Tonight: Sarasota Bay Fisheries Forum presents ‘Lost River Preserve – Fisheries Habitat Restoration
Guest speaker Thomas Ries. Credit: ESA SCHEDA
The Sarasota Bay Fisheries Forum — a group for anglers, scientists and others seeking to proactively address fisheries management and science topics in the Sarasota Bay area — will hold its April meeting tonight at Mote Marine Laboratory.
“This forum provides the ideal opportunity for fishermen and women, local citizens and other interested parties to learn more about local fish species,” said Dr. Kenneth Leber, Program Manager for Fisheries Ecology and Enhancement and Associate Vice President for Research at Mote. “Conservation starts with open communication and that’s exactly what this forum encourages.”
The free, public Fisheries Forum meeting will be held from 6-7:30 p.m. tonight, Thursday, April 5, in the WAVE Center at Mote, 1600 Ken Thompson Parkway on City Island, Sarasota, FL 34236.
Attendees will hear from Thomas Ries, a nationally recognized ecologist with more than 35 years of experience in restoring natural systems in the Southeast. Ries will discuss the Lost River Preserve – Fisheries Habitat Restoration Project located in Ruskin, Florida, and adjacent to the Cockroach Bay Environmental Lands Acquisition and Protection Program parcel. This project funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 restored more than 70 acres of land and enhanced the adjacent coastal ecotones. Ries will also share the struggles and the successes of restoring this former aquaculture farm with more than 200 abandoned man-made fishponds into a functioning nursery for juvenile fish, and will discuss results of an extensive, post-restoration research study led by the University of South Florida.
For more information regarding this month’s event or Sarasota Bay Forum visit: facebook.com/SarasotaBayForum