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See Hawk / Sea Hawk / C-HAWQ! & Bye-bye
I’m past my deadline, so I’m keeping this short and sweet. We’ve all seen hawks, they are an impressive apex predator. Ospreys are also known as sea-hawks and fish-hawks. If breeding pairs were successful this season hatchlings can currently be spotted in nests taking meals from mom and dad. If there is an active osprey nest on a tree close to water of any sort, the area underneath that tree is a great fishing spot. If there are ospreys nesting on a tree near your house, you likely have a love-hate relationship with them. So cool to watch but fish guts, bones and scales scattered all over your dock and lawn is not pleasant. Did you know that ospreys used to be classified with other hawks but now have a separate family of its own?
Yes, sea-hawks are cool but C-Hawq may be the coolest hawk around! It’s an acronym for Coastal Habitat And Water Quality initiative. Dan Davies is the brains and brawn behind this mission. He’s a winter time Marco Island resident and dropped into the shop last week to talk to Jessi and I about what his organization does. I was blown away! Our island is essentially 50 years old. Our waterways have 50 years worth of sediment and decomposing material laying on the bottom. This material is not kind to water quality as it is high in nitrates and other nastiness. The cost of dredging all the canals and removing the material is prohibitive. What C-HAWQ does is to dredge the sludge and contain it within large PVC and limestone mounds that are strategically located within our waterways. The top of these mounds will be covered with rock, mangrove trees, and sea grasses.
Dan had a sit down with the city waterways committee last week. I hope the committee and the city Council jump all over it because it is a no-brainer. Yet they are government entities so they really need our help. The clincher on this project is that they are not requesting any money from the city to do it. It would all be covered with state and national grants. It’s time to do what’s right because it’s right, not what makes businesses and politicians money. Most of the commissioners view it favorably, however a couple of them are dragging their feet. I implore (that means beg someone earnestly and desperately to do something) to check them out! https://www.c-hawq.com/ There’s a 3:15 video which overviews their operation on the top of their homepage. That should more than encourage you to check out the rest of the site which is very informative and nicely presented. Not only will this get rid of the sludge on the bottom it would create habitat throughout the water column. The water would be much cleaner and the mounds would become fantastic fish magnets!
Since I started writing this Capt.‘s Chronicles, I received a text from my landlord, the owner of the Carvelli Restaurant Group: ‘Also, as promised I have to let you know that we are in the process of designing our parking lot and we will be applying for permits not long from now. All buildings including your shop will have to come down. Thank you’
Alrighty then. I knew this was coming and I’ve been saying goodbye to this little old house under the big old tree for five years now. Luigi says we have 60 to 90 days. A little more heads up would have been nice! Does anyone have an inside track on rental retail space?
My broken jaw is healing nicely. Slowly but all is progressing well. It’s a healing marathon! Thanks to all that expressed their sympathy and wishes for a smooth recovery. I hope you can stop by Thursday and make me laugh. Your reward will be to see my shiny new braces!
Until then Live Love Dive & GO C-HAWQs!!!
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