reservoirs come 704 00:40:43,160 --> 00:40:45,759 Speaker 1: in because you can discharge from the lake into the 705 00:40:45,800 --> 00:40:48,640 Speaker 1: reservoirs instead of having to have that sheet flow in 706 00:40:49,440 --> 00:40:53,279 Speaker 1: agricultural areas south of the lake. So we remove the 707 00:40:53,360 --> 00:40:55,839 Speaker 1: kind of what we would term barriers to flow the 708 00:40:55,880 --> 00:40:59,920 Speaker 1: canals and the structures, we maintain protection. For the south 709 00:41:00,000 --> 00:41:04,160 Speaker 1: east coast of Florida where it's developed. UM, we bridged 710 00:41:04,239 --> 00:41:07,000 Speaker 1: Tammy Emmy Trail, which when it was constructed was a 711 00:41:07,000 --> 00:41:08,759 Speaker 1: great idea because it allows you to get from the 712 00:41:08,800 --> 00:41:10,680 Speaker 1: east coast of Florida the west coast of Florida a 713 00:41:10,680 --> 00:41:13,360 Speaker 1: straight shot. And the unfortunate thing is it's a second 714 00:41:13,840 --> 00:41:18,120 Speaker 1: dike basically um preventing water from going south into Everglades 715 00:41:18,239 --> 00:41:20,600 Speaker 1: National Park. And so they're working on bridging it so 716 00:41:20,640 --> 00:41:22,880 Speaker 1: that the water can move under it, and then you 717 00:41:22,920 --> 00:41:28,640 Speaker 1: take it into so that right now that trail it's 718 00:41:28,680 --> 00:41:31,480 Speaker 1: just a big elevated structure that functions as a road, 719 00:41:31,560 --> 00:41:34,480 Speaker 1: is a highway just function as a damn though. Yes, Well, 720 00:41:34,520 --> 00:41:37,759 Speaker 1: they've finished I think a one mile section. They're working 721 00:41:37,760 --> 00:41:39,839 Speaker 1: on a second section, and then I think there's two 722 00:41:39,880 --> 00:41:43,760 Speaker 1: other sections that have to be bridged basically to allow 723 00:41:43,320 --> 00:41:48,319 Speaker 1: that through UM and then UM that would take water 724 00:41:48,360 --> 00:41:51,880 Speaker 1: down into Florida Bay. UM. Beyond that, there's still a 725 00:41:51,920 --> 00:41:56,799 Speaker 1: couple of areas that still probably needs some attention to 726 00:41:56,920 --> 00:41:59,279 Speaker 1: get kind of the full force of water fresh water 727 00:41:59,320 --> 00:42:01,320 Speaker 1: that we actually need eat in Florida Bay to maintain 728 00:42:01,360 --> 00:42:03,640 Speaker 1: the salinity. Since we've been sitting in East and West, 729 00:42:03,680 --> 00:42:07,160 Speaker 1: we haven't been sending a whole lot south UM and 730 00:42:07,160 --> 00:42:09,719 Speaker 1: and beyond that that that's all you're looking at it. 731 00:42:09,920 --> 00:42:17,920 Speaker 1: That's only about twenty billion dollars UM and and that 732 00:42:18,040 --> 00:42:20,520 Speaker 1: has to be coordinated between the state and the federal government. 733 00:42:20,920 --> 00:42:23,040 Speaker 1: So I want to get to that why that won't 734 00:42:23,200 --> 00:42:25,200 Speaker 1: I want to get to the reality now that we explore, 735 00:42:25,280 --> 00:42:27,600 Speaker 1: like what needs to happen with unlimited funding and public 736 00:42:27,640 --> 00:42:33,759 Speaker 1: will UM. You hear that half of the Everglades are gone. 737 00:42:35,880 --> 00:42:38,759 Speaker 1: If in this scenari you just laid out like if 738 00:42:38,800 --> 00:42:42,400 Speaker 1: it is done to completion, does that fix some of that? 739 00:42:42,560 --> 00:42:44,480 Speaker 1: Or is half the Evergade is just still gone? I 740 00:42:44,480 --> 00:42:47,560 Speaker 1: don't think you can recover the half that's focus on 741 00:42:47,600 --> 00:42:49,640 Speaker 1: the half that's left. When they say gone, they mean 742 00:42:49,719 --> 00:42:53,960 Speaker 1: gone to development that can't be regained. You need to 743 00:42:53,960 --> 00:42:56,239 Speaker 1: look at it from a glass half full? How can 744 00:42:56,280 --> 00:42:58,680 Speaker 1: we fix the part that's still there. So we're not 745 00:42:58,719 --> 00:43:01,680 Speaker 1: gonna we're not looking to regain. We're just looking to 746 00:43:01,840 --> 00:43:07,839 Speaker 1: salvage and preserve and restore. Restore it is what we're 747 00:43:07,880 --> 00:43:09,839 Speaker 1: really talking about, and that will go a long way 748 00:43:09,920 --> 00:43:14,320 Speaker 1: to restoring kind of the natural balance in that system 749 00:43:14,480 --> 00:43:16,880 Speaker 1: where you know, you have the tree islands and you 750 00:43:16,960 --> 00:43:19,520 Speaker 1: have the sheet flow in certain parts of it, and 751 00:43:19,600 --> 00:43:23,759 Speaker 1: you have the fresh water flows into Florida Bay and 752 00:43:23,800 --> 00:43:27,600 Speaker 1: not have those um, you know, traumatic discharges to the 753 00:43:27,600 --> 00:43:31,000 Speaker 1: east and the west is kind of a question. No, 754 00:43:33,400 --> 00:43:35,680 Speaker 1: I'm sorry, It's very complicated and that's kind of the 755 00:43:35,719 --> 00:43:38,320 Speaker 1: hard part about it. Oh yeah, well, my mind's buzzing. 756 00:43:38,360 --> 00:43:41,080 Speaker 1: It's like with all these other ideas, Like it's like 757 00:43:41,080 --> 00:43:45,960 Speaker 1: you're talking about here, we'll go get a shovel from 758 00:43:45,960 --> 00:43:47,920 Speaker 1: the home depot and get get it all fixed up 759 00:43:47,920 --> 00:43:50,560 Speaker 1: this afternoon. But no, it seems like you're, um, I 760 00:43:50,640 --> 00:43:53,120 Speaker 1: understand it, like kind of like the idea of what's 761 00:43:53,120 --> 00:43:56,000 Speaker 1: been done has been done and you can't change certain things. 762 00:43:56,160 --> 00:43:58,400 Speaker 1: But that development and the causes and I'm guessing a 763 00:43:58,400 --> 00:44:00,759 Speaker 1: lot of it's just like concrete and asphalt, right, that 764 00:44:00,920 --> 00:44:04,840 Speaker 1: just causes fat water to get places faster. Do you 765 00:44:04,840 --> 00:44:09,040 Speaker 1: ever think that people will look innovatively that way and 766 00:44:09,440 --> 00:44:12,600 Speaker 1: just say, you know what, maybe instead of concrete, there's 767 00:44:12,600 --> 00:44:14,600 Speaker 1: gonna be this other thing that we started driving on 768 00:44:14,719 --> 00:44:18,640 Speaker 1: around in Florida or building houses on in Florida. So 769 00:44:18,719 --> 00:44:23,160 Speaker 1: that kind of attack it like the beginning as opposed 770 00:44:23,200 --> 00:44:26,279 Speaker 1: to halfway down, like the holistic approach. Yeah, I mean, 771 00:44:26,320 --> 00:44:29,080 Speaker 1: I think that would be ideal. UM. I don't know 772 00:44:29,560 --> 00:44:32,760 Speaker 1: realistically how that would play out, since there are so 773 00:44:32,920 --> 00:44:38,080 Speaker 1: many people in South Florida, it would be a huge undertaking. UM. 774 00:44:38,120 --> 00:44:41,560 Speaker 1: You know some of the steps that UM Martin County, 775 00:44:41,600 --> 00:44:44,520 Speaker 1: which is where Stewart is in St. Lucy River, have 776 00:44:44,719 --> 00:44:48,520 Speaker 1: taken to talk about fertilizer runoff because septic tanks and 777 00:44:48,560 --> 00:44:51,120 Speaker 1: fertilizers are kind of UM that component that we were 778 00:44:51,120 --> 00:44:54,960 Speaker 1: talking about that UM contributed to the algal bloom. Just 779 00:44:55,000 --> 00:44:58,319 Speaker 1: trying to get folks aware of you know, hey, my 780 00:44:58,400 --> 00:45:02,120 Speaker 1: green grass is having impacts on the system. And I 781 00:45:02,120 --> 00:45:05,760 Speaker 1: mean that retraining the public is is definitely a challenge, 782 00:45:06,160 --> 00:45:09,000 Speaker 1: but they're going back to revisit, you know, kind of 783 00:45:09,000 --> 00:45:12,000 Speaker 1: that whole public awareness campaign and how do we do that? 784 00:45:12,040 --> 00:45:13,560 Speaker 1: So how did you say that's off the table, but 785 00:45:14,120 --> 00:45:16,959 Speaker 1: I don't know how significant of an impact you would 786 00:45:16,960 --> 00:45:19,520 Speaker 1: have just because of the challenges and trying to implement it. 787 00:45:32,840 --> 00:45:35,600 Speaker 1: I think that those public kind of like public sacrifice 788 00:45:35,640 --> 00:45:40,279 Speaker 1: public awareness campaigns do work over time because I'll talk 789 00:45:40,320 --> 00:45:42,320 Speaker 1: to people who live in areas like like in around 790 00:45:42,360 --> 00:45:44,759 Speaker 1: the Colorado you know the Colorado River, right, So the 791 00:45:44,800 --> 00:45:47,840 Speaker 1: whole other issue where very complex issue about water allocations, 792 00:45:48,200 --> 00:45:52,359 Speaker 1: where water goes, and um, like all have friends who say, like, man, 793 00:45:52,400 --> 00:45:55,720 Speaker 1: if you water your lawn in my neighborhood, you're ostracized. 794 00:45:56,040 --> 00:45:58,360 Speaker 1: You're ostracized from the community, you're on if you're watering 795 00:45:58,360 --> 00:46:01,480 Speaker 1: on an off day and Florida you're yeah, people be 796 00:46:01,520 --> 00:46:03,480 Speaker 1: like it really like takes hold and people are kind 797 00:46:03,480 --> 00:46:05,880 Speaker 1: of like, all right, let's just all agree all of 798 00:46:05,920 --> 00:46:09,520 Speaker 1: our grass is brown in the summer, and let's just 799 00:46:09,600 --> 00:46:11,920 Speaker 1: make it that the way that green grass used to 800 00:46:11,920 --> 00:46:15,600 Speaker 1: be a status symbol. Let's accept that brown grass is 801 00:46:15,640 --> 00:46:17,719 Speaker 1: now a status symbol in the summer. And when you 802 00:46:17,760 --> 00:46:19,560 Speaker 1: have green grass, you're the guy that used to have 803 00:46:19,560 --> 00:46:23,560 Speaker 1: brown grass. You're like the outlier. And it's like you 804 00:46:23,600 --> 00:46:27,800 Speaker 1: can like public sort of public awareness and public opinion 805 00:46:29,160 --> 00:46:31,880 Speaker 1: shifts as people just you can turn it. It's powerful, 806 00:46:32,000 --> 00:46:36,160 Speaker 1: I agree, And when it's like willful compliance, then it 807 00:46:36,200 --> 00:46:41,080 Speaker 1: becomes more palatable to people. Some of that is kind 808 00:46:41,080 --> 00:46:44,760 Speaker 1: of re establishing that connection I think with with nature. 