Staff
Publication Date: 07/10/09
Our special summer visitors, sea turtles, don't get the respect they deserve. It's obvious when you read staff writer Chad Smith's story in Thursday's Record, "Left beach gear threatens turtles."
How many more times do people have to be told?
* Clear the path to the ocean for the sea turtle mamas to get to the nesting site and back to the ocean.
* Help their hatchlings get off St. Johns County's beaches alive and heading east.
* Take your beach stuff with you.
OK. We've said it.
We find it hard to believe the things that people leave behind such as coolers, beach chairs, beach umbrellas, and in past years, catamarans. We don't doubt Tara Dodson, the county's habitat conservation coordinator, who keeps a list.
We just want to give her a hand in getting the word out. St. Johns County does not have private beaches where beach stuff left overnight is tolerated.
Our message to these litterers is: If you can't take it with you, give it to someone else, dump it in a trash can as you exit or, as the last resort, leave it by the toll booth and hope someone else picks it up. Moving it off the beach is a better solution than not.
At least these beachgoers will not be contributing to the possible death of a sea turtle mama or a hatchling if their stuff is moved.
Dodson's list of stuff left is just incredible, especially in this economy. For some, money must grow on trees. The story said that beach stuff left is tagged by county beach staff with orange tags. If it is there the next day, it is removed.
Here's what we suggest. Don't waste time tagging stuff and then having to go back the next day and check on it. People know not to leave stuff on public beaches. Tides ebb and flow and often move stuff along, too.
Pick the stuff up the first day, but don't send it to the landfill.
The county needs money. Every little bit helps.
It holds surplus sales for other things. Why not beach stuff too? Collect it all for a mini tag sale to raise funds for beach operations. Better yet, maybe the county could sell the big stuff online, like the next time a catamaran is found.
Saving sea turtles, young and old, is the goal. Getting money for the good stuff left in their paths is gravy.
Species at risk
St. Johns County officials are trying to protect these federally protected species from hazards left by beachgoers:
Endangered -- Anastasia Island beach mouse, leatherback sea turtle
Threatened -- green sea turtle, loggerhead sea turtle
Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
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http://www.staugustine.com/stories/071009/opinions_1729106.shtml
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