From litigations to derelict boats — MCA talks issues
Matlacha Civic Association President Mike Hannon explained the role of the organization’s action or environmental fund at the group’s monthly meeting Jan. 19. This fund, currently $17,047.62, got started, he said, when the city of Cape Coral tried to annex Matlacha. The MCA raised over $80,000 to fund litigation, which prevented this annexation.
The fund was also used to successfully prevent the city of Cape Coral from removing the Chiquita boat lock.
“If you think of the Cape Coral canals, it has two stoppers — two ends of the bathtub … the bottom of the bathtub is over on the Caloosahatchee River and that dam needs to stay there in order to retain the waters in the canals to keep them clean. The other stopper is north of Miceli’s — on the North Spreader, it used to have a dam there called the Ceitus boat-lift barrier and that went down in 2008, it was never replaced and that’s the reason why there are no fish in your canals,” Hannon said.
A more thorough report on this is coming in the future, Hannon said.
Hannon encouraged everyone to visit southwestfloridaroads.com to look at the plan for a shared use bike path from Burnt Store Road to Pine Island Center. The question he asked was what this means to Matlacha in particular.
While the shared use path is a good idea, said Hannon, he is concerned about taking away already limited parking. He said he would find out if someone from the Department of Transportation can attend a meeting in the future to address this.
The subject of the derelict boats left sinking beside the Matlacha Bridge and the question of possible danger from any chemicals left on board, such as gas or poisons, has been on the minds of many islanders.
“They’re currently in the process of being removed, but it may take six months to a year,” Pine Island Fire Chief Ben Mickuleit said.
Mickuleit, who has contacted FWC to inquire about the capsized vessel, said part of the holdup is that the boat is considered private property, much like someone’s house, which cannot be seized without due process. The next step is that the boat must be declared to be owned by the state, before being properly disposed. The process, he said, has already begun. Unfortunately, no one can know until then whether environmentally unsafe chemicals have been left on board.
Greg McKee of Wildfly Charters gave a presentation on where to find fish in our local waters. Water quality right now is fantastic, he said. The three-year closure of the fish population, including, snook, trout and redfish, has been phenomenal.
“Our fish populations have exploded. I’ve never seen so many under-sized, juvenile snook. In five years we’re going to have an eruption of big, quality game-fish in this area,” McKee said.
Although the Florida Keys have made fishing for tarpon wildly popular, due to the transparent waters, he said our area is also heavily populated with tarpon. In the midst of summer local waters are very dark. This, he reports, is a natural occurrence, resulting in the combination of water temperature and botanic acids. The Pine Island area, he said, should be a tarpon mecca.
“Next to the Keys and the Everglades, I think we are probably one of the greatest tarpon fisheries in the entire state,” McKee said.
Officers and board members of the Matlacha Civic Association are Mike Hannon, President; Leo Amos, Vice President; Ellen Alford, Secretary; Janette Fraissinet, Treasurer; Stephen Longest; Jimmy Young; Kathleen Walsh; Jonathon Hunt; Kim Edgerton; and Jay Thompson.
To reach PAULETTE LeBLANC / pleblanc@breezenewspapers.com, please email