809 00:46:44,920 --> 00:46:47,000 Speaker 1: I mean, it's so funny. I make it down here 810 00:46:47,280 --> 00:46:49,960 Speaker 1: several times a year, and I mean I live in Tallahassee, 811 00:46:50,000 --> 00:46:53,440 Speaker 1: which is a pretty well developed city. Um, but I 812 00:46:53,520 --> 00:46:56,560 Speaker 1: come down here and I'm just always amazed at the 813 00:46:56,640 --> 00:47:01,879 Speaker 1: network of roads and concrete and struck Sure's and and 814 00:47:01,960 --> 00:47:04,080 Speaker 1: when you go to the Everglades, I mean there's like 815 00:47:04,320 --> 00:47:07,520 Speaker 1: a wall, a dividing line and you're like over here 816 00:47:07,560 --> 00:47:12,000 Speaker 1: Everglades over here obviously not Everglades. Um. You know, it 817 00:47:12,080 --> 00:47:14,919 Speaker 1: is remarkable. No, there's no bleed. Yeah, And I don't 818 00:47:14,920 --> 00:47:17,840 Speaker 1: think a lot of people cross over that line. Um. 819 00:47:17,880 --> 00:47:20,360 Speaker 1: And so there's a lot of folks that just aren't aware, 820 00:47:20,760 --> 00:47:23,799 Speaker 1: um of of kind of what's going on and what 821 00:47:23,840 --> 00:47:26,160 Speaker 1: the impacts are. If they don't fish, if they're you know, 822 00:47:26,200 --> 00:47:28,439 Speaker 1: not out on the water a lot, if they could 823 00:47:28,440 --> 00:47:30,520 Speaker 1: just kind of living their lives, there's not really a 824 00:47:30,600 --> 00:47:33,839 Speaker 1: daily awareness of what's going on. There's two forms of 825 00:47:34,400 --> 00:47:38,960 Speaker 1: there's two forms of unawareness um, one, I understand. The 826 00:47:39,040 --> 00:47:42,200 Speaker 1: one's troubling to me. There's the form of unawareness that 827 00:47:42,280 --> 00:47:47,280 Speaker 1: you're just like blithely unaware Okay, that for whatever reason, 828 00:47:47,400 --> 00:47:49,640 Speaker 1: like who you surround yourself with or how you live 829 00:47:49,680 --> 00:47:54,719 Speaker 1: your life, you just haven't heard yet, okay. And that's 830 00:47:54,719 --> 00:47:57,480 Speaker 1: a kind where like, okay, that's a failure, like that 831 00:47:57,600 --> 00:47:59,600 Speaker 1: lack of awareness is a failure sort of of the 832 00:47:59,640 --> 00:48:02,040 Speaker 1: system him, or you're just speaking to just a human 833 00:48:02,680 --> 00:48:06,480 Speaker 1: like human attributes, there's at least an opportunity to inform. Yeah, 834 00:48:06,480 --> 00:48:09,040 Speaker 1: and there's like no one told me, thanks for the 835 00:48:09,040 --> 00:48:12,480 Speaker 1: heads up. I will now start taking like without overly 836 00:48:12,560 --> 00:48:15,439 Speaker 1: inconvenience in myself. Now that I understand, I will start 837 00:48:15,480 --> 00:48:19,480 Speaker 1: taking some minor steps towards helping the bigger picture. There's 838 00:48:19,520 --> 00:48:21,439 Speaker 1: that kind of person. Then there's the kind of person 839 00:48:21,520 --> 00:48:26,439 Speaker 1: who's real aware, they know, but they're like, damned if 840 00:48:26,480 --> 00:48:30,439 Speaker 1: I'm going to inconvenience myself in service of this thing, 841 00:48:31,160 --> 00:48:36,000 Speaker 1: because the real blame lies with and so yeah, that's 842 00:48:36,040 --> 00:48:41,560 Speaker 1: the troubling version. But Okay, now you don't have all 843 00:48:41,600 --> 00:48:43,440 Speaker 1: the money in the world and you don't have total 844 00:48:43,480 --> 00:48:47,719 Speaker 1: public support, but people are still trying to do to 845 00:48:47,840 --> 00:48:51,439 Speaker 1: accomplish the end result of what you're getting at where 846 00:48:51,440 --> 00:48:54,200 Speaker 1: does it stand? Like, where does it stand what needs 847 00:48:54,200 --> 00:48:57,120 Speaker 1: to happen? Well, I think it's frustrating that we don't. 848 00:48:58,239 --> 00:49:03,480 Speaker 1: We're we're not seeing UM. I guess the positive benefits 849 00:49:03,640 --> 00:49:06,560 Speaker 1: of all of the efforts to date, and I think 850 00:49:06,600 --> 00:49:10,240 Speaker 1: a lot of that is not yet UM. I think 851 00:49:10,320 --> 00:49:14,720 Speaker 1: that UM, we're we're poised to see a lot of that. UM. 852 00:49:14,760 --> 00:49:20,000 Speaker 1: There's this mind boggling schedule of sixty eight projects UM 853 00:49:20,080 --> 00:49:24,640 Speaker 1: that combined make up the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, and 854 00:49:24,640 --> 00:49:28,680 Speaker 1: and that kind of timeline is called the integrated Delivery Schedule. 855 00:49:28,719 --> 00:49:31,120 Speaker 1: If anybody just really wants to watch their ice cross, 856 00:49:31,200 --> 00:49:33,520 Speaker 1: you can google that UM and take a look at it. 857 00:49:34,239 --> 00:49:36,560 Speaker 1: But we're pretty far along UM when you look at 858 00:49:36,560 --> 00:49:41,160 Speaker 1: all those projects. We've at least started planning almost everything 859 00:49:41,320 --> 00:49:45,600 Speaker 1: in this whole thirty year timeline. So serp to use 860 00:49:45,719 --> 00:49:50,960 Speaker 1: the UM. The short short term version of Comprehensive Everglades 861 00:49:51,000 --> 00:49:54,520 Speaker 1: Restoration Plan was authorized in the year two thousands, so 862 00:49:55,040 --> 00:49:57,800 Speaker 1: it was initially envisioned as a thirty year plan basically 863 00:49:57,840 --> 00:50:00,760 Speaker 1: to restore this It took us a years to screw 864 00:50:00,800 --> 00:50:02,759 Speaker 1: it up. The spad how can we go back and 865 00:50:02,840 --> 00:50:06,399 Speaker 1: fix it? And it projects are moving a lot of dirt. 866 00:50:06,440 --> 00:50:09,719 Speaker 1: I mean, it's basically reconstructing South Florida. UM. And you're 867 00:50:09,719 --> 00:50:12,719 Speaker 1: talking about two thousand square miles. That's that's a lot 868 00:50:12,800 --> 00:50:15,120 Speaker 1: of a lot of dirt to move, UM and greated, 869 00:50:15,160 --> 00:50:17,040 Speaker 1: we don't have to touch every corner of that, but 870 00:50:17,120 --> 00:50:19,359 Speaker 1: we have to touch a lot of it. UM. And 871 00:50:19,400 --> 00:50:23,400 Speaker 1: then you have um negotiations between the state and federal 872 00:50:23,440 --> 00:50:25,759 Speaker 1: government on how that's going to be done because they 873 00:50:25,840 --> 00:50:28,800 Speaker 1: share the cost on those projects as an even split. 874 00:50:31,280 --> 00:50:35,200 Speaker 1: That decided like like how how was it decided? Like, oh, 875 00:50:35,320 --> 00:50:39,239 Speaker 1: some of this is your problem, Florida. Well, I think 876 00:50:39,280 --> 00:50:41,440 Speaker 1: the Feds thought that they were doing it for us, 877 00:50:41,920 --> 00:50:44,279 Speaker 1: and but yeah, they were the ones that actually did it, 878 00:50:44,400 --> 00:50:46,960 Speaker 1: and so I certainly wasn't a fly on the wall 879 00:50:47,000 --> 00:50:50,000 Speaker 1: for those conversations. But but that was the agreement that 880 00:50:50,120 --> 00:50:54,480 Speaker 1: was reached. And UM. You know, Florida has really stepped 881 00:50:54,560 --> 00:50:59,279 Speaker 1: up to the plate, especially in recent years. They've appropriated 882 00:50:59,520 --> 00:51:03,880 Speaker 1: over two hundred million dollars annually for their portion of 883 00:51:04,360 --> 00:51:09,719 Speaker 1: serup UM. Plus they've appropriated UM the money to pay 884 00:51:09,840 --> 00:51:11,560 Speaker 1: the state's portion of the money to pay for that 885 00:51:11,640 --> 00:51:15,279 Speaker 1: reservoir on the southern side of Lake Okachobe already that 886 00:51:15,320 --> 00:51:18,920 Speaker 1: hasn't even been approved by Congress yet. So Florida is 887 00:51:18,960 --> 00:51:22,040 Speaker 1: the head of the FEDS on getting them their agreed 888 00:51:22,120 --> 00:51:24,840 Speaker 1: upon share of the money. Yeah, I heard um Congressman 889 00:51:24,880 --> 00:51:29,399 Speaker 1: Francis Trainey estimate that he thought that from what he'd 890 00:51:29,400 --> 00:51:32,160 Speaker 1: seen that Florida was about a billion dollars ahead of 891 00:51:32,200 --> 00:51:38,600 Speaker 1: the federal government in their appropriations for Everglades restoration. Well 892 00:51:38,640 --> 00:51:41,680 Speaker 1: what is it? Caught hesitating bring it up? I was 893 00:51:41,680 --> 00:51:45,560 Speaker 1: gonna ask, like, when you take what is the fixed cost, 894 00:51:45,760 --> 00:51:49,520 Speaker 1: so the cost of fixing it compared to the costs 895 00:51:50,000 --> 00:51:52,719 Speaker 1: of not fixing it. Yeah, Well, and that's a hard 896 00:51:52,760 --> 00:51:54,560 Speaker 1: number to pend down because people like don't I know, 897 00:51:54,600 --> 00:51:56,440 Speaker 1: people's brains don't really work that way though, you know 898 00:51:56,480 --> 00:51:58,879 Speaker 1: what I mean. Yeah, well, if you think that if 899 00:51:58,920 --> 00:52:01,640 Speaker 1: you look at just from a fishing perspective, and so 900 00:52:01,719 --> 00:52:06,319 Speaker 1: that doesn't count tourism or real estate values or um 901 00:52:06,640 --> 00:52:10,000 Speaker 1: loss of life. Yeah, and there