“I encourage everyone to contact Governor DeSantis and ask him to veto the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary’s Restoration Blueprint.”
I have closed my statements with the above comment every time I have given public comment at a sanctuary meeting. Little did I realize how intimidating it was to sanctuary management.
It was apparently intimidating enough for the sanctuary management to revise, alter and change the wording of the plan that is intended to “restore” the marine sanctuary.
In the blueprint plan is wording that would have stripped the governor of his ability to veto it, and would have removed the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission’s ability to regulate fisheries by creating the sanctuary’s own fishery council. FWCC regulations require public input before implementation, but this essentially would have removed public input from that process.
FWC commissioner Rodney Baretto discovered the altered wording. Sanctuary Superintendent Fangman claims it is a misunderstanding.
Here is some background:
The initial presentation of the Restoration Blueprint in 2019 met with significant opposition at a series of public meetings that drew more than 1,000 attendees up and down the Keys.
Managers of the sanctuary went to work revising wording in the plan. It seems to me that removing dissenting opinions and other agencies’ jurisdictions was the goal, done in the hope that the alterations would not be noticed and the plan would be passed before the state realized it had ceded its authority to federal sanctuary management under NOAA.
Managers are meticulous. They dot every i and cross every t. They are aware of every sentence and the resulting consequences.
This was an intentional, carefully worded attempt by a federal agency to subvert citizens’ rights and the state’s authority.
Fangman knew what was done and condoned it.
Coincidentally, this measure meshed with the Nancy Pelosi ocean resiliency bill, which takes control of states’ authority over fisheries. The plan gives a few bureaucrats authority over 30% of U.S. waters, fisheries and additional “marine protection zones.”
And the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary can not comprehend why they are not trusted.
This is a prime example of why. Do not let them get away with this.
Contact Gov. Ron DeSantis at 850-488-7146. Ask for a veto and an accounting of this skulduggery.
Sincerely,
Lee Starling
Key West
