PALM BEACH August 25th- After three years of strenuous work to protect the historic surfing, diving and fishing areas near the Lake Worth Pier, the Palm Beach County Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation goes to court over the Department of Environmental Protection’s and Town of Palm Beach’s planned $15 million dredge-and-fill project. The trial starts Monday at 9am at the Town of Palm Beach, Emergency Operations Center, 355 South County Road, Palm Beach, Florida. The trial will go from August 25 through 29, September 2 through 6, and Sept 8 to 12, 2008.


Lake Worth Pier May Swell

This is the first time in US history that a beach fill project will be challenged in court. The Chapter is joined by the Snook Foundation and 3 individual local plaintiffs. The Snook Foundation is dedicated to protecting Florida’s Essential Fish Habitat. Tom Warnke, Terry Gibson and Danny Barrow are local watermen who grew up fishing, surfing and diving in this area. Mr. Warnke is the District Director of the Eastern Surfing Association’s Palm Beach County District, Mr. Gibson is Fishing Editor of Florida Sportsman Magazine, & Capt. Barrow is a longstanding fishing charter operator. In addition, the Eastern Surfing Association and the adjacent City of Lake Worth have joined as interveners in the case to support protecting these priceless environmental and recreational assets.

The intent of the Surfrider and Snook Foundation suit is to stop a project permit which threatens to destroy valuable and irreplaceable near-shore ecosystem and is not in the public’s interest. The project is expected to surround the Pier area with poor-quality, silty dredged material. Lake Worth's pier fishing, along with its world-renowned diving reefs in the northernmost area of the Caribbean's coral reef ecosystem, would be severely harmed, and at least six surfing peaks would be damaged.

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On July 29, 2008, the Governors of Washington, Oregon, and California released the finalized Action Plan for the West Coast Governors' Agreement on Ocean Health. The plan identifies specific collaborative actions between the three states to better manage the ocean and coastal resources along the entire west coast. The Action Plan addresses the following priority areas: a) clean waters and beaches; b) healthy ocean & coastal habitats; c) ecosystem-based management; d) offshore development; e) ocean literacy; f) ocean science; and g) sustainable economic development. The report is available online at http://westcoastoceans.gov/. This historic agreement provides an important opportunity for Surfrider Foundation chapters to advance our mission through leveraging our grassroots campaigns and projects with a major regional initiative. Stay tuned for more information as implementation efforts move forward!