actually have been some 902 00:52:10,040 --> 00:52:14,000 Speaker 1: documented health um conditions from the algal bloom that happened 903 00:52:14,480 --> 00:52:17,080 Speaker 1: at the coast. So you know, I don't know how 904 00:52:17,120 --> 00:52:19,920 Speaker 1: you put a number on that but it's definitely significant, 905 00:52:19,960 --> 00:52:22,640 Speaker 1: particularly when you put it. I mean, not the fifteen 906 00:52:22,680 --> 00:52:26,959 Speaker 1: to twenty billion dollars is chump change, but nine point 907 00:52:27,040 --> 00:52:29,840 Speaker 1: six billion dollars a year just from sport fishing in 908 00:52:29,840 --> 00:52:32,280 Speaker 1: Florida and Grant and not all of that's in South Florida, 909 00:52:32,520 --> 00:52:34,719 Speaker 1: but a lot of it's focused there, and not not 910 00:52:34,800 --> 00:52:37,400 Speaker 1: all of us in South Florida, not all of it 911 00:52:37,480 --> 00:52:42,200 Speaker 1: is reliant on this. But but just to put those numbers, 912 00:52:42,239 --> 00:52:45,959 Speaker 1: and that's annually, I mean, to put those numbers in perspective, Yeah, 913 00:52:46,160 --> 00:52:49,960 Speaker 1: it's we're we're suffering significantly, and that's why it's so 914 00:52:50,000 --> 00:52:52,880 Speaker 1: important for us to move it, trying to get it 915 00:52:52,920 --> 00:52:55,920 Speaker 1: done quicker than thirty years. So really, you know, walking 916 00:52:55,960 --> 00:52:58,200 Speaker 1: the halls of Congress and you know, trying to make 917 00:52:58,239 --> 00:53:01,560 Speaker 1: folks aware of how important this is. From a national perspective, 918 00:53:01,600 --> 00:53:04,440 Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's a national treasure that Everglades is. 919 00:53:04,480 --> 00:53:07,680 Speaker 1: It's actually a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There's no place 920 00:53:07,719 --> 00:53:10,120 Speaker 1: else in the world like it. It's the world's largest 921 00:53:10,160 --> 00:53:14,600 Speaker 1: restoration project that's ever been attempted. So and how many, 922 00:53:14,840 --> 00:53:17,359 Speaker 1: how again, how many projects need to happen. So there's 923 00:53:17,360 --> 00:53:21,120 Speaker 1: sixty eight total and they need and but but they 924 00:53:21,160 --> 00:53:23,560 Speaker 1: all need to happen in concert. Well, they have to 925 00:53:23,600 --> 00:53:27,600 Speaker 1: happen in a certain order. So for example, building a 926 00:53:27,640 --> 00:53:30,520 Speaker 1: reservoir without a way to get water either to or 927 00:53:30,560 --> 00:53:34,560 Speaker 1: from the reservoir doesn't really accomplish anything because the reservoir 928 00:53:34,600 --> 00:53:36,799 Speaker 1: is just going to fill up. And so kind of 929 00:53:36,800 --> 00:53:39,880 Speaker 1: trying to think through sequentially. Okay, if I need to 930 00:53:39,880 --> 00:53:42,920 Speaker 1: do this first before I do that, because from an 931 00:53:42,920 --> 00:53:45,799 Speaker 1: engineering perspective and a water movement perspective, that's how it 932 00:53:45,840 --> 00:53:47,640 Speaker 1: best makes sense. When I said they need to happen 933 00:53:47,640 --> 00:53:52,000 Speaker 1: in concert, they all like, like, the project is the project, 934 00:53:52,719 --> 00:53:54,920 Speaker 1: but there's sixty eight components. Like like you would never 935 00:53:55,000 --> 00:53:57,560 Speaker 1: say like I'm building a house. You never say like 936 00:53:57,600 --> 00:54:01,760 Speaker 1: I have a projects underway. You'd be like, I'm building 937 00:54:01,800 --> 00:54:07,040 Speaker 1: a house. Now what that involves is like foundation, framing, plump. Okay, 938 00:54:07,200 --> 00:54:09,960 Speaker 1: So is do you do any of the projects like 939 00:54:10,200 --> 00:54:13,040 Speaker 1: as free standing projects. Do they wind up being helpful 940 00:54:13,160 --> 00:54:15,359 Speaker 1: or does it or does it become that these all 941 00:54:15,400 --> 00:54:18,920 Speaker 1: need to come online? I think some are different than others. 942 00:54:19,000 --> 00:54:24,319 Speaker 1: So um Kissimi River restoration is almost complete. Um that's 943 00:54:24,360 --> 00:54:26,440 Speaker 1: the northern that's north of the lake, and that just 944 00:54:26,480 --> 00:54:29,279 Speaker 1: in and of itself could be beneficial, right, because that 945 00:54:29,320 --> 00:54:32,480 Speaker 1: benefits not only the Everglades, but that benefits the Kissimi 946 00:54:32,560 --> 00:54:36,799 Speaker 1: River basin. So you could feasibly be like stop there 947 00:54:36,880 --> 00:54:39,520 Speaker 1: but enjoy some payoff from it. Yeah, but some of 948 00:54:39,520 --> 00:54:41,640 Speaker 1: them do need to be done in concert. And so 949 00:54:41,880 --> 00:54:45,400 Speaker 1: UM what they did, because things were moving so slowly, 950 00:54:45,440 --> 00:54:49,120 Speaker 1: they kind of took a subset of the projects that 951 00:54:49,120 --> 00:54:51,799 Speaker 1: that were thought to be the most beneficial, that would 952 00:54:51,800 --> 00:54:53,799 Speaker 1: basically give you the biggest bang for the buck and 953 00:54:53,920 --> 00:54:57,799 Speaker 1: package them together, went through the planning process which is 954 00:54:58,800 --> 00:55:01,880 Speaker 1: very extensive with the Army Corps of Engineers and probably 955 00:55:02,040 --> 00:55:05,879 Speaker 1: like all the environmental impact work and UM, and then 956 00:55:06,000 --> 00:55:08,399 Speaker 1: has to be authorized by Congress. So they package these 957 00:55:08,400 --> 00:55:11,240 Speaker 1: together and what they call the Central Everglades Planning Project. 958 00:55:11,360 --> 00:55:15,359 Speaker 1: And so this is the area between um, between Lake 959 00:55:15,400 --> 00:55:18,920 Speaker 1: Okechobee and Everglades National Park, that would be the Central Everglades. 960 00:55:19,320 --> 00:55:21,799 Speaker 1: And so we have this whole kind of mishmash of 961 00:55:21,960 --> 00:55:23,960 Speaker 1: canals and levies and all of that sort of thing. 962 00:55:24,080 --> 00:55:26,920 Speaker 1: We need to increase conveyance, how how so that we 963 00:55:27,000 --> 00:55:29,360 Speaker 1: can move water south instead of sending it into a 964 00:55:29,360 --> 00:55:33,640 Speaker 1: canal to shoot it out to tide UM and we 965 00:55:33,680 --> 00:55:36,640 Speaker 1: also need storage and so anyway they packaged all those together. 966 00:55:36,719 --> 00:55:38,799 Speaker 1: We finally were able to get those authorized in two 967 00:55:40,000 --> 00:55:43,640 Speaker 1: UM as SEP is what it's called UM and so 968 00:55:43,800 --> 00:55:45,759 Speaker 1: it has to be authorized by Congress, but we're still 969 00:55:45,760 --> 00:55:49,560 Speaker 1: waiting on federal appropriation to the actual money to get 970 00:55:49,600 --> 00:55:52,400 Speaker 1: it done. So they'll Congress will authorize it, but not 971 00:55:52,600 --> 00:55:56,960 Speaker 1: necessarily at that moment. That comes in the budget to 972 00:55:57,080 --> 00:56:00,000 Speaker 1: the Army Corps of Engineers UM at a later time, 973 00:56:00,000 --> 00:56:02,560 Speaker 1: and now the state can start on their part, and 974 00:56:02,600 --> 00:56:06,640 Speaker 1: they have UM of step and they've they've actually started 975 00:56:06,680 --> 00:56:10,239 Speaker 1: work on that trying to UM do the part that's 976 00:56:10,280 --> 00:56:20,080 Speaker 1: theirs have. Has the will to tackle the problem gone 977 00:56:20,400 --> 00:56:24,399 Speaker 1: up or down in the last year, I think from 978 00:56:24,400 --> 00:56:29,000 Speaker 1: a state perspective, okay, well, but even our federal like 979 00:56:29,040 --> 00:56:33,319 Speaker 1: our congressional delegation, so our congressmen and our senators I 980 00:56:33,360 --> 00:56:38,520 Speaker 1: think are very UM, very united in in knowing that 981 00:56:38,560 --> 00:56:44,840 Speaker 1: everglades restoration, even statewide, that they get it and absolutely 982 00:56:45,320 --> 00:56:49,759 Speaker 1: absolutely the trouble comes when you have well we've seen 983 00:56:49,800 --> 00:56:53,160 Speaker 1: the budget challenges at the federal level UM continually. I 984 00:56:53,520 --> 00:56:57,240 Speaker 1: think we're having one this week UM and so trying 985 00:56:57,320 --> 00:57:03,719 Speaker 1: to focus other states on one state's problem. UM is 986 00:57:03,719 --> 00:57:06,640 Speaker 1: a challenge because again you're talking about a pie. It's 987 00:57:06,680 --> 00:57:08,680 Speaker 1: only so big and how are we going to divide 988 00:57:08,719 --> 00:57:13,399 Speaker 1: that up? And so the federal government is typically um 989 00:57:14,400 --> 00:57:17,320 Speaker 1: less than half of the appropriation of what Florida is 990 00:57:17,400 --> 00:57:19,600 Speaker 1: on an annual basis. I think it was like seventies 991 00:57:19,600 --> 00:57:22,600 Speaker 1: six UM million was the last number now and the 992 00:57:22,640 --> 00:57:24,360 Speaker 1: dike is separate from that because that's more of a 993 00:57:24,360 --> 00:57:30,160 Speaker 1: flood control public safety issue. But just for restoration projects, UM, 994 00:57:30,480 --> 00:57:36,640 Speaker 1: it's challenging. Who are the who are the losers of 995 00:57:36,680 --> 00:57:42,760 Speaker 1: the of the whole restoration thing? Like who when you 996 00:57:42,760 --> 00:57:45,000 Speaker 1: look at the current restoration plan, you say, like, has 997 00:57:45,040 --> 00:57:49,960 Speaker 1: bipartisan support, the state likes it, your federal debt, your 998 00:57:50,000 --> 00:57:52,560 Speaker 1: your your your state's delegation to Washington, d SEE likes it. 999 00:57:53,000 --> 