The following editorial about Everglades activist Wayne Nelson was posted to the blog “Eye on Miami” after Nelson’s death last week. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial …
Bimini Valentine’s!
1 Feb 201112:11 AM
Eat, Pray, Love, Dive…at the Bimini Big Game Club!
Enjoy a romantic weekend in the islands with that someone special. Spend Valentines weekend at the Club and receive a complimentary bottle of wine with dinner!
Then there’s 2 for 1 diving with Dive Bimini.
And since roses are hard to come by, you’ll receive 15% off all sportswear in the new Outfitter Shop so you can show your love with that special gift.
PS…we’ll leave the Pray part to you, but you’re in luck – there are lots of churches on Bimini to make up for misbehavin’ on Saturday night!
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![](mailto:?subject=Wayne Nelson: An Everglades Warrior Lays Down His Shield&body=The following editorial about <a title="Everglades National Park web site" href="http://www.nps.gov/ever/index.htm" target="_blank">Everglades</a> activist Wayne Nelson was posted to the blog "<a title="Eye on Miami blog" href="http://eyeonmiami.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Eye on Miami</a>" after Nelson's <a title="Wayne Nelson's Obituary" href="http://www.tributes.com/show/Wayne-L.-Nelson-93742562" target="_blank">death</a> last week. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial contributions may be made to the <a title="GHOF web site" href="http://www.guyharveyoceanfoundation.org" target="_blank">Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation</a>, 10408 West SR 84, Suite 104, Davie, FL 33324.
<a href="http://guyharvey.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/wayne.jpg"><img title="Wayne Nelson Photo courtesy of the Sun-Sentinel)" src="http://guyharvey.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/wayne.jpg" alt="" width="428" height="286" /></a>
By gimleteye:
When Wayne Nelson, 88, died this week, the liquid heart of Florida - <a title="About Lake Okeechobee" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Okeechobee" target="_blank">Lake Okeechobeee</a> - lost a fierce and knowledgeable advocate. Wayne was of a generation of modern-day Everglades activists; including, recently, the late Johnie Jones and his wife, Mariana, who were young in the 1940's and 1950's and experienced the Everglades firing on all cylinders.
Wayne was Korea War veteran and a retired air conditioning contractor whose advocacy for Lake Okeechobee led <a title="Nelson's Supreme Court Case" href="http://www.eswr.com/docs/courts/ussc/01-196/FOEpetition.pdf" target="_blank">all the way to the US Supreme Court</a>. He began fishing in West Palm Beach and Lake Okeechobee in the 1960's. He organized one of the first bass fishing clubs in Florida and was the organizer of the small group, Fishermen Against the Destruction of the Environment (FADE) that was a co-plaintiff in federal Clean Water Act litigation challenging the South Florida Water Management District and Big Sugar. Wayne was at the first meeting of the Everglades Coalition at Port of the Islands in 1984 and was once a member of the board of <a title="Friends of the Everglades web site" href="http://everglades.org" target="_blank">Friends of the Everglades</a> <> (of which I am now president).
Friends of the Everglades, Nelson's FADE, and other conservation groups brought citizen suits under the Clean Water Act against the US Environmental Protection Agency to require the South Florida Water Management District to obtain permits in order to discharge polluted canal water into Lake Okeechobee. (FADE and Friends of the Everglades have been involved in several federal CWA lawsuits, with important implications for the nation's water policies, not just the Everglades.)
This practice is known as "back-pumping" and its purpose is to make sure that the 700,000 acres of the Everglades Agricultural Area -- dominated by Big Sugar-- are never too wet in rainy season. Back-pumping controls water levels on sugar land and through the extensive canal system, forcing water uphill as it were, against gravity, into Lake Okeechobee.
At the same time, the water management practices that deliver immense benefits and profits to sugar barons like the billionaire Fanjuls also deprive the natural system of the rainfall cycle that nourished the Everglades and Florida Bay with clean, fresh water at the right time of year.
He launched his boat in Belle Glade and would fish through the weekend. "To get to the Lake," Nelson testified in a Friends' affidavit filed with federal court in 2011, "you have to cross the rim canal and enter the Lake through one of the cuts. I would typically see the pumping while I was going out to fish or coming back in from fishing and was traveling in the rim canal to the boat ramp. You can see the turbulence and tinged color of pumped water all the way across the rim canal and into the Lake."
