Flotte’s Notes on Mobile Bay Wildlife

o At the bottom of one pine tree is a V-shaped cut, and beneath the cut, affixed to the tree, is a wide metal cup. In the earliest days, a wedge was made with an ax. Later, acid was used. The open area on the tree was known as the face. The sap, oozing from the face, filled the cup. The cups filled barrels. The barrels were loaded onto wagons and taken to stills. From that sap, an entire industry came about, with turpentine and tar used in everything from ship's caulking to paint thinner. Longleaf and slash pine were the source of turpentine. The industry of turpentining was called "naval stores." According to a book on turpentining, "Treasures of the Longleaf Pine" by Carroll Butler: "The naval stores terminology originally referred to those products produced that were an essential part of a wooden ship's stores, including tar, pitch, masts, spars, etc. The production of tar and pitch dates back to 500 B.C., with earth-covered tar kilns used to produce the tar. "Pitch used in caulking wooden vessels meant the difference between life and death for the crew. The production of tar and pitch was closely linked with the gum naval stores industry, since both shared a common raw material provided by the longleaf and slash pine tree." – PR 6/3/07

· Alabama also has an abundance of poplar, cypress, hickory, oak, and various gum trees.

· Red cedar grows throughout the state; southern white cedar is found in the southwest, hemlock in the north.

· Other native trees include hackberry, ash, and holly, with species of palmetto and palm in the Gulf Coast region.

· There are more than 150 shrubs, mountain laurel and rhododendron among them.

· Cultivated plants include wisteria and camellia, the state flower.

· More than 3,000 Live Oak trees in Mobile are over 100 years old. The Duffie Oak on Caroline Street is believed to be Mobile's oldest living "resident" at 300 years of age.

Alabama Wildlife

· Ninety-seven animals, fish, and birds (including the Alabama beach mouse, gray bat, Alabama red-belly turtle, finback and humpback whales, bald eagle, and wood stork), and eighteen plant species were listed as endangered species as of 2003 by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

· Alabama -- which has more species of fish, mussels, snails and crayfish than any other state -- ranks fourth in the nation for its biological diversity. There are more than 800 species of vertebrate animals and 3,400 plant species in the state.

· In a state where large herds of bison, elk, bear, and deer once roamed, only the white-tailed deer remains abundant.

· Other mammals still found are the Florida panther, bobcat, beaver, muskrat, and most species of weasel.

· The fairly common raccoon, opossum, rabbit, squirrel, and red and gray foxes are also native, while nutria and armadillo have been introduced to the state.

· Alabama's birds include golden and bald eagles, osprey and various other hawks, yellowhammer or flicker (the state bird), and black and white warblers; game birds include quail, duck, wild turkey, and goose.

o The Wild Turkey in Alabama (ADCNR)

· Freshwater fish such as bream, shad, bass, and sucker are common.

· The Alabama sturgeon is a rare freshwater fish found only in Alabama’s rivers.

o In 1993 the Fish & Wildlife Service proposed putting the sturgeon -- once plentiful in the rivers that drain into Mobile Bay -- on the endangered list. Amid industry claims that the economic impact would be cataclysmic, the service backed off the next year, citing a lack of information over whether the fish still existed in the wild. But over the next few years, several sturgeon were found in the Alabama River. In 2000, Fish & Wildlife officials listed the fish as endangered, triggering the industry lawsuit. In 2007, by happenstance, state biologists found a sturgeon in the wild for the first time since 1999. With their federal counterparts, they are now tracking it in hopes of locating more.

o In 2007 a federal appeals court ruled in 2007 that the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service acted properly in determining that the Alabama sturgeon is a distinct species that merits protection as endangered. The industry group known as the Alabama-Tombigbee Rivers Coalition argued that the sturgeon is not a species separate from the more common shovelnose sturgeon, which is found in rivers that drain into the Mississippi River, and that the two fish are "genetically identical."

o It's unclear how soon the Fish & Wildlife Service will decide what portion of the state's rivers should be listed as critical habitat. Critical habitat is usually described as the minimum area needed for the species to recover and thrive.