00:57:56,680 Speaker 1: Who are the people or industries or whatever who are 1000 00:57:56,680 --> 00:57:59,160 Speaker 1: looking at like, yeah, you know, not real keen on 1001 00:57:59,200 --> 00:58:04,360 Speaker 1: this plan. H. I think there's been um some challenge. Well, 1002 00:58:04,440 --> 00:58:07,400 Speaker 1: so there's a lot of politics involvement, as with everything. UM. 1003 00:58:07,440 --> 00:58:10,720 Speaker 1: You know, it's not just about restoration, it's it's not 1004 00:58:10,800 --> 00:58:13,720 Speaker 1: just about an environmental project that needs to be taken 1005 00:58:13,760 --> 00:58:19,320 Speaker 1: care of. So there's politics involved and so UM. Politically, UM, 1006 00:58:19,360 --> 00:58:23,120 Speaker 1: you know, I think the folks in the agricultural area 1007 00:58:23,320 --> 00:58:28,560 Speaker 1: have felt targeted at sometimes UM, and I think that 1008 00:58:28,560 --> 00:58:30,919 Speaker 1: that creates a lot of conflict. And how we get 1009 00:58:30,960 --> 00:58:36,160 Speaker 1: things done UM, Political leaders change, UM, and then political 1010 00:58:36,200 --> 00:58:40,480 Speaker 1: will changes. We saw that Governor bush Um had um 1011 00:58:40,560 --> 00:58:43,600 Speaker 1: an accelerate what he called an accelerate plan to move 1012 00:58:43,640 --> 00:58:46,400 Speaker 1: projects along, and then we had to change an administration 1013 00:58:46,400 --> 00:58:49,360 Speaker 1: in the new governor wanted to take a different direction. 1014 00:58:49,480 --> 00:58:52,280 Speaker 1: And that's certainly their prerogative. But you know, when you're 1015 00:58:52,320 --> 00:58:54,960 Speaker 1: talking about the scope of a thirty year project, to 1016 00:58:55,160 --> 00:58:59,640 Speaker 1: change UM, you know, kind of to change direction every 1017 00:59:00,200 --> 00:59:02,960 Speaker 1: eight years or so is gonna is gonna cause challenges 1018 00:59:03,000 --> 00:59:04,960 Speaker 1: at least at the state level. And you have similar 1019 00:59:05,000 --> 00:59:07,560 Speaker 1: turnover at the federal level as well, UM, with the 1020 00:59:07,640 --> 00:59:11,440 Speaker 1: Army Corps of Engineers having changeover and and who's overseeing 1021 00:59:11,480 --> 00:59:15,440 Speaker 1: the project. You have changeover in the committees, UM, and 1022 00:59:15,600 --> 00:59:19,720 Speaker 1: and trying to elevate the importance of Everglades beyond the 1023 00:59:19,720 --> 00:59:22,160 Speaker 1: perception that it's just a Florida project. And so that 1024 00:59:22,200 --> 00:59:24,600 Speaker 1: was when I was talking initially. You know, yeah, it 1025 00:59:24,720 --> 00:59:28,720 Speaker 1: is a Florida project, but it has national significance not 1026 00:59:28,800 --> 00:59:32,120 Speaker 1: only just from the fact that it's an environmental wonder 1027 00:59:32,160 --> 00:59:35,840 Speaker 1: of the world, but also because of the economic impact 1028 00:59:35,920 --> 00:59:38,280 Speaker 1: that it has on industry that is outside of this 1029 00:59:38,400 --> 00:59:43,200 Speaker 1: state that relies on having access to you know, abundant 1030 00:59:43,200 --> 00:59:46,840 Speaker 1: fisheries and clean water. Um. And so you know, you 1031 00:59:46,920 --> 00:59:50,360 Speaker 1: have somebody in Michigan who has a manufacturing plant who's 1032 00:59:50,480 --> 00:59:54,800 Speaker 1: making engine parts for a boat motor and if if 1033 00:59:54,880 --> 00:59:57,240 Speaker 1: if folks aren't buying boats in Florida because the water 1034 00:59:57,320 --> 00:59:59,640 Speaker 1: is terrible, then then Michigan is going to feel it. 1035 00:59:59,680 --> 01:00:02,400 Speaker 1: And so it trying to kind of draw those correlations, 1036 01:00:03,080 --> 01:00:06,320 Speaker 1: um is what we've been trying to focus on to 1037 01:00:06,560 --> 01:00:10,960 Speaker 1: kind of raise the profile of Everglades restoration beyond it 1038 01:00:11,000 --> 01:00:14,880 Speaker 1: being just a Florida issue. Without getting yourself in trouble, 1039 01:00:14,960 --> 01:00:18,400 Speaker 1: can you explain to me why you hear when when 1040 01:00:18,400 --> 01:00:21,960 Speaker 1: when there's a conversation about the Everglades, there's always a 1041 01:00:22,000 --> 01:00:27,200 Speaker 1: conversation about the sugar industry. Can you explain, like why, 1042 01:00:27,320 --> 01:00:33,160 Speaker 1: how does the sugar how does sugar cane production find 1043 01:00:33,160 --> 01:00:39,520 Speaker 1: its way into every conversation around the Everglades. Let's see, um, well, 1044 01:00:39,520 --> 01:00:42,400 Speaker 1: that whole Everglades agricultural area. It's not just sugar, but 1045 01:00:42,480 --> 01:00:45,680 Speaker 1: they are probably one of the largest landowners in that area, 1046 01:00:45,800 --> 01:00:49,520 Speaker 1: and there's several different companies UM. And I mean when 1047 01:00:49,520 --> 01:00:51,560 Speaker 1: you look at a map, I mean you see like Cokachobe, 1048 01:00:51,680 --> 01:00:54,120 Speaker 1: you see the Everglades agricultural area, and then you see 1049 01:00:54,160 --> 01:00:55,920 Speaker 1: the rest of the Everglades, and so I think it's 1050 01:00:55,960 --> 01:01:00,320 Speaker 1: a natural UM. You know, it's a natural reaction to 1051 01:01:00,520 --> 01:01:03,600 Speaker 1: see that the e a basically and say, well, if 1052 01:01:03,600 --> 01:01:05,440 Speaker 1: we just got rid of that, we could make it 1053 01:01:05,440 --> 01:01:08,760 Speaker 1: all work. UM. And so it's just that that area 1054 01:01:08,840 --> 01:01:11,640 Speaker 1: happens that Foster. There's a lot of sugar production in 1055 01:01:11,680 --> 01:01:13,760 Speaker 1: that area. Oka. It was very fertile farmland. I mean 1056 01:01:13,800 --> 01:01:16,080 Speaker 1: that was kind of you know, that was right outside 1057 01:01:16,120 --> 01:01:18,240 Speaker 1: of the lake and so you had this kind of 1058 01:01:18,240 --> 01:01:20,560 Speaker 1: like fertile soil from when the lake would overflow, and 1059 01:01:20,600 --> 01:01:23,280 Speaker 1: it was it was a natural agricultural area. But there's 1060 01:01:23,280 --> 01:01:26,080 Speaker 1: a lot of other stuff that's growing there besides sugar. UM. 1061 01:01:26,440 --> 01:01:30,520 Speaker 1: I I think the conflict comes UM. You know, their 1062 01:01:30,520 --> 01:01:34,600 Speaker 1: property owners and so they have property rights and UM, 1063 01:01:34,680 --> 01:01:38,360 Speaker 1: and so the conflict comes I think between UM folks 1064 01:01:38,360 --> 01:01:42,760 Speaker 1: who are very passionate about restoring the Everglades and seeing 1065 01:01:42,800 --> 01:01:46,080 Speaker 1: that land as kind of the roadblock to it, and well, 1066 01:01:46,960 --> 01:01:49,480 Speaker 1: we should just be able to fix it and get 1067 01:01:49,560 --> 01:01:51,520 Speaker 1: rid of that. And and then you have to balance 1068 01:01:51,560 --> 01:01:55,520 Speaker 1: that with the fact that their property owners, they are UM, 1069 01:01:55,560 --> 01:02:00,920 Speaker 1: they have taken significant steps to help with nutrient runoff 1070 01:02:00,920 --> 01:02:03,800 Speaker 1: from their properties. And I'm not trying to defend anybody. 1071 01:02:03,840 --> 01:02:05,560 Speaker 1: That's just kind of my take on what I've seen 1072 01:02:05,600 --> 01:02:10,840 Speaker 1: in the conversations UM as to why it's such a conflict, 1073 01:02:11,080 --> 01:02:15,480 Speaker 1: Why you hear about so much moving more south? Just 1074 01:02:15,520 --> 01:02:18,040 Speaker 1: to touch on another, like, just to hit all the conflicts, 1075 01:02:18,360 --> 01:02:22,120 Speaker 1: there's a lot of them. Fishing access, Yeah, okay, so 1076 01:02:22,400 --> 01:02:26,320 Speaker 1: places where you are and are not allowed to fish 1077 01:02:26,760 --> 01:02:29,200 Speaker 1: is something you hear about a lot down here. Can 1078 01:02:29,200 --> 01:02:32,320 Speaker 1: you kind of like sketch out sort of the conversations 1079 01:02:32,360 --> 01:02:38,160 Speaker 1: around UM prohibiting recreational fishing in certain waterways and what 1080 01:02:38,200 --> 01:02:41,400 Speaker 1: they hope to gain from that, what's lost with those decisions? 1081 01:02:41,480 --> 01:02:43,520 Speaker 1: Are you talking about more from a coastal perspective, not 1082 01:02:43,560 --> 01:02:47,880 Speaker 1: so much everglades. Yeah, So there's a lot of concern 1083 01:02:48,040 --> 01:02:53,640 Speaker 1: I think globally about UM the condition of coral reefs, 1084 01:02:53,800 --> 01:02:57,520 Speaker 1: and we have a really significant coral reef track off 1085 01:02:57,880 --> 01:03:02,280 Speaker 1: Southeast Florida runs from Stewart in Martin County all the 1086 01:03:02,280 --> 01:03:06,120 Speaker 1: way down into the Florida Keys and the Florida Keys 1087 01:03:06,160 --> 01:03:10,600 Speaker 1: has National Marine Sanctuary UM that kind of oversees most 1088 01:03:10,680 --> 01:03:12,480 Speaker 1: of what's going on down there, kind of as a 1089 01:03:12,480 --> 01:03:17,960 Speaker 1: blanket UM communicator, but a lot of UM. The area 1090 01:03:18,000 --> 01:03:20,640 Speaker 1: north of that hasn't received as much attention, and there's 1091 01:03:20,640 --> 01:03:24,560 Speaker 1: been a really significant coral disease outbreak there. UM. They're 1092 01:03:24,600 --> 01:03:28,600 Speaker 1: they're not under they don't really understand exactly, UM the 1093 01:03:28,680 --> 01:03:31,320 Speaker 1: extent of it. UM. They're doing surveys right now, they 1094 01:03:31,320 --> 01:03:34,439 Speaker 1: don't necessarily understand where it came from. Could be tied 1095 01:03:34,480 --> 01:03:38,600 Speaker 1: to the acidification there. You know, globally, when you look 1096 01:03:38,640 --> 01:03:41,840 Speaker 1: at impacts to coral reefs, water quality is probably number one, 1097 01:03:41,960 --> 01:03:45,480 Speaker 1: which could be acidification. It could be sediment that's settling 1098 01:03:45,600 --> 01:03:48,600 Speaker 1: on things. It could be UM. You know that you've 1099 01:03:48,600 --> 01:03:52,160 Speaker 1: disturbed one area and somehow you've stirred up a disease 1100 01:03:52,200 --> 01:03:54,400 Speaker 1: that was kind of in the sediment and now has 1101 01:03:54,440 --> 01:03:58,680 Speaker 1: become waterborne and spreads, Which is kind of the thought 1102 01:03:58,720 --> 01:04:02,080 Speaker 1: process that I've heard to what's happened in Southeast Florida there. 