Public meeting opening Wakulla: Thurs,Jan19th 7pm

[sandy]

It was an interesting meeting. A number of cave divers attended so the support was good. I am guessing there were 80 cave divers and another 20 OW divers. After the meeting, I heard a couple of the opposition talk about the number of divers present - they were expecting 20 so we exceeded their expectations.

I was surprised by the comments about the manatees and the harm that we would do. There is a much higher percent chance of one of the Wakulla boats or swimmers harming or harrassing a manatee than a diver. I have never seen a manatee deeper than 10 feet or so. But with the availability of helium maybe they will go deeper.

The big disappointment for me was the number of references to a lack of conservation, vandalism, or theft from the cave should cave divers be allowed. many of these comments came from old people but same come from OW divers and a few cave divers. In particular was the comment from the cave diver(wore a blue GUE shirt) who mentioned the whale's tooth/bone at Ginnie with the chisel marks around it and insinuating the same could happen at Wakulla. I am sorry but of the cave divers I know, there is no greater chance of them disturbing anything at Wakulla that the current divers there.

Write your letters if you have not done so already.

[L.A.]

And if you prefer to send a letter, the address is:

Jessica Kemper Sims
3900 Commonwealth Blvd
TLH, FL 32399

[cwick]

So if you had to guess, what was the percentage for and against diving (out of the 114 who spoke)?

I know of two people who counted speakers and I was told by one of them "that there were 6 more in favor of opening than opposed".

[derek]

It was defiantly an interesting meeting, I was caught a little bit off guard by the number of people there in support of not allowing diving...for the sake of the manatees. I didn't speak but I think several points need to be brought up to the DEP so I will be writing an email/letter to them soon.

I thought it was pretty funny the lady talking about the crown that WKPP divers must have for being so proud of themselves.

Quick picture I took of the crowd.

[SuPrBuGmAn]

I thought the meeting went very well for the "for diving" side.

I was a littler nervous when I got there to all the little signs and badges with "No diving" on them. The pro vs no speakers seemed to be pretty even(apparently with pro slightly in favor). Divers pro were in the greater majority, with the divers against bringing up damage to the cave, missing artifcats and fossils. The rest of the against(non divers) seemed more focused on divers disrupting manatees and tour boats. I heard two instances of tourboats hitting manatees yesterday, which was ironic.

[Squirrel Girl]

Thanks, everybody. Thanks for representing us. I would have gone, but 900 miles was just too far.

Surely there's well established precident for diving and manatee interaction elsewhere in FL?

[jj1987]

Surely there's well established precident for diving and manatee interaction elsewhere in FL?

Blue Springs State Park closes to diving when manatees are present. Crystal River I believe is the only place where you can interact, and some boats (Birds underwater) are very good while others harass the manatees frequently.

[L.A.]

Thanks, everybody. Thanks for representing us. I would have gone, but 900 miles was just too far.

Surely there's well established precident for diving and manatee interaction elsewhere in FL?

Manatee Springs.....closes headspring when manatees are in and uses carry capacities to control impact.

[L.A.]

In writing my letter, I'm listing other successfully managed cave systems. Here's what I have so far: Indian, Clear Cut, Emerald, Alachua, Cathedral, School, Hart, Cow, the Diepolders.

Can anyone think of any others?

[Benderr]

Phil Foster Park (county operated) has diving and manatees. I don't think anyone would be opposed to closing the park to divers during manatee season.

According to the "Friends" score keeper, there were 61 "for" and 61 "against", but she counted the non-committal Chamber of Commerce rep's comments as an "against", and I think Rob's 114 total count is correct. I would have guessed comments were even, or perhaps +5 for diving. We had 2 divers from Switzerland, one from Michigan, and one from Tampa (I think one from the Largo area too).

I also agree that this isn't an us (divers) vs. them (wkpp) argument. Their comments were insulting, and I posted them so that everyone would know how they feel about divers (in case there was any doubt) but it doesn't do our side any good to bicker with them in front of state authorities.