Specifications

Section 2 Existing Conditions/Affected Environment
EAA Storage Reservoirs Revised Draft PIR and EIS February 2006
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pompano, silver jenny, great barracuda, gobies, sleepers, puffers, filefish, and,
many others.
In addition to finfish, the estuaries and Indian River Lagoon support a variety of
shellfish. Blue crabs, stone crabs, hard clams, and oysters are important
estuarine commercial species. The blue crab accounted for approximately 80% of
shellfish landings in the Indian River Lagoon between 1958 and 1988 (IRL
CCMP, 1996). Oysters are an important indicator organism and are known to be
sensitive to salinity changes in their environment.
The Caloosahatchee River Estuary starts at the Franklin Lock and continues
downstream nearly 30 miles to San Carlos Bay. Although various changes have
historically occurred in the Caloosahatchee Estuary (channelization, shoreline
hardening, point, and non-point source impacts), the estuary sustains numerous
and diverse fish and wildlife populations. Important resources within the
estuarine portions of the Caloosahatchee are SAV including seagrass, oyster
bars, open bottom community, and mangrove-lined shorelines. These
communities provide important habitat supporting many wildlife species.
Manatees, waterfowl, and wading birds rely on seagrass communities as
foraging area. SAV are an integral nursery area for commercially and
recreationally important fish and shellfish. Seagrass communities provide
critical refugia for juvenile fish such as redfish, grouper, snook, and spotted
seatrout. In addition, the upper and middle portions of the Caloosahatchee
River support a blue crab fishery. Oyster bars and open bottoms of sand mud,
shell, and bedrock provide important habitat and food for other estuarine
species. They harbor a rich macro invertebrate community that is utilized by
wading and shorebirds and fish.
In the Caloosahatchee Estuary, mangroves support fish and macro invertebrate
communities by providing a protected nursery area. Important marine and
estuarine species that spend part of their life cycle in the mangrove community
include snook, snapper, tarpon, jack, sheepshead, red drum, ladyfish, blue crab,
and shrimp. Mangroves forests also provide important foraging and nesting
habitat for diverse populations of birds.
2.10.3 Everglades Agricultural Area
Altered native habitats dominate the EAA; however, remaining wetlands offer
some native habitat for fish and wildlife species. Although there are few
published fish and wildlife studies available for the area, lists of potentially
occurring and confirmed species have been compiled from a variety of sources
including: the FWC 1987-1993 Wildlife Observation Database, the FNAI
Element Occurrence Database (through 2002), the FWC Breeding Bird Atlas,