1103 01:04:02,160 --> 01:04:05,480 Speaker 1: The thing we know for certain is coral reefs dying. Yeah, 1104 01:04:05,560 --> 01:04:09,080 Speaker 1: and I think worldwide, UM, there has been a push 1105 01:04:09,440 --> 01:04:16,440 Speaker 1: for UM for area closures to help preserve these areas, 1106 01:04:16,520 --> 01:04:19,760 Speaker 1: and UM, you know, I think in some instances it's 1107 01:04:19,800 --> 01:04:22,640 Speaker 1: probably a good idea. In fact, UM, the Florida Fish 1108 01:04:22,640 --> 01:04:27,120 Speaker 1: and Wildlife Conservation Commission is talking today about the Dry 1109 01:04:27,160 --> 01:04:31,360 Speaker 1: Tortuga's Research Natural Area, which is out off the coast 1110 01:04:31,400 --> 01:04:35,400 Speaker 1: of South Florida down here pass Key West and and 1111 01:04:35,480 --> 01:04:38,680 Speaker 1: that area is closed to fishing UM. And there were 1112 01:04:38,760 --> 01:04:41,000 Speaker 1: some really good reasons why they did it. There was 1113 01:04:41,040 --> 01:04:44,640 Speaker 1: a confluence of currents, it's got excellent water quality, UM, 1114 01:04:44,640 --> 01:04:49,640 Speaker 1: it's somewhat remote. You have multiple UM important fish species 1115 01:04:49,680 --> 01:04:52,720 Speaker 1: that use that area as a spawning ground, and the 1116 01:04:52,760 --> 01:04:56,920 Speaker 1: currents are able to take the eggs UM and other locations. 1117 01:04:56,920 --> 01:05:00,240 Speaker 1: So it's in addition to that, there's actually on going 1118 01:05:00,280 --> 01:05:03,040 Speaker 1: research in the area. So you have people actively looking 1119 01:05:03,200 --> 01:05:06,720 Speaker 1: at that place and looking at the impacts UM to 1120 01:05:06,840 --> 01:05:09,760 Speaker 1: make sure that what they're doing is working, also using 1121 01:05:09,760 --> 01:05:12,600 Speaker 1: it for research purposes to see, Okay, what kind of 1122 01:05:12,640 --> 01:05:16,520 Speaker 1: impacts do these closed areas have. UM. And you have 1123 01:05:16,680 --> 01:05:20,680 Speaker 1: ongoing law enforcement that's engaged in making sure that the 1124 01:05:20,760 --> 01:05:25,640 Speaker 1: regulations are being enforced quite frankly. UM. You know, just 1125 01:05:25,680 --> 01:05:28,120 Speaker 1: because you have a rule or a law or regulation 1126 01:05:28,160 --> 01:05:30,000 Speaker 1: doesn't mean that people are going to abide by it. 1127 01:05:30,560 --> 01:05:34,280 Speaker 1: And so kind of all of those factors together, UM, 1128 01:05:34,320 --> 01:05:37,160 Speaker 1: you know, have led to a area and area that's 1129 01:05:37,160 --> 01:05:40,080 Speaker 1: closed to fishing. That makes sense. UM. One of the 1130 01:05:40,120 --> 01:05:45,280 Speaker 1: proposals UM that has come up UM as far as 1131 01:05:45,320 --> 01:05:49,240 Speaker 1: the Southeast Florida Coral Retract is to close twenty two 1132 01:05:49,680 --> 01:05:53,120 Speaker 1: percent of it to fishing and boating access, and the 1133 01:05:53,200 --> 01:05:56,080 Speaker 1: idea being that we have this stressed reef. In other 1134 01:05:56,120 --> 01:05:59,160 Speaker 1: places around the world, we've seen that when we close 1135 01:05:59,280 --> 01:06:02,120 Speaker 1: areas to fish access, they kind of act like a 1136 01:06:02,200 --> 01:06:05,960 Speaker 1: reserve basically that the fish can go to um and 1137 01:06:05,960 --> 01:06:08,760 Speaker 1: and have some protection there, and then that spills over 1138 01:06:08,800 --> 01:06:12,320 Speaker 1: into the surrounding areas. Like you might close the area 1139 01:06:12,480 --> 01:06:15,720 Speaker 1: but not see it, but not see like a decline 1140 01:06:15,760 --> 01:06:18,480 Speaker 1: of the resource that is putting out. Yeah, and I 1141 01:06:18,520 --> 01:06:23,400 Speaker 1: think UM in other places that that could make sense. UM, 1142 01:06:23,480 --> 01:06:25,800 Speaker 1: It's the jury is still out. I've seen a lot 1143 01:06:25,800 --> 01:06:29,400 Speaker 1: of mixed research on how effective what they would call 1144 01:06:29,440 --> 01:06:33,600 Speaker 1: a no take marine protected area UM is in in 1145 01:06:33,640 --> 01:06:36,960 Speaker 1: achieving that goal. UM. I think in areas, particularly with 1146 01:06:37,040 --> 01:06:40,960 Speaker 1: corals where you're talking about protecting herbivores like parrot fish 1147 01:06:40,960 --> 01:06:43,680 Speaker 1: to keep algae down off of reefs, that can be 1148 01:06:43,720 --> 01:06:47,400 Speaker 1: an important component. Um. But in Florida we have really 1149 01:06:47,520 --> 01:06:55,000 Speaker 1: stringent fishing regulations. UM. And you know, from a stockwide perspective, UM, 1150 01:06:55,160 --> 01:06:57,800 Speaker 1: we don't see a lot. We might see some localized 1151 01:06:57,800 --> 01:07:02,520 Speaker 1: depletions where there are you know, area as a heavy effort. UM. 1152 01:07:02,560 --> 01:07:05,800 Speaker 1: But from a stockwide perspective, you know, we don't have 1153 01:07:06,360 --> 01:07:10,520 Speaker 1: we don't have issues with parrot fish populations. UM. And 1154 01:07:11,040 --> 01:07:13,720 Speaker 1: you know, the vast majority of our sport fish are 1155 01:07:13,720 --> 01:07:17,680 Speaker 1: in really really good shape and so UM from our perspective, 1156 01:07:17,720 --> 01:07:21,320 Speaker 1: you really need a good reason um to justify why 1157 01:07:21,360 --> 01:07:22,720 Speaker 1: you're gonna close it down, and you need to try 1158 01:07:22,720 --> 01:07:26,680 Speaker 1: other stuff first, um, because fishing is so important in Florida. 1159 01:07:27,120 --> 01:07:29,720 Speaker 1: I mean, if we're seeing localized depletions in a certain area, 1160 01:07:29,760 --> 01:07:32,120 Speaker 1: well you know what, then then let's decrease the bag 1161 01:07:32,160 --> 01:07:34,400 Speaker 1: limit there. We don't need to shut shut it down 1162 01:07:34,440 --> 01:07:40,360 Speaker 1: to everything as the knee jerk reaction. So I think, UM, 1163 01:07:40,400 --> 01:07:43,440 Speaker 1: I think there's been some you know, you look at 1164 01:07:43,480 --> 01:07:47,280 Speaker 1: it from like I said, a global perspective and a 1165 01:07:47,400 --> 01:07:49,880 Speaker 1: note take area can make sense, but I think you 1166 01:07:49,960 --> 01:07:53,760 Speaker 1: also need to try other things first, particularly here in 1167 01:07:53,840 --> 01:07:57,560 Speaker 1: the States where we have um, you know, such strong 1168 01:07:57,600 --> 01:08:01,280 Speaker 1: regulations already in place from a federal antistate perspective. So 1169 01:08:02,640 --> 01:08:07,640 Speaker 1: so the main way two help the fisheries here would 1170 01:08:07,720 --> 01:08:12,080 Speaker 1: be more habitat level. I think that's a lot of 1171 01:08:12,360 --> 01:08:16,599 Speaker 1: big general sense, more like whole picture habitat level fixes 1172 01:08:16,840 --> 01:08:19,920 Speaker 1: rather than stopping fishing. Yeah, I think because I think 1173 01:08:19,960 --> 01:08:22,600 Speaker 1: a lot of what you see are going back to 1174 01:08:22,640 --> 01:08:26,560 Speaker 1: water quality. I mean, it really is. That really is 1175 01:08:26,640 --> 01:08:28,519 Speaker 1: kind of the lynchpin and all of it. And and 1176 01:08:28,560 --> 01:08:32,240 Speaker 1: the challenges is that it's not easy to fix UM. 1177 01:08:32,320 --> 01:08:34,880 Speaker 1: You know, there are a lot of different sources of 1178 01:08:35,280 --> 01:08:40,160 Speaker 1: UM runoff, of pollution, of sedimentation. You know, we're also 1179 01:08:40,880 --> 01:08:47,000 Speaker 1: you know, we've got um uh huge UM barge traffic 1180 01:08:47,360 --> 01:08:51,320 Speaker 1: and port traffic, and you have to try to balance 1181 01:08:52,000 --> 01:08:54,200 Speaker 1: and and I don't know that we necessarily understand all 1182 01:08:54,280 --> 01:08:57,439 Speaker 1: of what goes into those developments, but you've got to balance, 1183 01:08:57,960 --> 01:09:04,680 Speaker 1: you know, the development with the resource. It is tricky 1184 01:09:04,760 --> 01:09:08,200 Speaker 1: and it's not easy. And I think that's why UM, 1185 01:09:08,240 --> 01:09:10,280 Speaker 1: you know, I think when you look at closing off 1186 01:09:10,320 --> 01:09:13,040 Speaker 1: an area fishing. Well, that's something easy and concrete that 1187 01:09:13,080 --> 01:09:16,160 Speaker 1: I can do today. Um. The problem is is that 1188 01:09:16,200 --> 01:09:19,040 Speaker 1: if you don't address the real elephant in the room 1189 01:09:19,320 --> 01:09:22,519 Speaker 1: of water quality, you're not going to achieve the goal 1190 01:09:22,600 --> 01:09:26,360 Speaker 1: that you want. Yeah, you could damage that industry and 1191 01:09:26,439 --> 01:09:32,760 Speaker 1: still wind up with things going downhill. Exactly exactly. We 1192 01:09:32,880 --> 01:09:37,080 Speaker 1: covered a lot, an immense amount, got it all figured out. 1193 01:09:37,120 --> 01:09:41,840 Speaker 1: Now right, you can take my job. I'm ready to go, 1194 01:09:41,840 --> 01:09:43,559 Speaker 1: and I'm ready to go down to the store and 1195 01:09:43,560 --> 01:09:47,120 Speaker 1: get me some shovels and take the axes. Is there 1196 01:09:47,120 --> 01:09:50,640 Speaker 1: anything we didn't get to that you want to get to? Um? 1197 01:09:50,760 --> 01:09:53,280 Speaker 1: You know, I think I hope that we've got the 1198 01:09:53,320 --> 01:09:56,679 Speaker 1: message across that. UM. I know you'll have listeners across 1199 01:09:56,880 --> 01:09:59,600 Speaker 1: the nation, in the world, and you know, what, what 1200 01:09:59,760 --> 01:10:02,760 Speaker 1: can they do? And why should they do something? That 1201 01:10:02,880 --> 01:10:06,840 Speaker 1: people we get a lot of when we're talking about issues. 