Wayne Nelson was a fierce supporter of grass roots environmentalism. His friend, Jim Harvey, says, "If people were classified like naval ships, Wayne Nelson would be the Warrior Class. He never faltered to say it like he saw it. He believed in watching the ass not the lips to ascertain where things were going. You didn't go fishing with Wayne. He went, listening to him. He loved Lake Okeechobee and held no quarter or gave no quarter when it came to saving the Lake."
Wayne didn't seek out the spotlight. He could be cantankerous and prickly. But anyone who loved the Everglades, fought battles against industry pressure, endured endless delays by government, obfuscation, and false declarations of progress while the liquid heart of Florida turned into a sewer would be spewing comets and fury at the misdirection.
"Water transfers of polluted, nutrient-rich water to Lake Okeechobee results in increased nutrient pollution in the Everglades system,"
Nelson said in his affidavit. "Nutrient pollution is one of the biggest threats to the Everglades today. Nitrogen and phosphorous from the canal waters feeds algae growth that chokes out sea grasses and other native plants. Algae also depletes oxygen, resulting in "dead zones" below the the surface where few native Everglades species survive. Invasive flora and fauna are increasingly taking over the niches created by the degredation of the water quality in the Everglades."
It has been nearly forty years since the historic agreement between the federal government and state of Florida to end the pollution of the Everglades, and its results keep a permanent incumbency in place; from local county commissions, to the state legislature -- that still refuses to hold Big Sugar accountable for the costs of its pollution and won't even impose the most rudimentary system to honestly account for polluting farming practices -- to Congress and the White House.
"We don`t need any more studies of Lake Okeechobee or the Everglades,"
Nelson told the Sun Sentinel in 1988. "We know what the problems are and we know what the solutions are. We need action. The farmers are hiding behind (government agencies they control)." ("Lake Okeechobee Scientific Group Back In Business", Orlando Sentinel, July 14, 1988)
Wayne knew that the environmental warriors were badly outmatched by the Great Destroyers, and he understood the clock was ticking. He didn't stand for niceties; he wanted environmentalists to do more and he had no tolerance for waving banners. He strongly believed that grass roots organizations were the key. Jim Harvey says, "He was pure passion and "old school" on freedom of speech. He hated equivocation and figured political correctness was being accurate. Period. He was in the truest sense, an egalitarian warrior with little regard for large national environmental groups that danced around to keep the Everglades ball in play."
Wayne Nelson just wanted to go fishing, and it made him angry that pollution deprived him, Florida and the nation of that opportunity.
Nelson told the Sun Sentinel in 1990: "Reagan missed the boat when he called Russia the Evil Empire". Thrusting a finger toward the sugar cane farms ringing Lake Okeechobee, he said, "I'll tell you where the goddamn Evil Empire is... it's out there!" (A Sweet Deal Has Become The Source Of A Bitter Poison, The Sugar Dynasty, Sept. 16, 1990) And it still is. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wayne-nelson-an-everglades-warrior-lays-down-his-shield/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Bonefish & Tarpon Trust Symposium Set for Nov. 11th & 12th&body=<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/vaughfred-bonefish.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-830 " title="Bimini Bonefish" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/vaughfred-bonefish.jpg" alt="" width="495" height="329" /></a>Fly fishing guru Vaughn Cochran and Bimini Big Game Club guide "Eagle Eyes" Fred enjoy a bountiful day bonefishing on the Bimini flats.
The <a title="2011 BTT Symposium" href="http://www.tarbone.org/component/content/article/318.html" target="_blank">Fourth International Bonefish and Tarpon Trust Symposium</a> will take place on November 11th and 12th, 2011 at the <a title="IGFA web site" href="http://www.igfa.org" target="_blank">International Game Fishing Association Hall of Fame</a> in Dania Beach, FL. Representatives from <a title="About GHO" href="http://www.biggameclubbimini.com/aboutus.htm" target="_blank">Guy Harvey Outpost</a> will be in attendance.
