Posted on March 4, 2022
ENGLEWOOD — Charlotte County’s Stump Pass dredging project is on track to wind down, just as sea turtles and shorebirds will start nesting on the barrier islands that frame the inlet.
Atlantic and Gulf Dredging and Marine crews reported Thursday they expect to be finished by April 17. They are dredging the pass that connects the southern portion of Lemon Bay with the Gulf of Mexico.
The dredging is designed to make the pass safer for boating, to help flush out the bay and keep it clean.
Meanwhile, the sand collected in the pass by the dredges is helping renourish the southern tip of Manasota Key and the northern end of Knight Island.
During the past few months, the crews have been pumping the sand onto Stump Pass Beach State Park’s shoreline on Manasota Key. Now that that’s finished, they have begun pumping onto Knight Island.
The dredging project calls for 200,000 cubic yards of sand to be pulled from the Stump Pass channel. The sand is divided evenly, with the state park getting 100,000 cubic yards, and Knight Island getting the other 100,000 yards.
The dredging work will be completed next month, but Charlotte County’s work isn’t done.
Public Works project manager Matt Logan told the county’s Beaches and Shores Advisory Committee on Thursday how the county is lining up Glacier Contracting Inc. to begin its tilling of the newly restored beaches.
The beach sand is tilled to loosen it and make beaches more conducive to the nesting turtles.
The county faces a May 1 deadline. Not that it matters to sea turtles, but May 1 is the official start of the state-designated local sea turtle nesting. Shorebird nesting season officially began Feb. 15.
While not as productive as beaches along Florida’s East Coast beaches, Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission recognizes local Gulf beaches from Siesta Key south to Little Gasparilla Island as particularly fertile beaches for nesting loggerhead and other sea turtle species.
State wildlife are compiling last season’s nesting numbers; however, they reported Sarasota and Charlotte counties accounted for 8,727 of the 15,153 loggerhead nests laid along Florida’s West Coast in 2020.
To learn more about the dredging project or local shorebird and sea turtle nesting visit www.charlottecountyfl.gov. To learn about shorebird and sea turtle nesting statewide, visit myfwc.com.