1202 01:10:06,880 --> 01:10:08,160 Speaker 1: We get a lot of people who are like, but 1203 01:10:08,200 --> 01:10:10,840 Speaker 1: what do I do? Yeah? And I think that that's 1204 01:10:10,960 --> 01:10:12,920 Speaker 1: what I always like to leave people with, because I 1205 01:10:12,920 --> 01:10:16,439 Speaker 1: think part of the frustration with Everglades restoration is that 1206 01:10:16,479 --> 01:10:18,960 Speaker 1: people feel like they can't do anything that it's this, 1207 01:10:19,360 --> 01:10:23,920 Speaker 1: you know, would be like, oh my God, I'd rather 1208 01:10:24,000 --> 01:10:26,120 Speaker 1: just go work on another issue. Yeah, there's the whole 1209 01:10:26,120 --> 01:10:28,200 Speaker 1: bureautic mess, and it's completely out of my hands and 1210 01:10:28,240 --> 01:10:30,240 Speaker 1: there's nothing I can do. And I you know, we 1211 01:10:30,320 --> 01:10:33,719 Speaker 1: have three million anglers that come to Florida, either visiting 1212 01:10:33,800 --> 01:10:36,600 Speaker 1: or resident every year. That's a lot of people that 1213 01:10:36,680 --> 01:10:38,920 Speaker 1: come to our state to visit. And and so they're 1214 01:10:38,960 --> 01:10:41,840 Speaker 1: obviously not from Florida. Um. You know, they can call 1215 01:10:42,040 --> 01:10:45,240 Speaker 1: their congressman and their senator and their state and say, hey, 1216 01:10:45,680 --> 01:10:49,519 Speaker 1: you know, this isn't a Michigan or an Iowa or 1217 01:10:49,560 --> 01:10:52,760 Speaker 1: a Seattle specific issue, but you need to support it 1218 01:10:52,920 --> 01:10:55,280 Speaker 1: and and here's why, and and lay it out for them. 1219 01:10:55,280 --> 01:10:57,519 Speaker 1: You know that it's the national treasure that I go 1220 01:10:57,600 --> 01:10:59,920 Speaker 1: there to fish, and I want to see this preserve 1221 01:11:00,520 --> 01:11:02,639 Speaker 1: um and restored to what it could and should be 1222 01:11:02,760 --> 01:11:06,680 Speaker 1: to keep this tragedy from happening again. That's the thing 1223 01:11:06,720 --> 01:11:09,400 Speaker 1: that I try to put forth, Like an idea I 1224 01:11:09,439 --> 01:11:14,120 Speaker 1: try to get um hunters and anglers on board with, 1225 01:11:14,360 --> 01:11:17,280 Speaker 1: is that like an attack against one as an attack 1226 01:11:17,280 --> 01:11:21,519 Speaker 1: against all, and and and some groups do that. Well, 1227 01:11:22,120 --> 01:11:25,040 Speaker 1: you know, I think that when it comes to like 1228 01:11:25,160 --> 01:11:29,680 Speaker 1: gun rights, right, people look at an attack against one 1229 01:11:29,720 --> 01:11:31,559 Speaker 1: is an attack against all. But I think that when 1230 01:11:31,600 --> 01:11:35,120 Speaker 1: it comes to habitat issues, that's not We're good at 1231 01:11:35,200 --> 01:11:39,000 Speaker 1: being like we're really good at being really insular and 1232 01:11:39,120 --> 01:11:41,800 Speaker 1: like provincially you know, and just sort of viewing like, well, 1233 01:11:41,840 --> 01:11:44,760 Speaker 1: I'm kind of worried about my little spot. Yeah, right, 1234 01:11:44,880 --> 01:11:46,400 Speaker 1: like you know, I'm gonna go down to the County 1235 01:11:46,400 --> 01:11:50,400 Speaker 1: Deer Commission and give them a yearful. But yeah, they're not. 1236 01:11:50,520 --> 01:11:52,240 Speaker 1: But they but they don't like, look, they're not looking 1237 01:11:52,280 --> 01:11:55,640 Speaker 1: at the big, huge picture, right because but even in 1238 01:11:55,640 --> 01:11:59,920 Speaker 1: this case. What's interesting about Florida though, is here everybody does. 1239 01:12:00,080 --> 01:12:02,360 Speaker 1: I grew up, We came down in fished Florida. We 1240 01:12:02,439 --> 01:12:06,040 Speaker 1: came every year to fish in Florida, drive down, typically, 1241 01:12:06,120 --> 01:12:08,120 Speaker 1: drive down the motor home and camp on the beach, 1242 01:12:08,240 --> 01:12:12,360 Speaker 1: gets sun sick fishing Florida. Yeah, I mean, like I said, 1243 01:12:12,479 --> 01:12:15,120 Speaker 1: that's the millions of people. So it's not even like 1244 01:12:15,320 --> 01:12:19,479 Speaker 1: for millions of Americans. It's not like you're not doing 1245 01:12:19,479 --> 01:12:23,599 Speaker 1: this sort of generous act. You can still keep it selfish. Well, 1246 01:12:23,640 --> 01:12:27,639 Speaker 1: you don't have to be I mean, go to the beach. 1247 01:12:27,680 --> 01:12:30,400 Speaker 1: I mean if you just come down as a tourist, um, 1248 01:12:30,600 --> 01:12:34,280 Speaker 1: you don't want to see algae six inch thick in 1249 01:12:34,439 --> 01:12:37,439 Speaker 1: the water. It really makes it distasteful. And I remember 1250 01:12:37,439 --> 01:12:39,120 Speaker 1: standing on the beach here one time, a couple of 1251 01:12:39,160 --> 01:12:41,280 Speaker 1: years ago. So my kids are three, five, and seven 1252 01:12:41,960 --> 01:12:44,840 Speaker 1: and standing on the beach right before our three year 1253 01:12:44,840 --> 01:12:47,760 Speaker 1: old was born, and I see what I think is 1254 01:12:47,800 --> 01:12:51,040 Speaker 1: like a pot of raise maybe coming down the beach, 1255 01:12:51,080 --> 01:12:52,640 Speaker 1: and that really is just like traveling the way that 1256 01:12:52,760 --> 01:12:55,360 Speaker 1: raised don't and uh, and my kids are just out 1257 01:12:55,360 --> 01:12:57,920 Speaker 1: in angle deep water and just right within arms reached, 1258 01:12:57,960 --> 01:13:01,479 Speaker 1: these manatees come by. Oh, just blew their mind, man, 1259 01:13:01,720 --> 01:13:03,840 Speaker 1: very mind, you know what I mean. And just see 1260 01:13:03,840 --> 01:13:05,599 Speaker 1: that like and you're not like you know, I've seen 1261 01:13:05,640 --> 01:13:08,200 Speaker 1: them like in in the out in the mangroves and 1262 01:13:08,240 --> 01:13:10,840 Speaker 1: stuff and bleeze and elsewhere, but just on this beach 1263 01:13:10,840 --> 01:13:12,200 Speaker 1: where as far as you look one way and as 1264 01:13:12,200 --> 01:13:15,960 Speaker 1: far as you look the other way, it's hotels and sand. 1265 01:13:16,520 --> 01:13:19,160 Speaker 1: But to think like that there, but to build a 1266 01:13:19,160 --> 01:13:21,679 Speaker 1: place where that can co exist, where they're traveling from one, 1267 01:13:22,000 --> 01:13:24,360 Speaker 1: you know, one estuary or whatever to another and have 1268 01:13:24,439 --> 01:13:26,040 Speaker 1: them come blown by, I mean it kind of like 1269 01:13:26,120 --> 01:13:28,040 Speaker 1: makes a believer out of you to see something like that. 1270 01:13:28,120 --> 01:13:29,479 Speaker 1: And I think you make a good point. I mean, 1271 01:13:29,520 --> 01:13:33,200 Speaker 1: I think as um, you know, as despairing as it 1272 01:13:33,240 --> 01:13:36,040 Speaker 1: can seem when you look at it from this side, 1273 01:13:36,479 --> 01:13:40,519 Speaker 1: seeing how far we still have to go. Um, not 1274 01:13:40,600 --> 01:13:42,519 Speaker 1: only can we help shorten that timeline so it's not 1275 01:13:42,600 --> 01:13:44,640 Speaker 1: quite so far, but we can look at the successes 1276 01:13:44,640 --> 01:13:47,400 Speaker 1: that we've already had, and manatees are certainly one. We 1277 01:13:47,400 --> 01:13:51,880 Speaker 1: were talking about American crocodiles earlier before we started, and 1278 01:13:51,880 --> 01:13:54,679 Speaker 1: I was guilty thinking that we didn't have American crocodiles anymore. 1279 01:13:54,680 --> 01:13:56,000 Speaker 1: But it why is up being that they went from 1280 01:13:56,000 --> 01:14:01,000 Speaker 1: being federally listed as endangered and got upgraded. Yeah, they're 1281 01:14:01,040 --> 01:14:03,679 Speaker 1: great as much as the upgrade got upgraded to threaten, 1282 01:14:03,880 --> 01:14:05,280 Speaker 1: which is like a nice move. It's a move in 1283 01:14:05,280 --> 01:14:07,400 Speaker 1: the right direction. Is better than being moving from threatened 1284 01:14:07,400 --> 01:14:10,720 Speaker 1: to endangered exactly. And we have um, you know black bear. 1285 01:14:10,760 --> 01:14:12,040 Speaker 1: I mean, we have a lot of things in the 1286 01:14:12,120 --> 01:14:16,800 Speaker 1: state that we that have come back, um through through 1287 01:14:16,800 --> 01:14:20,439 Speaker 1: public involvement in this process. And UM, so I think 1288 01:14:20,439 --> 01:14:23,120 Speaker 1: there is hope. I think the take home news that 1289 01:14:23,160 --> 01:14:26,880 Speaker 1: there is hope UM for Everglades restoration. And I think 1290 01:14:26,880 --> 01:14:28,400 Speaker 1: we have a lot of projects that are going to 1291 01:14:28,439 --> 01:14:31,080 Speaker 1: be coming online in the next five years or so 1292 01:14:31,160 --> 01:14:33,640 Speaker 1: that are gonna have a big impact, and we just 1293 01:14:33,680 --> 01:14:36,840 Speaker 1: need to finish the last few to kind of bring 1294 01:14:36,880 --> 01:14:38,799 Speaker 1: it to the finish line and then look to see, 1295 01:14:38,920 --> 01:14:40,560 Speaker 1: you know, how is this working. Where else can we 1296 01:14:40,600 --> 01:14:42,280 Speaker 1: tweak it? Because it's not going to be a hundred 1297 01:14:42,320 --> 01:14:45,519 Speaker 1: percent It was never designed to be a hundred percent fix. Um. 1298 01:14:45,520 --> 01:14:47,320 Speaker 1: There's always going to be things that you see when 1299 01:14:47,400 --> 01:14:48,760 Speaker 1: you're on the ground that you know, what, we might 1300 01:14:48,760 --> 01:14:49,920 Speaker 1: need to tweak this a little bit, or you know, 1301 01:14:49,960 --> 01:14:52,439 Speaker 1: if we did this one little project over here. Um. 1302 01:14:52,479 --> 01:14:55,040 Speaker 1: The South Worida Water Management District has already done that 1303 01:14:55,120 --> 01:14:58,280 Speaker 1: with several projects that they've taken on by themselves apart 1304 01:14:58,320 --> 01:15:01,120 Speaker 1: from the federal government, to kind of tweak it to 1305 01:15:01,280 --> 01:15:04,960 Speaker 1: have a maximum benefit for a minimal cost. So the 1306 01:15:05,400 --> 01:15:07,439 Speaker 1: part about people getting involved in somebody they want to 1307 01:15:07,439 --> 01:15:10,519 Speaker 1: get involved, You say, call your representatives, tell him we 1308 01:15:10,520 --> 01:15:12,799 Speaker 1: need money. I mean, that's like the fish in Florida. 