The first annual Lower Keys Flats Cleanup, sponsored by the Key West and Lower Keys Fishing Guides Association., will be held July 16, 7am to 11:30am, at the Shark Key public boat ramp, MM11.  The cleanup will consist of trash collection and removal from the Sugarloaf beach area and the backcountry area surrounding the Snipe Keys.  Volunteers with and without boats are needed and encouraged to participate.  Shallow-draft boats will collect trash from inshore areas, and transport the trash to larger vessels anchored offshore, which will then transport the trash to a Waste Management container at the boat ramp.  Trash bags will be provided.
The Key West and Lower Keys Fishing Guides Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting protection, education, and advocacy of the marine environment in the Lower Keys area.
Members of the community who wish to participate should call Bryan Yates at 294-0281, or Doug Kilpatrick at 745-2824 for more details.

Sept. 29, 2005

Bonefish and Tarpon Unlimited (BTU) will conduct its third annual bonefish census on Sept. 29, 2005.  BTU has enlisted the help of Biscayne Bay and Florida Keys guides to help it estimate bonefish population levels in South Florida.  The protocol for the census is as follows: 

Biscayne Bay and the Keys will be subdivided into 19 “zones”, within which participating guides are asked to limit their movements.  Within a particular guide’s working area, bonefish will be counted over the course of the day, with the amount of poling or time allotted to each flat noted.  Researches will then use the collected notes from participants to extrapolate an estimated number of bonefish within the range of the study area.  This number is then used to assign an economic value to each fish. 
The past two bonefish counts have yielded very similar figures after extrapolation (just over 300,000), which have yielded a dollar amount estimated at over $70,000 per fish over the life of that fish.  For more information, please see the BTU website:  www. Tarbone.org.  If you are interested in participating, please contact Bryan Yates:  305-393-2308.