Held every third year, this Symposium promises to be the largest and most informative to date. Two full days of presentations on cutting edge scientific research of bonefish, tarpon and permit from fisheries scientists around the world is scheduled, as well as panel discussions, fly casting seminars and tying clinics by some of the world’s noted flats anglers. On the final night an “Evening with the Legends” banquet will be emceed by author and angler Andy Mill, participants include; Joan Wulff, Bob Popovics, Lefty Kreh, Flip Pallot, Chico Fernandez, Sandy Moret, Rick Ruoff, Mark Sosin, Ralph Delph, Steve Huff, Bill Curtis, Stu Apte and George Hommell.
Leading up to and as part of the Symposium, Bonefish and Tarpon Trust will be auctioning multiple guided days of fishing and special one of a kind fishing adventures with expert guides who have donated their time to benefit BTT. For more information on these auctions and to submit your bids please go to the <a title="BTT Symposium Auctions" href="http://www.tarbone.org/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=26&zenid=b7til449h12ti6cs07e6lv3gb5" target="_blank">“Symposium Auctions”</a> button on the BTT web site.
Space is limited, so be sure to register early. All interested anglers are welcome. For more information and a complete schedule of events, please visit the <a title="BTT web site" href="http://www.tarbone.com" target="_blank">BTT web site</a>, or call 239-283-4733. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/bonefish-tarpon-trust-symposium-set-for-nov-11th-12th/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=More Reasons Than Ever to Harvest Lionfish&body=by Sue Cocking, Guy Harvey Outpost Travel Journalist
scocking@guyharveyoutpost.com
Lionfish: they gobble just about anything they can fit in their mouths, decimating native marine fish populations and taking over coral reef ecosystems. They are colorful and tasty and now there are more reasons than ever for you to hunt them down and take them out.
The month of May-- warmer water temperatures, calmer winds-- marks the unofficial grand opening of the recreational diving season in Florida and the Bahamas, and the kickoff of a busy season of lionfish removal derbies. All kinds of incentives are being offered for you to harvest, log, photograph and eat your catch of these venom-spined invaders from the Indo Pacific.
The <a href="http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com/destinations/bahamas/green-turtle-cay-abacos/" target="_blank">Green Turtle Club, a Guy Harvey Outpost Expedition Lodge</a> in Green Turtle Cay, Bahamas will conduct its eighth annual Lionfish Derby June 24-25 in conjunction with the non-profit Friends of the Environment. Prizes will be awarded for the most, the largest, and the smallest lionfish brought in, and competitors will celebrate by eating their catch. The club was the scene of the very first lionfish derby in the Bahamas in 2009, organized by dive operators Brendal and Mary Stevens. The fleet of some 20 boats harvested 1,408 of the peppermint-striped exotics in the inaugural tournament. At last year's contest, they took out 763. The event has become a model for other lionfish derbies throughout the Bahamas. To get in on the action, book your stay by calling 1-800-513-5257 and email info@friendsoftheenvironment.org for an entry form.
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/GTC-Blog-Image.jpg"><img class="aligncenter wp-image-4058 size-full" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/GTC-Blog-Image.jpg" alt="GTC Blog Image" width="624" height="237" /></a>
Stateside, lionfish derby season opens May 14-15 with Florida's <a href="http://reefrangers.com/event-info/" target="_blank">Lionfish Removal and Awareness Day Festival and Tournament</a> at Plaza de Luna Park in Pensacola co-sponsored by the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation and <a href="http://www.guyharveymagazine.com" target="_blank">Guy Harvey Magazine</a>. Harvesters can win prizes at this free event, which inaugurates the statewide Lionfish Challenge running through Sept. 30.
To qualify for the Challenge, participants must take out 50 or more lionfish between May 14 and the end of September. They can win prizes such as fishing licenses, fuel cards, dive tank refills and the opportunity to take one extra lobster over the bag limit during the 2016 sport diving mini-season July 27-28. Whoever documents the most lionfish over the course of the contest will receive a lifetime saltwater fishing license and be inducted into the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's Lionfish Hall of Fame.
Especially for the Florida Panhandle, where Gulf waters have become a lionfish hot zone in the past couple of years, the state has launched a year-long pilot program running from May 14, 2016 to May 20, 2017. For every lionfish taken from the seven-county region, the diver or angler will be eligible for a tag to take either a red grouper or a cobia over the bag limit in state waters. Anyone who harvests 500 or more lionfish over the one-year program will have the opportunity to name an artificial reef.