1309 01:15:12,880 --> 01:15:15,280 Speaker 1: My brother in law likes to fish in Florida. Yeah, 1310 01:15:15,320 --> 01:15:17,920 Speaker 1: you got to help that guy out. Send some money 1311 01:15:17,920 --> 01:15:21,840 Speaker 1: down there. Exactly because when they get to the appropriations, 1312 01:15:21,880 --> 01:15:24,320 Speaker 1: which you know, is divvying up the money, um, for 1313 01:15:24,360 --> 01:15:27,640 Speaker 1: the Army Corps of Engineers. There's fifty other states that 1314 01:15:27,680 --> 01:15:31,719 Speaker 1: have significant projects. UM. One other thing, one other funding 1315 01:15:31,760 --> 01:15:35,320 Speaker 1: opportunity that's kind of on hopefully on the more immediate horizon, 1316 01:15:35,400 --> 01:15:38,920 Speaker 1: is the Disaster Relief bill. UM. So that's as a 1317 01:15:38,920 --> 01:15:41,240 Speaker 1: result of all the hurricanes that we had to Puerto 1318 01:15:41,320 --> 01:15:45,080 Speaker 1: Rico and Florida. Yeah, all three um. And that's that's 1319 01:15:45,120 --> 01:15:46,920 Speaker 1: kind of sitting in the Senate right now. The House 1320 01:15:47,000 --> 01:15:48,879 Speaker 1: is already voted on it. But that would give twelve 1321 01:15:48,960 --> 01:15:52,720 Speaker 1: billion dollars to the CORE UM. And so granted that 1322 01:15:52,720 --> 01:15:57,080 Speaker 1: has to be divided between the three disaster states, but 1323 01:15:57,240 --> 01:16:00,120 Speaker 1: that could give some significant funding for the CORE to 1324 01:16:00,160 --> 01:16:03,240 Speaker 1: move forward on some Everglades projects quickly. So calling your 1325 01:16:03,280 --> 01:16:05,680 Speaker 1: senators and saying we need to take this up. You 1326 01:16:05,680 --> 01:16:07,800 Speaker 1: said it was twenty billion, right. It's a fifth year 1327 01:16:08,280 --> 01:16:13,080 Speaker 1: total right there. Yeah, yep. And I guess you could 1328 01:16:13,160 --> 01:16:16,880 Speaker 1: probably um help to come to Florida do a little 1329 01:16:16,880 --> 01:16:21,400 Speaker 1: fishing always always, and and to put in another plug, 1330 01:16:21,439 --> 01:16:24,559 Speaker 1: you know, because of the hurricanes, there were some significant 1331 01:16:24,560 --> 01:16:28,160 Speaker 1: impacts in the Florida Keys and the southwest coast Florida 1332 01:16:28,200 --> 01:16:31,360 Speaker 1: Everglades City and those are some of the best fishing 1333 01:16:31,680 --> 01:16:34,920 Speaker 1: um opportunities here in the state, and and those folks, 1334 01:16:35,520 --> 01:16:38,639 Speaker 1: the guides especially, really need folks to come down. Um 1335 01:16:38,880 --> 01:16:41,719 Speaker 1: you know it. Sometimes hotels can still be a challenge, 1336 01:16:41,760 --> 01:16:44,400 Speaker 1: but they're open, ready for business, and the fishing is great. 1337 01:16:44,520 --> 01:16:46,600 Speaker 1: So yeah, I would say you need to come. I 1338 01:16:46,600 --> 01:16:49,360 Speaker 1: would add that that's provisional when I say that come 1339 01:16:49,400 --> 01:16:51,439 Speaker 1: down to fish, it's provisional, Like, if you're gonna come 1340 01:16:51,479 --> 01:16:53,400 Speaker 1: down and fish, you need to You owe it to 1341 01:16:53,439 --> 01:16:56,960 Speaker 1: yourself and others to take a minute to understand what 1342 01:16:57,080 --> 01:17:00,120 Speaker 1: am I catching. Yeah, first you start out by saying, 1343 01:17:00,280 --> 01:17:02,120 Speaker 1: like you need to force yourself to admit that you 1344 01:17:02,200 --> 01:17:04,120 Speaker 1: kind of love it, right, I think a lot of 1345 01:17:04,160 --> 01:17:07,160 Speaker 1: people fish, but they never go like and I love it? Ye, 1346 01:17:07,840 --> 01:17:10,920 Speaker 1: So you say like, and I love it, And I 1347 01:17:10,920 --> 01:17:15,519 Speaker 1: wanted to stick around where did the fish come from? Like? 1348 01:17:15,560 --> 01:17:19,200 Speaker 1: Where did this what exactly went into this fish existing 1349 01:17:19,240 --> 01:17:23,320 Speaker 1: here on earth? And when you start understanding that how 1350 01:17:23,320 --> 01:17:29,080 Speaker 1: it's all connected, then then hopefully as UH advocacy is born, well, 1351 01:17:29,080 --> 01:17:31,640 Speaker 1: it develops that relationship right between the person and the 1352 01:17:32,320 --> 01:17:35,439 Speaker 1: and the environment. So it's better to do that than 1353 01:17:35,439 --> 01:17:38,040 Speaker 1: to be like, whatever the hell happened to that fish? 1354 01:17:38,280 --> 01:17:43,960 Speaker 1: In twenty years. I guess I won't go to Florida now. Um, 1355 01:17:44,080 --> 01:17:46,840 Speaker 1: you guys got any final things gonna book my trip now, 1356 01:17:47,280 --> 01:17:49,840 Speaker 1: not that I'm not gonna come back now. And then 1357 01:17:50,080 --> 01:17:51,960 Speaker 1: it sounds like the fish is just gonna get better 1358 01:17:52,000 --> 01:17:58,720 Speaker 1: and better reservation. Well, you know, I think, um, at 1359 01:17:58,800 --> 01:18:00,519 Speaker 1: least from a fishing perspective, have a lot of the 1360 01:18:00,560 --> 01:18:04,320 Speaker 1: impacts that we see are temporary because it is a 1361 01:18:04,680 --> 01:18:08,360 Speaker 1: you know, a finite event, um where we had the 1362 01:18:08,640 --> 01:18:11,599 Speaker 1: impacts from the discharges, but you know, we've had two 1363 01:18:11,600 --> 01:18:14,479 Speaker 1: in a row, and so you know, we're hoping that 1364 01:18:14,560 --> 01:18:18,280 Speaker 1: we don't continue to see that increase in frequency because 1365 01:18:18,280 --> 01:18:20,200 Speaker 1: that obviously would have more of a long term effect. 1366 01:18:20,280 --> 01:18:22,720 Speaker 1: Would be nice to get a break, Matt could have 1367 01:18:22,760 --> 01:18:27,800 Speaker 1: you said anything? Yet you're all heads You're all head 1368 01:18:27,840 --> 01:18:29,960 Speaker 1: set it up. Um. You know, I've been bringing people 1369 01:18:30,000 --> 01:18:33,320 Speaker 1: down to South Florida for a long time, and uh, 1370 01:18:33,439 --> 01:18:37,800 Speaker 1: you know, people obviously have enjoyed, you know, all of 1371 01:18:37,840 --> 01:18:42,240 Speaker 1: the the fruits of the environment, et cetera. And you know, 1372 01:18:42,320 --> 01:18:45,720 Speaker 1: I've been very overwhelmed on you know, the overall complexity 1373 01:18:45,720 --> 01:18:47,320 Speaker 1: of all of the issues. And we spent a lot 1374 01:18:47,360 --> 01:18:50,719 Speaker 1: of time with the locals and everyone's got an opinion. 1375 01:18:51,280 --> 01:18:54,280 Speaker 1: It's refreshing to know that there's you know, the restoration 1376 01:18:54,400 --> 01:18:58,599 Speaker 1: plan in place, and uh, the complexity. I don't think 1377 01:18:58,880 --> 01:19:01,760 Speaker 1: the rest of the US really understands all of the 1378 01:19:01,800 --> 01:19:07,639 Speaker 1: constituents and UM, stakeholders, did you say and just appreciate 1379 01:19:07,640 --> 01:19:10,160 Speaker 1: your work? Well, thank you well And I think, UM, 1380 01:19:10,200 --> 01:19:14,480 Speaker 1: what what your comments brought up an interesting point, So stakeholders, 1381 01:19:14,520 --> 01:19:16,559 Speaker 1: it's not just the state in the federal government. There's 1382 01:19:16,560 --> 01:19:19,760 Speaker 1: actually another nation. We have tribal nations, UM, and the 1383 01:19:19,800 --> 01:19:22,479 Speaker 1: Everglades that are also involved in this process. Um. You 1384 01:19:22,479 --> 01:19:25,840 Speaker 1: have the Mikasuki and seminoles so UM. That kind of 1385 01:19:25,840 --> 01:19:29,599 Speaker 1: adds a whole another complexity of trying to have actual 1386 01:19:30,040 --> 01:19:33,960 Speaker 1: international negotiations, if you will. UM, I think from the 1387 01:19:34,000 --> 01:19:38,160 Speaker 1: Everglades perspective, and we keep talking about restoration, and I 1388 01:19:38,200 --> 01:19:40,080 Speaker 1: don't want folks to get the idea that it's this 1389 01:19:40,160 --> 01:19:45,200 Speaker 1: like blighted landscape, UM, you know, not worthy of of 1390 01:19:45,200 --> 01:19:49,920 Speaker 1: of seeing until it's fixed, because it is. It is 1391 01:19:49,960 --> 01:19:52,960 Speaker 1: the most awe inspiring place that I think I've ever 1392 01:19:53,000 --> 01:19:56,439 Speaker 1: been in State Florida. For sure. UM. To see the 1393 01:19:56,520 --> 01:20:01,440 Speaker 1: vastness of it, even as it exists now is truly overwhelming, 1394 01:20:01,800 --> 01:20:07,000 Speaker 1: and it the miles of grass and water. I mean, 1395 01:20:07,040 --> 01:20:10,880 Speaker 1: it is truly a river of grass and um. So 1396 01:20:10,960 --> 01:20:14,200 Speaker 1: even as it exists now, it's definitely worth a visit 1397 01:20:14,840 --> 01:20:20,000 Speaker 1: and a look to appreciate, um, appreciate it as a wonder. 1398 01:20:20,200 --> 01:20:22,120 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, you totally get it looking at it. It's 1399 01:20:22,120 --> 01:20:23,800 Speaker 1: not it's like a fixer upper. It's not like a 1400 01:20:23,880 --> 01:20:26,519 Speaker 1: burned down structure. Yeah, but I think when people think of, well, 1401 01:20:26,560 --> 01:20:28,680 Speaker 1: we've got to restore it, you know that it's just this, 1402 01:20:29,280 --> 01:20:32,360 Speaker 1: it's like it's a concrete jungle or something. Now like, no, 1403 01:20:32,479 --> 01:20:35,040 Speaker 1: I get it, man, I get it, and we need 1404 01:20:35,080 --> 01:20:37,600 Speaker 1: to Yeah, it's it's all inspiring. Yeah, it's not like 1405 01:20:37,640 --> 01:20:39,880 Speaker 1: you're trying to say you're not You're not trying to 1406 01:20:39,880 --> 01:20:42,280 Speaker 1: get someone to sort of imagine it's beauty. It's beauty 1407 01:20:42,280 --> 01:20:44,960 Speaker 1: still is right there demonstrated. We just want to make 1408 01:20:44,960 --> 01:20:47,760 Speaker 1: sure we can continue it and keep it long term. 1409 01:20:48,000 --> 01:20:51,040 Speaker 1: And depending on who you're talked to, some people describe 1410 01:20:51,080 --> 01:20:53,840 Speaker 1: as extremely sensitive and then others that it has a 1411 01:20:53,880 --> 01:20:56,760 Speaker 1: resiliency to it that has withstood, you know, all the 1412 01:20:56,800 --> 01:21:00,800 Speaker 1: historical impacts that you talked about. So it's kind of 1413 01:21:00,840 --> 01:21:03,920 Speaker 1: hard to reconcile between both. Yeah. I think as much 1414 01:21:03,960 --> 01:21:06,120 Speaker 1: as we've messed it up, it is amazing that it 1415 01:21:06,240 --> 01:21:11,759 Speaker 1: is still there and still beautiful and still inspiring. Alright, 1416 01:21:11,880 --> 01:21:15,280 Speaker 1: Kelly Ralston, Oh do you have time? I still have 1417 01:21:15,400 --> 01:21:21,120 Speaker 1: one last question? Just like all right, No, that's fine, 1418 01:21:21,200 --> 01:21:23,960 Speaker 1: go ahead. I just like, no, I'm not a hurry Okay, 1419 01:21:24,120 --> 01:21:25,840 Speaker 1: I just did that. I said her name like in 1420 01:21:25,880 --> 01:21:29,320 Speaker 1: an endy way. Yeah, that's why you jumped in. You 1421 01:21:30,040 --> 01:21:36,680 Speaker 1: sense that. Yeah, Um, what do you what species do 1422 01:21:36,720 --> 01:21:39,720 Speaker 1: you like to chase? And what's your next I'm more 1423 01:21:39,760 --> 01:21:44,479 Speaker 1: of a sure girl. Um. We're hoping to well. I 1424 01:21:44,520 --> 01:21:47,280 Speaker 1: will be down at Miami Boat Show um coming up 1425 01:21:47,320 --> 01:21:50,320 Speaker 1: next week, which is put on by a nationally manufacturer association. 1426 01:21:50,400 --> 01:21:53,080 Speaker 1: Pretty amazing thing. Um. And then we're going to head 1427 01:21:53,080 --> 01:21:54,960 Speaker 1: down to the Keys and see what we can find. 1428 01:21:55,400 --> 01:21:57,200 Speaker 1: Depending on the weather, we may try to go a 1429 01:21:57,240 --> 01:22:01,120 Speaker 1: little further offshore, but probably will be more in shore species. 1430 01:22:01,160 --> 01:22:04,800 Speaker 1: So that myself a snook, that's what you want to catch. 1431 01:22:05,280 --> 01:22:08,800 Speaker 1: They're my favorite. I like to eat them. I have 1432 01:22:08,960 --> 01:22:13,200 Speaker 1: not eaten them. I just bring myself. I know they 1433 01:22:13,240 --> 01:22:19,240 Speaker 1: taste from whatever. It's only they're amazing Itelie. Yes, Uh yeah, 1434 01:22:19,439 --> 01:22:21,280 Speaker 1: one of the best things in the ocean. Yeah, I'm 1435 01:22:21,320 --> 01:22:23,040 Speaker 1: not to have a king that runs. Everyone runs out 1436 01:22:23,080 --> 01:22:24,720 Speaker 1: there and kills a snook. We'll just follow your bag 1437 01:22:24,840 --> 01:22:27,559 Speaker 1: limits in season. In season. Yeah, we had some real 1438 01:22:27,600 --> 01:22:30,719 Speaker 1: issues with snook back in when they had that really 1439 01:22:30,800 --> 01:22:35,320 Speaker 1: sustained um cold weather event had a huge killoff closed season. 1440 01:22:35,720 --> 01:22:40,000 Speaker 1: Um Atlantic was less impacted than the Gulf side. Um so. 1441 01:22:40,200 --> 01:22:42,720 Speaker 1: But we're finally now back into a cycle of having 1442 01:22:42,800 --> 01:22:45,240 Speaker 1: open season for snook. But you can catch them around. 1443 01:22:45,240 --> 01:22:48,000 Speaker 1: They're fun catch. I was reading to you'r a fifth 1444 01:22:48,000 --> 01:22:50,760 Speaker 1: generation Floridian, I am, So you go back to like 1445 01:22:50,840 --> 01:22:54,960 Speaker 1: Cobza Devaca. Yeah, yeah, we're I got I got Orange 1446 01:22:54,960 --> 01:22:59,479 Speaker 1: Grove folks back in central Florida, and I've got Bristol, 1447 01:22:59,520 --> 01:23:02,240 Speaker 1: Florida is up in the Panhandle, right around the Apological River. 1448 01:23:02,439 --> 01:23:04,880 Speaker 1: They were farmers and used to ferry folks back and 1449 01:23:04,920 --> 01:23:08,000 Speaker 1: forth across the river. How old were when you caught 1450 01:23:08,040 --> 01:23:12,160 Speaker 1: your first fish? Do you remember? I think we probably 1451 01:23:12,160 --> 01:23:14,719 Speaker 1: went to Lake Hall in Tallahassee, So I was probably 1452 01:23:14,800 --> 01:23:17,599 Speaker 1: under ten when I caught one there, and we used 1453 01:23:17,600 --> 01:23:19,800 Speaker 1: to get whiting down at the coast all the time. 1454 01:23:19,840 --> 01:23:23,160 Speaker 1: That was fried him up for breakfast the fish. Yeah 1455 01:23:23,280 --> 01:23:24,960 Speaker 1: my kids, My kids get af from when we go 1456 01:23:25,000 --> 01:23:27,679 Speaker 1: to Florida. Yeah, those are those are good times. But yeah, 1457 01:23:27,680 --> 01:23:29,400 Speaker 1: so all that was when I was really young, and 1458 01:23:29,439 --> 01:23:31,719 Speaker 1: then um kind of came back to it and graduate 1459 01:23:31,720 --> 01:23:34,720 Speaker 1: school I actually worked on pufferfish ball things, and gradually 1460 01:23:34,760 --> 01:23:38,640 Speaker 1: did worked on um, well the technical terms functional morphology, 1461 01:23:38,800 --> 01:23:41,880 Speaker 1: so you'd actually you figure out how they were eating, 1462 01:23:42,120 --> 01:23:44,320 Speaker 1: and then you could use the patterns that you saw 1463 01:23:44,360 --> 01:23:47,760 Speaker 1: in the muscles and the um skeletal structures to kind 1464 01:23:47,760 --> 01:23:50,760 Speaker 1: of look at evolution of fish feeding, which is kind 1465 01:23:50,800 --> 01:23:54,800 Speaker 1: of a cool thing. I recently read a structural morphology 1466 01:23:54,840 --> 01:23:58,280 Speaker 1: paper round the hinge Functions of a large mouthed bass 1467 01:23:58,320 --> 01:24:03,600 Speaker 1: really was author, but everybody them. It was people studying, 1468 01:24:03,720 --> 01:24:08,600 Speaker 1: people who study like like mechanical engineers looking at the 1469 01:24:08,720 --> 01:24:12,360 Speaker 1: kind of baffling hinge structure of a large mouth bass mouth. 1470 01:24:12,600 --> 01:24:15,559 Speaker 1: Yeah we did that, um, but more from looking at 1471 01:24:15,920 --> 01:24:21,800 Speaker 1: muscle activity and how the bones in the face were arranged. Um, 1472 01:24:21,840 --> 01:24:25,280 Speaker 1: but yeah, there's there a large mouth bass's mouth can 1473 01:24:25,280 --> 01:24:27,840 Speaker 1: do some interesting stuff. Look at a sling jaw rass. 1474 01:24:27,880 --> 01:24:30,320 Speaker 1: That's even more amazing that they can basically take their 1475 01:24:30,320 --> 01:24:33,400 Speaker 1: whole mouth and shoot it out underneath. Yeah, and then 1476 01:24:33,439 --> 01:24:36,240 Speaker 1: create like a ton of inward, like a ton of suction. Yeah, 1477 01:24:36,280 --> 01:24:39,720 Speaker 1: it's suction pressure. That basically all right, I'm gonna say 1478 01:24:39,720 --> 01:24:43,600 Speaker 1: your name in an endy wady ready, Kelly Rolston. No, 1479 01:24:43,720 --> 01:24:46,040 Speaker 1: that's the beginning way. I can't even do it. Can 1480 01:24:46,040 --> 01:24:50,960 Speaker 1: you do it? Because the beginning. If I was the beginning, 1481 01:24:50,960 --> 01:24:53,320 Speaker 1: I'd be like Kelly Rolston, Yes, but I want to 1482 01:24:53,439 --> 01:24:57,519 Speaker 1: end at some like Kelly. No, that's the beginning is 1483 01:24:58,040 --> 01:25:01,360 Speaker 1: Can you do it anyway? I did it a minute ago. Yeah, 1484 01:25:01,400 --> 01:25:03,120 Speaker 1: you had us all. I can't think of how to 1485 01:25:03,120 --> 01:25:06,479 Speaker 1: do it. Just edit it back in and you clip 1486 01:25:06,560 --> 01:25:08,479 Speaker 1: that chunk out and pack it in here. Thank you 1487 01:25:08,560 --> 01:25:12,920 Speaker 1: very much for joining us, Kelly Ralston, Pleasure American Sport 1488 01:25:12,960 --> 01:25:18,760 Speaker 1: Fishing Association. Keep Florida fishing, um and if you keep 1489 01:25:18,800 --> 01:25:22,360 Speaker 1: Florida fishing, you're kind of keeping America fishing. Thank you 1490 01:25:22,360 --> 01:25:24,519 Speaker 1: for joining us. Thanks so much,