09/16/2026
READ CAPTION: Egmont Key State Park is being dredged…. again 💩🤢🤮☠️.
I understand if you irresponsibly built a house on the shifting sands of the beach and need to pile up nasty dredge sediment to try and save your investment. But dredging a natural state park where no one lives??? If you were trying to pick a place to dredge that would have maximum negative environmental impact, you couldn’t have picked a better spot.
To the untrained eye, so-called “beach re-nourishment” simply adds sand to the beach, and dirties the water for a bit. Not so bad right? WRONG!
Here are two reasons why this practice should be completely banned in our natural areas and parks.
1. Silt is proven by MyFWC Florida Fish & Wildlife and Mote Marine Lab & Aquarium to kill or otherwise stop the production of most types of plankton! (the critical base of the marine foods chain). During dredging, the silt that is spewed into the water can spread for literally miles! Though there might be a flurry of activity of baitfish feeding on dying plankton, it doesn’t take long for the silty water leave its mark. Soon the plankton are gone and nearly all of the other life (fish, birds, dolphins etc..) leave the area entirely! In my observation, this disruption can take months or even years to fully recover, depending on the severity. Don’t believe me? Go to the beach at Egmont key right now and tell me how much life you see.
2. The effects can also be felt on land. This disgusting practice completely smothers any unmarked sea turtle nests, invertebrates living in the sand (coquina shells, crabs, “sand fleas” etc…) all of which form the base of the food chain. It can take years for the sand to clean up and for these creatures to return. When was the last time that you went to a beach in Pinellas County and saw any coquina shells or were able to dig your hands where the sand meets the water and pick up any sand fleas? They are completely gone and so are all of the creatures that rely on them for food.
I hope everyone enjoys watching our government spend millions of dollars of our money to needlessly degrade one of our most beautiful natural areas, just to watch all of the sand be washed away