And removing really big lionfish can earn you a spot in the Florida state record book. The current mark for the longest lionfish harvested in the Atlantic is an 18.78-incher caught by Captain Jimmy Nelson in Islamorada. In the Gulf, the largest in both length and weight is a 17.24-inch, 3.1-pounder weighed by Captain Andy Ross of Pensacola.
For details on these contests and rewards programs, go <a href="http://www.myfwc.com/lionfish/" target="_blank">HERE</a>.
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Sue Cocking chronicles the Guy Harvey Outpost travel and adventure experience in regular blog posts on GuyHarveyOutpostNews.com/. For 21 years, Cocking covered the full spectrum of outdoors adventure opportunities in South Florida and beyond for the Miami Herald, including fishing, diving, hunting, paddling, camping, sailing and powerboat racing. She is a certified scuba diver and holder of an IGFA women's world fly fishing record for a 29-pound permit.
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Share your photos, videos and experiences with Guy Harvey Outpost by hash tagging #OutpostAttitude to all of your social media posts. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/more-reasons-than-ever-to-harvest-lionfish/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Bimini Big Game Club Now Serving Guy Harvey re:newal Spring Water in 100% Compostable Bottle&body=<a href="http://renewal-water.com/renewal-and-guy-harvey-team-up/"><img class="aligncenter" title="Guy Harvey re:newal Water" src="http://guyharvey.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/banner.png" alt="" width="450" height="102" /></a>
<a title="Guy Harvey Inc. web site" href="http://www.guyharvey.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Guy Harvey</a> and <a title="re:newal web site" href="http://renewal-water.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">re:newal premium spring water</a> are proud to offer a U.S. sourced premium spring water that uses <a title="About the 100% compostable bottle" href="https://renewellwater.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a 100% plant-based compostable bottle</a>.
Launched in February 2011, the Guy Harvey special edition re:newal premium spring water product will raise funds for ocean conservation programs by donating 10% of the proceeds from each bottle sold directly to the <a title="GHOF web site" href="http://www.guyharveyoceanfoundation.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation</a>. The GHOF funds inspired scientific research and innovative educational programs to help ensure that future generations will enjoy and benefit from a naturally balanced ocean ecosystem where fish and other marine wildlife flourish.
<a href="newal and Guy Harvey Team Up"><img title="100% compostable bottle from re:newal water" src="http://guyharvey.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/renewalwater.jpg" alt="" width="365" height="301" /></a>Guy Harvey re:newal spring water is proudly served at the Bimini Big Game Club, a Guy Harvey Outpost Resort & Marina.
re:newal premium spring water packages pure spring water in a bottle made from plants, not petroleum. Most importantly, re:newal bottles offer more end-of-life options for consumers, who now have the ability to recycle, compost, incinerate or re-use their bottles.
To learn more about how traditional plastics are damaging the marine environment, read the special feature "Plastics: One Word/One World" in the brand new issue of <a title="GHM web site" href="http://www.guyharveymagazine.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Guy Harvey Magazine</a>. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/guy-harvey-and-renewal-team-up-to-promote-100-compostable-water-bottle/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Calling All Pups: Stand Up for Warriors&body=Prop your pup on your paddleboard and race for fun, glory, prizes and to support a worthy canine cause at the first annual Pups & Sups event July 30 on St. Augustine Beach.
Humans and their pets will compete to see who can ride the biggest wave, take the longest ride, cruise in highest style, and take the best wipe-out-- among other categories-- in this family-friendly competition. Proceeds will benefit <a href="https://www.k9sforwarriors.org/">K9s for Warriors</a> -- a Ponte Vedra non-profit dedicated to supplying combat veterans returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan with service dogs that ease their adjustment into civilian life.
Paw-ticipants will be divided into weight divisions: large dogs (51 lbs. and up); medium dogs (21 -50 lbs.); and small dogs (20 lbs. and under). They will be launched by their owner/handler, with winners in each weight division advancing to the finals.
Registration is $40. Check-in time will be 7:30 a.m. at 860 A1A Beach Boulevard-- future site of the <a href="https://guyharveyoutpost.com/lodging/beach-resorts/st-augustine-beach/">Guy Harvey Outpost Resort, St. Augustine Beach</a>. Competition will begin promptly at 8:30 a.m.
