Scott Atwell, the communications manager for the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 06.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about the organization.
The National Marine Sanctuary does rely on federal funds.
Atwell said, “We absolutely are a federal agency, but only about 25% of our staff is federal employees, and so they were the ones who were on furlough, 75% of us were able to work, including myself, but we did not have access to buildings or vessels. So now that we’re getting back, the first order of business is to check out the vessels, make sure the equipment’s in good shape, the buildings are in good shape, and then get back to work. Our permit section was also able to work during the shutdown, so they’ve been able to do all this stuff behind the scenes, all the research to be able to approve the permits. But our superintendent is the one who has to sign off on the permit, so they probably have a stack of those things, but hopefully that’ll get taken care of pretty quickly. Our buoy team was getting reports of some of our mooring buoys that were missing, so as soon as the weather permits, they’ll be out repairing those buoys and getting the maintenance work done. We’ve got some dive checks to do. All of our divers are NOAA divers. They have a very rigorous schedule. They have to keep and dive checks certain times of the year. We weren’t able to do that. So those are the types of things that have to get done here right away. But all in all, everyone’s happy to be back to work and hopefully, come January, we don’t go through this again.”
The 35th anniversary of Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary happened on Sunday.
Atwell said the celebration was “reflecting on how far we’ve come. Indeed, it was United States Congress on November 16, 1990 designated this as a sanctuary. It followed a series of boat groundings along the mostly Upper Keys reefs. There was like three in a row, huge boats running aground and Congress took notice of it and very quickly turned around and created Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. At first in 1990 there were a lot of folks who were really concerned about the government coming in and taking over these waters. There were some hangings in effigy and that sort of thing. But I think 35 years later, the vast majority of people in the Keys appreciate what the sanctuary does. They recognize how fragile this ecosystem is and how valuable it is to have federal resources in place to protect critical areas that are necessary. It was never meant to be a museum, and we want people to utilize the water. And there’s a lot of it, 4,500 square miles, but there are discrete areas where extra protection is needed and I think that’s where the real work that we do comes in. We, of course have, over these 35 years, have established the buoy mooring buoy system that I talked about, that’s one of the largest in the world, over 600 mooring buoys to protect that system. We’ve got this network of Blue Star dive shops, who just last year, briefed more than 145,000 divers and snorkelers how to safely utilize the ecosystem as they enjoy it. And we’ve had years and years of sanctuary advisory council members who represent the user groups who use the sanctuary, and these have been great volunteers to help advise our sanctuary superintendent on things that need to be done. So all in all, it’s a week of celebration, 35 years and all of our social media posts this week are sort of reflecting on some of these things that we’ve been able to accomplish.”
The sanctuary has some job openings.
Atwell said, “Come work with the sanctuary. We have two job openings right now. One is in the Upper Keys with Mission Iconic Reefs, and the other one is with our education and outreach team based in Key West. So the Mission Iconic Reefs opening is as a member of our field team. If you enjoy life on the water, and I suspect a lot of our listeners this morning do enjoy life on the water and have a passion for coral restoration, that job would be for you. The Key West position will develop plan and implement education and outreach programs and activities for the sanctuary in support of our National Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, education mission to inspire ocean conservation. So that position is based in Key West, as I said, it will help with volunteers and boater education and how help lead our Lower Keys outreach efforts. December 13 is the closing date for that one. These jobs have been posted on our social media pages, Facebook, Instagram and X. But another way to quickly find it is to go to Florida International University’s Human Resources page. These jobs are actually while they are sanctuary jobs, the hiring entity is Florida International University. And if you get on their website and click on prospective employees and just type in Key Largo or Key West in the search bar, depending on which one you’re interested in, and the job will appear. I just want to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving next week and get out on the water and enjoy Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.”
For more information, click here: https://floridakeys.noaa.gov/