Mobile Bay Wildlife

· In Mobile and Baldwin Counties a population of black bear exists.

o The bear prefer to live in thick, brushy, spring-fed creeks.

· The gopher tortoise is listed as both a threatened and endangered species throughout a portion of its range, and due to development pressures and forest management practices is quickly declining throughout the rest.

o Gopher tortoise habitat extends through most of Florida, the southern half of Georgia, the southernmost parts of Mississippi and Alabama, and very small portions of Louisiana and South Carolina.

o These locations contain the last remnants of the once expansive longleaf pine ecosystem, which provides ideal conditions for tortoise survival - well-drained, sandy soils allow the tortoise to easily dig burrows, and the open canopy allows passage of sunlight necessary for the development of low, herbaceous plant growth for food.

o The loss of the tortoise's native ecosystem to agricultural conversion, urbanization, fire suppression, invasive species, and intensive forestry resulted in the tortoise being added in 1987 to the threatened species list within the western portion of the animal's range, including Mobile.

o The loss of the tortoise throughout its range could have a cascading effect on wildlife populations as ecologists have found over 360 species making some use or relying on the burrows created by gopher tortoises.

o The tortoise is found in twenty-two counties across south Alabama, but only in three of those counties is it federally protected by the ESA, passed by Congress in 1973. The Alabama state government is responsible for protecting tortoises in the other nineteen counties.

o In 2000 the Mobile County health department began denying landowners permits to install septic systems on lots containing gopher tortoises since doing so would run afoul of the Endangered Species Act.

o A conservation bank established by the Mobile Area Water and Sewer System (MAWSS) in 2001 offers help to county residents, allowing development to continue while restoring and permanently protecting the longleaf pine habitat that the tortoise prefers. MAWSS owns a 7,000-acre forest that buffers and protects the county's water supply. Portions of the property contained longleaf pine, much of which was degraded due to fire suppression, hardwood encroachment, and invasive species. As a result, the area no longer supported many tortoises. Now, under the terms of its conservation bank, MAWSS has agreed to set aside 222 acres, forgo any development, and manage it in perpetuity for the benefit of gopher tortoises. Landowners who want to build on tortoise habitat elsewhere in Mobile County can purchase "credits" from the bank, and thereby be relieved of their ESA responsibilities. It was the brainchild of Art Dyas, the forester for the Mobile Area Water and Sewer System (MAWSS), which owns several thousand acres adjacent to Converse Lake. When the bank opened, the 220-acre site was home to 12 tortoises. In 2004 there were nearly 60.

· Alabama red-bellied turtles are an endangered species confined almost exclusively to Mobile and Baldwin counties. The species, which has been designated Alabama's official reptile, lives primarily in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta and the coastal rivers that drain into the bay, such as Fish River or Dog River.

o Nearly all of the turtles that die on the Causeway are the Alabama red-bellies. A coalition of environmental groups and state and federal agencies are on the verge of installing miles of fencing along the edges of the road to stop the deaths, which peak during the spring and summer. The last remaining challenge is to secure funding from the Alabama Department of Transportation.

o Red-bellies are vegetarians and large for a freshwater species, with adults sporting shells more than a foot long and weighing 10 pounds or more. Scientists report that they live for up to 60 years and don't begin to reproduce until they are about 6 years old.

o The turtles nest on most of the large islands that can be seen from the Causeway, where they face a number of threats, including raccoons, feral hogs and alligators. Eggs laid in shallow depressions dug out of the sand by the females are vulnerable to all of those predators as well as birds, in particular fish crows and boat-tailed grackles, both exceptionally common. Those birds are known for a particular fondness for just-laid turtle eggs.

· Fire ants entered the U.S. through Mobile via ships from Argentina. They were first described by E.O. Wilson in 1942. See Walter Tschinkel's The Fire Ants.

Alabama Beach Mouse

· Quantified economic impacts of ABM conservation efforts are estimated to be $18.3 million to $51.9 million over 20 years

· Wildlife biologists have said that beach mice play an important role in maintaining sand dunes that are the first line of defense against storm surge by spreading sea oats.

