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Up the Channel

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THE SUNCOAST NEWS

Published: November 13, 2007

Pasco County spent years and years trying to get the state to put up the money to dredge the roughly 2-mile-long Hudson Channel. Al Meyer, a Hudson-area community activist and real estate agent, argued clearing the channel of decades of silt and other debris would make it more navigable and yield a boon to the local economy.

While the county was spending years trying to win money for the dredging from the state, we suggested the county could pay for the work itself and save money at the same time.

The county, however, continued on its course and got the dredging completed about two years ago with roughly $1.9 million from the state.

Now, however, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection says the warning signs the county installed along the Hudson Channel to protect the sea-grass beds on either sign of the channel aren't up to snuff. The signs don't explicitly warn motorboat operators they could be prosecuted for trespass if they leave the channel and steer into the fragile sea grass, a haven and spawning ground for much marine life.

Pasco officials counter that the signs must be working because the sea grass seems to be thriving since the dredging ended and the warnings were erected. The Pasco Sheriff's Office marine unit, however, is refusing to cite boaters navigating out of the channel and into the sea grass. Deputies don't believe the citations would stand up in court because the DEP says the warning signs aren't correctly worded. On the other hand, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says the Hudson Channel warning signs conform to the requirements of the permits the FWC issued for the dredging project.

FWC and DEP lawyers reportedly are trying to come up with mutually acceptable language for the channel warning signs. They need to get this done sooner, rather than later.

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