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Pups-Sups-1080-Image.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-4825" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Pups-Sups-1080-Image.jpg" alt="" width="1080" height="996" /></a>
Tahoma Guiry says it should be a fun time for both people and dogs. Guiry--chief marketing officer and education director of K9s for Warriors-- says she and her three kids aged 11-18 really enjoy paddleboarding with their 1 1/2-year old Labradoodle Nash. The family adopted Nash last year after he washed out of the organization's rigorous training program for service dogs --("He got guarded with his toys, so I took him home," Guiry explained.) Today Nash fits right in with the Guirys and their other dog and enjoys SUP-ing on local lakes.
"He just chills out and goes along for the ride," Guiry said. "He loves the water and loves being with people and our family."
Since launching in 2011, K9s for Warriors has matched 323 military veterans with service dogs-- mostly pets from shelters, other rescue organizations, and a few breeders. The dogs perform a multitude of tasks for their warriors who may suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, brain injury and other conditions. The dogs help them avoid panic attacks, wake them from night terrors, enhance their physical mobility, and ease their anxiety in social situations.
U.S. Army veteran Matt Berg of St. Augustine was paired with his Labrador-mix service dog Sunny last year. At 98 pounds, Sunny is too big to ride Berg's surfboard with him, but Berg says "he's a good dog....always there....a good companion."
more information and to sign up for Pups & Sups, go to http://bit.ly/2tKyPA3.
https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/calling-all-pups-stand-up-for-warriors/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Great Marlin Race May Come to Galapagos&body=Last March, Californian Bob Kurz, a trustee with the International Game Fish Association, and his IGFA rep wife Sally took an important step to advance billfish science around the world: they implanted a striped marlin with a pop-off satellite tag while fishing around Ecuador's <a href="https://guyharveyoutpost.com/adventure/outpost-adventures/expeditions/galapagos-big-game-fishing/">Galapagos Islands</a>.
The tag, scheduled to detach from the fish's dorsal fin after 240 days, was the first to be implanted in a billfish in the remote Pacific islands as part of the IGFA's Great Marlin Race. Since the IGFA took over the international tournament-within-a-tournament in 2011, some 350 satellite tags have been deployed in billfish in 22 countries. The tags record fish tracks in real time, including depth, temperature and other data, then relays them to a satellite which beams the information to researchers at California's Stanford University. Anglers buy the $4,500 tags and receive special recognition for the distances their tagged fish travel.
Sally Kurz caught the striper, estimated at 200 pounds, while trolling lures on the sport fishing boat Vertigo from the Galapagos Planet Hotel, a <a href="https://guyharveyoutpost.com/lodging/out-island-lodges/">Guy Harvey Outpost Lodge</a> on <a href="https://guyharveyoutpost.com/lodging/out-island-lodges/galapagos/san-cristobal/">San Cristobal Island</a>. The couple also caught and released numerous yellowfin tuna. They were accompanied by a representative of the Galapagos National Park.
"They liked what we were doing," Bob Kurz said of park officials. "They are very interested in learning more about the billfish that frequent the Galapagos."
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/tag.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-4901" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/tag.jpg" alt="" width="3264" height="2448" /></a>
Kurz was so encouraged by the park's receptiveness that he is putting together a proposal to hold the first formal Great Marlin Race Tournament in the Galapagos in January 2019. He says that's prime time for catching stripers as well as blue and black marlin around the islands.
"Wherever you have a species, you try to deploy tags in as many different places as you can," Kurz said.
For example, Kurz said, tagging data helps solve mysteries such as why the average striper caught in California weighs about 140 pounds while fish over 300 pounds are common in New Zealand-- "whether they are separate and distinct populations," he said.
The tagging data also helps scientists inform fisheries managers who are hammering out policies to conserve billfish, such as time-and-area closures, gear restrictions and other measures.
"It's a citizen science program," Kurz said. "Very exciting for people who enjoy fishing for marlin."
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You don't have to wait for the next Great Marlin Race to fish for billfish in Galapagos. Book your lodging and fishing with Galapagos Planet, a Guy Harvey Outpost Expedition Lodge at <a href="https://www.guyharveyoutpost.com">www.guyharveyoutpost.com</a> or call 1-800-513-5257.
To learn more about the Great Marlin Race, visit <a href="https://www.igfa.org">www.igfa.org</a>. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/great-marlin-race-may-come-to-galapagos/){kind=link}
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