Good news W. I talked to my buddy with LDWF. Biologists for LDWF don't work behind the weirs. He said that is fed territory. So did you talk to Agents? Not saying an agent wouldn't know what he's talking about, but I have known agents that had no biology background except fish or wildlife identification. Nothing wrong with that, they don't need anymore than that in most cases.
I understand your point about data, Capt. B, but there is decades of data on vegetation and salinity characteristics as they relate to the Cameron-Creole. There has also been research conducted on the effect of the weirs on ingress and egress of organisms. I have a few of those reports sitting in my office. You can also find them online.
So there is not a lack of data. Quite the contrary, there is an abundance of data. I have seen one report, can't remember if it is one I have laying around or its on the internet, but it clearly shows salinities dropped after installation of the weirs, which is beneficial to that marsh. I have a map somewhere that shows the vegetation communities from 1949. Most of that area was high quality Jamaican sawgrass marsh. That marsh type was a great muskrat habitat. The loss of that marsh type has a lot to do with the loss of muskrats, among other things.
I am sorry to hear that what was good duck habitat has been grown up with cattails. I hate cattails as much as I hate marsh loss. But historically, that marsh was brackish to fresh. There have been some areas to the east that have experienced a freshing over time, while areas more lakeward have experienced a slight increase in salt, and consequently, a change in marsh type.
The major issue pre-weirs was the increase in salt. As Delany (1989) pointed out, marshhay cordgrass, or wiregrass as many know it, was dying because of the constant, raised salinities. It was dying so rapidly that smooth cordgrass, or oystergrass, could not colonize. The net result was a loss of marsh, and increased open water.
At the same time, this is when shrimping and crabbing appear to have been at their height in the area, because there was an abundance of detritus. This provided an abundance of food for these organisms.
If anyone is legitimately interested in reading some of these papers, I will be glad to share them. If I can get some of the paper reports scanned in, I will be glad to share those too.
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