· Due to local permitting requirements, many landowners on the Fort Morgan Peninsula obtained ITPs for the ABM to construct new single-family and duplex residences.

· 1985 Alabama beach mouse listed as endangered and critical habitat (CH) designated.

· 1996 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issues incidental take permits (ITPs) for Beach Club and Martinique and several other multi-family ITPs. 1997 Lawsuit filed against Service for the issuance of ITPs for the Beach Club and Martinique developments.

· 1998 The Sierra Club and the Biodiversity Legal Foundation petition the Service to revise CH for the Alabama, Perdido Key, and Choctawhatchee beach mice.

· 2002 Lawsuit is filed by the Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity alleging that the Service violated the Endangered Species Act by failing to revise CH for beach mice and that the revision was withheld or unreasonably delayed under the Administrative Procedure Act. U.S. District Judge Charles Butler Jr. temporarily halted the construction and sent the matter back to the Fish & Wildlife Service for further review.

· 2006 Proposed rule proposing CH revision for the ABM of 1,326 acres published. Public comment period opened on the proposed CH revision and draft economic analysis.

· In March 1007 three environmental groups joined in a suit against the federal government and developers of two long-planned, long-delayed condominium projects in Fort Morgan in an attempt to protect the endangered Alabama beach mouse. The Sierra Club, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Gulf Restoration Network filed the suit last week, a day after a federal judge in Mobile dismissed a similar lawsuit that had held up the Beach Club West and Gulf Highlands condo projects for nearly five years. In the latest action, the plaintiffs dispute the adequacy of a judge-ordered environmental impact statement issued by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

· After trying for more than two years to gain the ability to issue special permits for single-family home construction within the habitat of the endangered Alabama beach mouse, city officials have abandoned their efforts.

o Starting in 2004, Gulf Shores officials sought to cover the species' entire range with an "incidental take permit," which would absolve landowners from legal liability should they accidentally harm the mouse or its habitat. Gulf Shores' permit application was submitted to the Fish & Wildlife Service in January 2006 and has sat with the agency ever since.

o While individual property owners have traditionally sought such permits on their own, the process of obtaining one is lengthy, lasting up to two years in some instances. It was the intention of Gulf Shores and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service officials to place one permit over the mouse's entire range -- dune and scrub habitat that is encompassed entirely by the city's planning jurisdiction -- to expedite the permit process for the owners of about 500 undeveloped lots on the Fort Morgan peninsula. Commercial and multifamily developments would have remained subject to federal review under the plan.

· Bill Pearson, field supervisor for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's Daphne office, said his staff has been primarily occupied with court-ordered tasks related to a host of lawsuits filed in recent years against the agency. In those suits, environmental groups alleged that the government wasn't doing enough to protect the endangered species and the regulators were ordered to re-evaluate protection measures and permits issued to condominium developers.

· Since the first of the lawsuits was filed in 2003, the service has, in three batches, issued incidental take permits to about 100 landowners wanting to build houses.

Alabama Coastal Birding Trail

Jubilee

· Jubilee is the name used locally for a natural phenomenon that occurs from time to time on the shores of Mobile Bay in which blue crabs, shrimp, flounder, stingrays, and eels swarm toward the shore.

· Jubilees only happen on warm summer nights, often in the early pre-dawn hours.

· No one knows, for certain, what causes a jubilee. One theory revolves around oxygen depletion caused by decay of organic material settling on the bottom of the bay, a process that is accelerated during the summer. Coupled with certain climatic conditions, this is believed to drive the seafood toward the shore in search for more oxygen-rich water.

· Although jubilees have been reported in other regions, Mobile Bay is perhaps the only body of water where this phenomenon occurs fairly regularly. Jubilees occur most often along the Bay's upper eastern shore, from Point Clear to Daphne; however, jubilees also occasionally happen south of Point Clear near Mullet Point or on the western shore of Mobile Bay at Deer River and Dog River

· Jubilees cannot be predicted with certainty. Local folklore offers some clues: the water is calm the day before and during the event itself; the wind is gentle and blowing from the east; the tide is rising; and, the sky is cloudy or overcast

Gulf Marine Life

· Along the Gulf Coast there are seasonal runs of tarpon (the state fish), pompano, redfish, and bonito.

· Recreational anglers have seen the allowable daily catch of red snapper drop from a 10-fish-per-day bag limit and a year-round season to the 2006 limits of a four-fish-per-day bag limit and a six-month fishing season running April 21-Oct. 31.

· The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Gulf Council), in conjunction with the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), has been charged with the task of managing the marine resources of the gulf since Congress created eight regional fishery councils in 1976. During the past several years, the council developed and deployed a plan to end over-fishing and to rebuild the red snapper stock by 2032.

· Sea turtles nest on Gulf beaches from mid-May through mid-August. Turtles nest at night, usually on moonless or dark nights.

· Sharks: The dominant species inshore are blacktips, Atlantic sharpnose, finetooth and bull sharks.

o The sharpnose and finetooth are small species, topping out at less than 5 feet.

o Blacktips may reach 6 feet and about 100 pounds, but are not considered a threat to people.

o The bull shark, implicated in most Gulf Coast shark attacks, can get up to about 6 feet but weigh as much as 600 pounds. Juvenile bull sharks, well known for their ability to tolerate freshwater, are common in bayous and other brackish areas.

o Under Alabama regulations, fishermen may keep two Atlantic sharpnose, with no size limits, and one other shark at least 54 inches long of any species except Atlantic angel, bigeye thresher, dusky, longfin mako, sand tiger, basking, whale, great white, nurse and smalltail. Those threatened species must be thrown back.

o Local fishermen in the Delta have reported catching sharks as far north as Gravine Island

· Red Tide is a dense collection of tiny dinoflagellate organisms that resemble reddish algae. There are always a few such organisms in the Gulf waters, but under favorable conditions, they "bloom" and begin reproducing at a very high rate. When concentrations near 100,000 cells per liter of water, the toxins produced by the dense conglomeration of organisms can cause fish kills, and may irritate swimmers. Oyster beds are closed when the waters surrounding them show red tide concentrations higher than 5,000 cells per liter.

· Cownose ray populations in Mobile Bay and the Mississippi Sound appear to be increasing, threatening the harvest of blue crabs and oysters. Swimmers and waders are seldom stung by the cownose, largely because it is a "flying ray." It swims or "flies" most of the time, seldom resting on the bottom like the two species of stingray common in Mobile Bay. Both the Southern and Atlantic stingrays hide in the sand and sting people who step on them. – PR 4/20/08

Roads to Reefs

· Roads to Reefs is an artificial reef building partnership between the Alabama Department of Conservation - Marine Resources Division, the Mobile County Engineering Department, the Alabama State Docks, Mobile County Wildlife and Conservation Association, the Alabama Wildlife Federation, the Coastal Conservation Association - Alabama, the Alabama Seafood Association, Choctaw Pipe, Inc., Bayou Block, Inc. , Austal LLC, and Woolpert, LLP.

· A total of 10 reefs have been constructed in Mobile Bay, and the Mississippi Sound. The Mobile Bay reefs are located at Choctaw Pass, Brookley Hole, Austal/Bender (Hollinger's Island), Denton Reef, Sand Reef, Klondike Reef, Battles Wharf, Zundel's Landing and Upper Bay Barge. The old Shrimp Boat Reef site is located in the Mississippi Sound.

· Choctaw Pass Reef, Bender/AUSTAL Reef (Hollinger's Island), Lynn Dent Boykin Reef (Sand Reef), and Klondike Reefs were constructed in 1999-2000.

· Four of the fishing reefs serve as dual purpose reefs as oyster nursery areas.

· The reefs are constructed from recycled concrete block, concrete culvert pipe and oyster cultch material.

Shucking an oyster
1) Place oyster, flat side up, on a hard surface, and with the hinged end facing you, insert the oyster knife halfway up the right side for quick access to the adductor muscle. (Another variation calls for inserting knife at the oyster's hinged end and working around.)
2) Work the knife along the top side of the shell to sever the adductor without doing other damage to the oyster.
3) Lift the top shell off, then work the knife under the oyster to free it from the bottom shell.

Alabama Ecosystems

· