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Broward Coral Reefs Need Protection Now

We ask that the Broward County coral reefs be designated Coral Reef Habitat protected under Presidential Executive Order 13089 and provided the same protection as the Florida Keys reefs. We ask that a comprehensive management plan be implemented for Broward's Coral Reefs.

No such plan now exists. We ask that the Clean Water Act be enforced and that stringent Nitrogen and Phosphorus standards, relevant for coral reefs, be set for millions of gallons of sewage flowing onto the coral reef every day. There are currently no limits for phosphorus and nitrogen in ocean sewer outfalls even though there are standards for water pumped into the everglades. Our coral reef deserves the same protection as reefs in the Keys and the Everglades.

The water quality problem needs to be addressed urgently; harmful algae blooms caused by pollution are already smothering corals (appendix). We must have AWT (Advanced Water Treatment) for our sewage. AWT is needed both for sewage pumped directly onto reefs from ocean outfalls and sewage pumped underground by deep well injection, which also leaks out onto the reef.

Because many of our reefs are already stressed from pollution we asked the Army Corps of Engineers to consider the current health and condition of Broward'scoral reefs when determining how much additional stress the corals can take from the massive dredge and fill project proposed for 18 miles of Broward Coast. The reef around the 3 largest dredging pits for the project is also down current from a sewer outfall and is already severely impacted by harmful algae blooms. The suspended sediments produced by dredging will kill more corals. We asked the Army Corps of Engineers to address these issues in the FEIS (Final Environmental Impact Statement), but they refused. They used old outdated figures for beach erosion, and ignored more recent data showing that the beach was growing in Segment II (Ft. Lauderdale) and did not need to be dredged and filled. They denied our request to use current data.

Dr. Harold Wanless (U. Miami) studied core samples from the proposed dredge pits and found that the material is not good quality beach sand because it will be easily suspended and washed away by waves and contains fragile material that will muddy the water and lead to more corals being buried and smothered. This will shorten the life of beach fill, wasting taxpayer dollars and needlessly killing corals and the dense fish populations that depend on the reef.

At a time when we are losing reef from pollution, diseases and global warming it makes no sense to permit the willful destruction of so many corals. Broward County estimates over 24,000 corals will be buried; but we believe the number will be much higher (appendix).

It is time that we take a common sense approach to marine resource management. We need sustainable reefs, fisheries and beaches. This project fails to seriously consider alternatives, including sand-bypassing at Port Everglades and reducing erosion from poor drainage of roads and adjacent properties, which are the only long-term solution for sustainable beaches in South Broward County. Broward County has failed to deal with Land Based Sources of Erosion. The Army Corps and Broward County have an obligation to obey Executive order 13089, The Coral Reef Conservation Act and The Magnusson-Stevenson act and find alternatives to avoid destroying Southeast Florida's best coral reefs. Because the corps has not used the best available data or considered the alternatives (appendix) we ask for independent oversight and review of this project by the National Academy of Sciences, and that they make recommendations for more sustainable beach management with less destruction of coral and Essential Fish Habitat.

The ROD (Record of Decision) was signed by the Army Corps of Engineers Planning Division on May 11, 2004 even though the regulatory branch of the Corps assured us that they were still reviewing the project. This project is a poster child for why there needs to be oversight and review of Corps Projects.

Cry of the Water Global Coral Reef Alliance Save Our Shoreline P.O. Box 8143 37 Pleasant Street 2001 South Surf Road Coral Springs, Fl 33075 Cambridge, MA 02139 Hollywood, FL 33019 (954) 753-9737 (617) 864-4226 (954) 925-0300 reefteam2@yahoo.com goreau@bestweb.net saveourshoreline@aol.com www.cryofthewater.org www.globalcoral.org Cry of the Water P.O. Box 8143 Coral Springs, FL 33075 www.cryofthewater.org