Julie Cheon, communications manager for the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 06.9/102.5FM yesterday morning to talk about what’s going on in the sanctuary.
There has been a leadership transition at the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
Cheon said, “Our acting superintendent, David Burke, has actually moved on to a position with the Tourist Development Council, and I really want to recognize his effort, especially most recently over the past two years. He had done a remarkable job, steady leadership, just couldn’t ask for anything better, but he’s accepted a new opportunity with the Tourism Development Council, the TDC. We really wish him the best in his role, and hopefully, because we do work with the TDC, eventually we’ll have some contact back again, but he’s been a strong partner, a really thoughtful leader, and we’re really grateful for the time and energy he gave to the sanctuary. But our work continues, so our staff, our programs, our field operations, our education efforts, permitting, restoration work, it’s all moving forward. There’s a process in place now by the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, which oversees us, and they’re leading the process to bring on a new superintendent. And we hope to hear something relatively soon, potentially in June, but the federal government takes its time, and it’s going to be very thoughtful in this decision, so I can’t guarantee it, but I expect to hear something relatively soon. We have an amazing team in place, and one of the things David did was just, our team is pretty much self-reliant, they go up, they do their work, so it really doesn’t change our commitment or our effort. I mean, he just did such a great job that everybody on site knows their mission, and they just keep moving forward.”
The seasonal closure at Western Dry Rocks has continued.
Cheon said, “The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission implements a seasonal no fishing closure at Western Dry Rocks every year from April 1 through July 31. Right now, all of the buoys are not installed, but the closure is still in effect. So, even if the buoys aren’t there, make sure you check your charts and check your maps. Some of the buoys are there, but not all of them. That closure is in effect. The area is about 10 miles southwest of Key West, and the closure protects important spawning activity for species like snapper, grouper, some of those we like to eat, and some of those we just like to catch, so that’s that’s still in effect. What happened this year, though. We kind of ran into some technical challenges with the buoy installations. We have an amazing buoy team. They have to maintain about 800 buoys up and down the Keys, and we have six folks taking care of that. But in this particular location, Western Dry Rocks, some of those buoys are located in water deeper than our crews are actually authorized to routinely dive, so to offset that, specialized infrastructure had been installed previously. What would that would do was make the deployment and retrieval safer and more efficient, so this infrastructure was put in place that would actually keep a line raised up from the seabed higher, so they could go down and do their job, and it would be a safer effort within their parameters of what they can do, but some of that infrastructure became damaged, so we haven’t been able to deploy all of those buoys, but we do have them, some of them out there, so just I want to make sure this is on everybody’s radar, the regulations, closure boundaries, remain fully active. We really want boaters and anglers to be aware of that and plan accordingly, the seasonal protections are important because of the protections they give to, particularly to spawning fish. I mean, that’s really important. Those are our future generations of fish that are going to help keep this ecosystem healthy. We have this amazing Explorer app, it’s called the Sanctuary Explorer app, and when you’re in the water, if you have that with you, it will actually tell you when you’re in a special protection area or a wildlife management area. So I really encourage people to go and download the Explorer app, especially in the water, plus it has a lot of information about the different locations, and even if you’re not going on the water, the app has a lot of information, so I really encourage people to kind of look that app up. It’s working very well on Apple right now, but we’re working through some transitions if you have an Android phone, so it doesn’t have full functionality if you’re on Android right now, but we’re working on that.”
Are there job opportunities at the sanctuary?
Cheon said, “There are two research coordinator 2 positions available, one is in Key Largo and one’s in Key West, so no matter which side of the Keys you’re on, there’s a position available, and they’re really great opportunities for science-minded folks. These opportunities are in partnership with Florida International University. The sanctuary has a great partnership with Florida International University. A lot of our employees are through that relationship, as am I. I’m technically a Florida International University employee. They will really work closely with our resource protection efforts. Now, the closing date is May 26 so you don’t want to dilly dally, you want to act quickly, and you can find information on how to apply on our social media platforms. If you go to our Facebook, our Instagram, or our X, you will see easy ways to connect there. We also have it on our Mission Iconic Reefs website, and then you can always give us a call.”
What about volunteer opportunities?
Cheon said, “Right now we have some opportunities for the in our Florida Keys Eco Discovery Center, so this is in Key West, so it’s going to be for the folks down in the Lower Keys and Key West, but it’s a great opportunity for people who enjoy meeting visitors, talking about the Florida Keys and our marine environment.”
For more information, click here: https://floridakeys.noaa.gov/