1-INDIAN RIVER LAGOON
FORT PIERCE INLET
"THE HIDDEN SANCTUARY"
COSTS & BENEFITS OF CARGO PORT DEVELOPMENT
The purpose of presenting these data is to engage the members of the Fort Pierce Planning & Zoning Board in a reasoned dialogue with each other and with their elected and appointed officials concerning real, as contrasted to imagined, unexamined costs and exaggerated benefits connected with plans to create an expanded cargo port facility
at the Fort Pierce Harbor.
Principal data sources are as follows:
Science & Environment- Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution Report, 28 October 1991, entitled "Environmental Survey Relative to the Expansion and Development of the Port of Fort Pierce." [HBOI)
Economics- National Estuary Program, "Economic Assessment and Analysis of the Indian River
Lagoon, Natural Resource Valuation of the Lagoon," and Executive Summary of the Assessment, entitled "Environmental Sustainability for a Healthy
Economy in the Indian River Lagoon Basin," January 1996. (NEP)
Seagrass Benefits- "Seagrass Preservation and Restoration: A Diagnostic Plan for the Indian River
Lagoon," St. Johns River Water Management District, Technical Memorandum #14, April 1996. [SJRWMD]
Habitat Loss- HBOI and SJRWMD.
Human Costs- NEP and St. Lucie County Budget Reports.
Tourism Costs- VISIT FLORIDA statistics (graph below).
Copies/quotations from these documents are available on the Internet at:
www.biosys.net/indianriver
2- INDIAN RIVER LAGOON
HABITATS
The only place of its kind in North America where tropical ocean waters meet temperate zone waters to create a unique estuarine habitat for marine life.
This unique biological ecosystem, especially at the Fort Pierce Inlet, is its most stable and sensitive ocean access.
It is unequalled in our hemisphere, and perhaps the world for its biological diversity and prolific marine life production as a hatchery and juvenile nursery.
| • Listed by the EPA as an estuary of national significance |
| • The most biodiverse estuary in North America |
| • 685 species of fish |
| • 310 species of birds |
| • 2,765 species of animals |
| • 2,100 species of plants |
| • 113 of the United States manatee population |
| • 300 permanently resident river dolphins |
| • 36 animal species that are listed as threatened or endangered |
|
• 4 major marine life habitats: Seagrass habitats Open water habitats Mangrove forest and salt grass habitats Spoil island and shoal habitats |
Indian River Lagoon habitats support the juvenile life cycles of many marine species spawned and/or partially reared in the open ocean
3-HUMAN BENEFIT EQUATION
SECTORS OF THE INDIAN RIVER LAGOON ECONOMY
| Activity | Lagoon Counties | St. Lucie Co |
|---|---|---|
| Recreation & Tourism | $2.8 billion | $296 million * |
| Manufacturing | $1.3 billion | $137 million |
| Agriculture & Comm. Fishing | $1.0 billion | $106 million * |
* Editor's Note:
These figures are now out of date. See "Visit Florida" statistics (graph
below) for the Tourism/Recreation figures for the City of Fort Pierce and Dept. of Agriculture figures
for St. Lucie County for 1996. Fort Pierce alone accounts for $510.1
million in taxable sales from the Tourism/Recreation industry. These
figures are nearly double county-wide agricultural sales for the same
year.
4-SEAGRASS BENEFIT EQUATION
POSITIVE ANNUAL ECONOMIC IMPACT OF 80,000 ACRES OF SEAGRASS BEDS TO FISHERIES
| Recreational Fishery | $892 million |
| Commercial Fishery | $109 million |
| Income/Acre/Year | $12,500 |
| # Fish/Acre/Year | $10,000 |
COST OF POSITIVE IMPACT
| Capital Cost | $0 |
| Operating Cost | $0 |
5-SEAGRASS BENEFIT EQUATION AT THE FORT PIERCE INLET
POTENTIAL LOSS OF HABITAT
AT PROPOSED INDUSTRIAL PORT SITE
| Seagrass | 39.3 Acres |
| Benthic Algae | 103 Acres |
POTENTIAL ANNUAL LOSS OF FISH
| All species | 393,000 Fish |
SPECIES DEPENDENT ON FORT PIERCE INLET SEAGRASS AND HABITAT
|
Gag |
| Scamp |
| Red Grouper |
| Lane |
| Mutton |
| Yellowtail Snapper |
| Spiny Lobster |
| Tarpon |
|
Common Snook |
6-HUMAN COST EQUATION
SECTORS OF ST. LUCIE COUNTY ECONOMY
Cost of Port Economic Consultant Studies (10 Years) and Requested 1997-1998 Budget:
| Approximately $1,200,000 in consultant fees |
| 1996-1997 Budget, $304,510 |
| 1997-1998 Requested Budget, $493,136 |
What is the cost to our:
| • tourist industry? |
| • loss of fishing tournaments? |
| • loss of party and charter boat fisheries? |
| • loss of bait and tackle shops, diving shops, motels, restaurants, boat rentals and moorings? |
| • loss of our commercial grouper, snapper, scallop, shrimp, and lobster fisheries? |
| • loss of our reputation as the choice fishing region on Florida's East Coast? |
| • loss to our community as a place where people want to come, visit, and live? |
| • loss to our real estate values and market? |
| • loss to our commercial retail businesses? |
| • loss to our vision of what waterfront Fort Pierce can be? |
7- Visit Florida
REPORT FOR TOURISM ST. LUCIE
January 23, 1998
SEE: Ft. Pierce "Tourism/Recreation" Taxable Sales statistics on page 8
SOURCE: Remarks and statistics presented at IRCC meeting by Frank "Bud" Nocera, Executive
Vice President/Chief Operating Officer, Florida Tourism Industry Marketing Corporation
SPONSORS: The St. Lucie Chamber of Commerce and The St. Lucie Tourist Development Council
____________________________________________________________
Tourism statistics and relevant memos to County officials
Please click on the thumbnails below to view large image
