| Specialty License Tags Benefit the Environment |
| Written by sonia stephens | |
| Tuesday, July 21 2009 | |
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Purchasing a specialty license tag is a great way to help Florida's environment in these tough budget times. For example, "Discover Florida's Oceans" tag sales have been used to fund a number of grants that support important environmental initiatives. (See our article on this program in the January/February 2008 Sierran in our newsletter archive.) For a list of grants from the "Discover Florida's Oceans", click below! Grant #: DFO 0910-01 Project Title: Shorebird Recovery Agency: FWC, Div. of Habitat & Species Conservation Grant: $8,000 Summary: This grant will fund informational signs that will be posted near areas frequented by nesting shorebirds such as snowy plovers, least terns, black skimmers, roseate terns, and American oystercatchers. The purpose is to prevent unintended harm to the shorebirds and their nests from human activities and beach modification projects. ******* Grant #: DFO 0910-02 Project Title: FWC law enforcement field guide to marine life Agency: FWC, Div. of Marine Fisheries Management and Division of Law Enforcement Grant: $20,000 Summary: This grant will create a field guide to help FWC Law Enforcement officers with the enforcement of complex regulations governing more than 600 species of saltwater fish, invertebrates and plants, used primarily in the aquarium trade. The education of law enforcement officers that are entrusted with helping to protect Florida's natural resources is a major concern. Many regulated marine life species closely resemble other non-regulated species. This project will result in a waterproof guide that will assist FWC officers with the enforcement of the complex marine life rules. This guide goes above and beyond current field guides that are on the market because it will show commonly confused species side-by-side, list the FWC regulations for the various species (including size and bag limits, individual and vessel limits, commercial licensing requirements, etc.) and be waterproof. ******* Grant #: DFO 0910-03 Project Title: "Boating and Angling Guide to the Treasure Coast - South" Agency: FWC, Fish & Wildlife Research Institute Grant: $5,000 Summary: Since 1991, the FWC's Fish and Wildlife Research Institute has produced a very popular series of Boating and Angling Guides. Almost 2.5 million are currently in print. These attractive, map-based color guides are dedicated to not only providing useful information to boaters such as the locations of public ramps, marinas and attendant amenities, and waterway markers, but also information about the importance of conserving local habitats and species, ethical angling, and boating safety. This project will produce a Boating and Angling Guide to Treasure Coast - south. Produced on waterproof paper, the guide will be durable when carried on a watercraft. The guide will include a large map and numerous graphics and narrative describing the local area environment, fishing practices, boating safety, etc. The Guide would also have a directory listing local telephone numbers and radio channels for numerous agencies and organizations such as FWC law enforcement, US Coast Guard, Weather Service, Sheriff's Offices, local parks and preserves, and even marine towing services. ******* Grant #: DFO 0910-04 Project Title: Common Snook (centropomus undecimalis) movements across the boundary of the Kennedy Space Center Estuarine Reserve Agency: FWC, Fish and Wildlife Research Institute Grant: $10,000 Summary: This grant will fund a study of the movement of common snook both in to and out of the Kennedy Space Center Estuarine Reserve. The goal of the study is to determine whether more of these prized sport fish are moving into the protected area than are moving out. The main benefit is to gather evidence to determine if establishing long-term reserves such as the KSC Estuarine Reserve leads to an increase the population of snook in the fishable waters outside the boundary of these reserves. |