I just found some very disturbing activity going on, which I think is absolutely destructive to the BHB underwater life now, and may be catastrophic to the area over the next 9 months...the duration of the Project....
Apparently, "someone" decided to build up the mangrove islands...the "manmade Mangrove Islands" immediately south of the Lake Worth Bridge....There is an enormous mountain of Silt/Fill piled up right by the foot of the Lake Worth Bridge on the South West area( Bryant Park), along with some huge crane and large barge activity.... They are dumping fill into the water, trying to raise the height of the manmade mangrove islands, to about 7 feet or so higher than they are presently, and this is projected to take another 9 months--a time period where if nothing changes, we could expect the BHB Marine Park area to be subjected to such massive levels of Silt from all this fill, that all the sponges and the majority of benthic life will be destroyed...not to mention the use of the BHB area for diving will be over for this 9 month period.
I suggest EVERYONE try to get the real story of what is going on, and WHY there are not FUNCTIONAL PROTECTIONS in place to prevent the massive silting that can be seen from aerial flyovers, extending from the Lake Worth Bridge area where the fill is causing the massive silt and turbidity, all the way to the BHB Marine area and the Palm Beach Inlet.
In all fairness, I still need to get a Flyover by Jimmy Abernethy, to show aerial Proof ofe where most of the silt is coming from...there are a couple of other projects going on RIGHT NOW, near DownTown West Palm....we would need to see from the aerial video, if the main turbidity appears to originate at the Lake Worth Bridge area, or if it is a combination of existing projects...whatever we can see and get proof for, there will need to be changes in the method of restricting the silt flow from each area.
It may well be that someone got legal permission to dump all this silt, but I see it as imperative that we ASK our Envronmental Agencies to step in and FORCE the Engineers responsible for this silting, to cease the project until they can continue the project without creating the massive silt zone that will be absolutely destructive to a valuable County Marine Resource.
