SEBASTIAN — What appeared to be a pretty straight-forward Sebastian Natural Resources Board project a year or so ago – assembling and placing oyster mats to help clean the lagoon – has become complicated. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, through the St. John’s River Water Management District, will not issue one of the two required permits until it receives more information.
The other permitting agency, the Army Corp of Engineers, has yet to respond to the permit application.
But despite the pending permits, the Sebastian City Council has approved funding for the project, which includes a matching grant from the SJRWMD. The City will provide $11,000 in funds and $12,900 in-kind, and the SJRWMD will match with $22,900.
Through their ability to efficiently filter and clarify water, oysters support the entire ecosystem into which they are introduced. The mats employ vertically positioned oyster shells which catch fertilized oyster eggs floating through the water, and ultimately grow new oyster beds.
The City’s plan was to assemble 2,000 16×16” mesh oyster mats, and the Natural Resources Board has been collecting and storing oyster shells.
A local Boy Scout, John Giordano, had chosen oyster mats as his Eagle Scout project. He had firsthand experience assembling the mats during a science class project and had begun working with the Board.
But the project kept running into delays in getting the permits completed and submitted and Giordano had yet to receive the required project approval from the Eagle leadership.
Now, a year down the road, the St. John’s permit will have to be resubmitted and the Army Corps permission is still pending.
Just as Giordano was, finally, getting the go-ahead for his Oyster Bed Restoration Project, the City was informed by the SJRWMD that it preferred that the project use bags instead of mats, an entirely different process.
Watanabe stated firmly that if the agencies in charge want bags, “Hey, we’ll do bags.”
It was also determined that one of the two locations the Natural Resources Board had chosen for mat placement – in the lagoon off Capt. Butcher’s north on Indian River Drive – was found to be unacceptable because the City doesn’t have land access. It’s County property. The other, off Squid Lips, should be OK.
Everyone involved remains determined to see it through, however. According to City Engineer Frank Watanabe, the Natural Resources Board plans to meet with the permitting agencies to get the project back on track, and there will no doubt be lots of questions to ask: What additional information is required? Is there a choice on whether to use the bags? What is the bag assembly process? Will Giordano be able to go ahead with his Eagle project? Will the Corps issue the permit? Where else along the lagoon can the mats/bags be placed?