Lionfish News Flash

From email forwarded from:

Ed Sherwood
Program Scientist
Tampa Bay Estuary Program
Ph: (727) 893-2765

Recent editions of the Marine Scene have discussed the expansion of the invasive lionfish along the US east coast and throughout the Caribbean. Unfortunately, we have discovered that they are now off the coast in the Tampa Bay area.

Thursday, August 5, two members of my Sea Grant Extension Advisory Committee collected a live lionfish specimen in about 40 feet of water off of Bradenton (August 5). This sighting is being reported to the proper authorities.

More information on lionfish biology can be found at: http://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/factsheet.aspx?SpeciesID=963

The Bradenton Herald article can be found at: http://www.bradenton.com/2010/08/06/2489109/invasive-lionfish-found-off-anna.html

The lionfish was spotted and collected by Kevin Lausman.

Back to School event a success!

Benjamin Weibley of Riverview is the first door prize winner, showing off his new backpack

Lots of fun at the Recycling game with Keep Hillsborough County Beautiful and Hillsborough County Solid Waste.

Visitors crowd around each activity to learn something and earn a school supply item

Back to School- Back to Nature event a Success! Camp Bayou's Back to School - Back to Nature event was held on Saturday, August 7. Despite a late morning storm which abruptly ended the event, over 100 children and their families enjoyed a couple hours of nature related activities with the added bonus of getting free school supplies at each station. After sign in at the registration table, visitors stopped in at activity tables that included fossil fun; info on fire; litter and recycling; aquatic invertebrates; ant lions; native peoples; intro to metrics; and environmental jeopardy. Participating organizations included Keep Hillsborough County Beautiful, Hillsborough County Solid Waste, Florida Department of Forestry, Ruskin and SouthShore Public Libraries, Paleo Preserve Fossil Museum, Ruskin History Project, Florida Master Naturalists, and Camp Bayou volunteers, Our thanks also to Publix Supermarkets, Workflow One for their donations for door prizes which included backpacks, journals and other items. This Back to School - Back to Nature event is part of a Summer of Learning, as well as a Be Out There! , Get Outdoors Florida, a Children and Nature and No Child Left Inside inspired initiative. Camp Bayou is a public- private partnership between the non-profit Ruskin Community Development Foundation, Inc. (RCDF) and Hillsborough County Parks, Recreation and Conservation. Camp Bayou is located 3 miles south of SR674 at the end of 24th St SE in Ruskin. Camp Bayou is nether a campground nor a summer camp. It was an RV park before the County's ELAP program purchased the land but it is now open for day use only, open to the general public. Through volunteers, donations, membership and grants, the RCDF offers pre-scheduled programs to schools, youth groups, adult groups and families plus it's open from Thursday- Saturday from 9am-2pm for passive recreational pursuits such as wildlife watching. More information is on the web at http://www.campbayou.org/ . ###