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April 14, 2000     Cape Gazette
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April 14, 2000
 
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SOB teams set out to protect the inland bays By Michael Short It's the best acronym in the state and it's back in business. The SOBs, known as the Save Our Bays team, is back patrolling the inland bays. Delaware's fish and wildlife en- forcement agents have revived the program in an effort to improve boating safety, help the inland bays and prick environmental consciences. The name may provoke smiles, but their intent is serious. On Fri- day, April 7, the team took to Indi- an River to check for "ghost" crab pots. They also plan to do check for boating under the influence, un- safe boating, people raiding the crab pots of other people, follow- ing fishery laws and boating safe- ty requirements like having chil- dren under age 12 wear life pre- servers. Children under 12 years old who are wearing life preservers will be given rolls of lifesavers by the team when the patrol the wa- ters this year. It's a gamut of responsibility ranging from protecting lives to protecting the inland bays and its resources. Those ghost crab pots, for example, are pots that are sim- ply left in the water and never checked. They can stay in the water for years, fouling propellors and boats and catching everything from flounder to ducks and otters. The law requires people to check crab pots at least every 72 hours in an effort to prevent them from continuing to kill wildlife for months or even years. Much of their work will be edu- cation, said Capt. James Passwa- ters. "We want to increase the awareness of environmental sensi- tivity and public safety on the in- land bays," he said. The team will be out on the wa- Michael Short photo Cpl. Allen Rogers and Indian River High School student Hunter Holland hold up a ghost crab pot during a patrol on Indian River April 7. Holland was taking part in a special school project. ter all summer, planning courtesy checks, tagging crab pots and checking for boating safety. On Friday, they tagged 89 crab pots, some of which looked like they had been in the water since Richard Nixon was president. Boaters who checked the pots could remove the tag to show that they were indeed, checking their crab pots. "It's more than just coming out and writing tickets," Passwaters said. "The first part of enforce- ment should be education. We want to make sure they know that if you tear it up, it is not going to be a nice place." ....   A Fll S.- Sln Karen Smifh formerly of Tan Delighfs is happy fo announce her parfnership in a new full service salon. Opening/00ay 9, 2000 403 Rehobofh Avenue, Rehobofh Beach For furfher inforrnafion call 1-302-423-4434 CAPE GAZETTE, Friday, Inland bays Continued from page 1 here, it's going to cost you at least $5,000." Speaker after speaker on Tues- day said they were willing to pay higher taxes and more money to protect the inland bays. But some speakers wondered if the group wasn't preaching to the choir and if the general public might feel very differently about the issue. The forums are designed to gather public input and considera- tion on the issues and then report back to the tributary action teams, which are a part of the Center for the Inland Bays. There may or may not be more public hearings. That decision is still under consid- eration. Ultimately, the state is expected to have a strategy to meet the TMDL requirements by the end of this year. They don't have to be met by then, but the strategy is to be in place, according to the timetable set up in the court settle- ment. While turnout has been light at most meetings, partici- pants on Tuesday argued that the inland bays must be protected in order to protect the area's econo- my. "Ten years ago, I won't remem- ber the hardship of that cost," said David Cristy, "but I will be aware of Pepper Creek [and it's environ- mental condition]...The cost [of environmental protection] is in- April 14 . April 20, 2000 - 19 significant compared to the long IelTIL" "We are killing it," said Loretta Moik. "It makes no sense to me." One speaker suggested the only way to protect the bays is to enact legislation, forcing it down peo- ple's throats whether they like it or not. That prompted Moik to say "maybe not shoving it down people's throats, but getting more education." Most of the people favored one of three choices, that of immedi- ate action. That was the first choice and they argued that some- thing needs to be done quickly. Other choices were to do more studies and use "science and cents" or to simply fine tune exist- ing regulations and requirements. McGowan noted that the choic- es are not easy and are designed to include tension. "This is not about black and white. This is about banging around in the gray area," he said. "It just doesn't seem to me that people really give a crap about what happens," said Loft Boyer. "They are not going to say any- thing unless people say we are go- ing to charge you." "I believe we have to be good stewards," said Bettylee Carmine, saying that she and her husband Terry have lived on the water for 44 years. Carmine said that much of the problems have come be- cause people have "a lack of re- spect" for the environment and the inland bays.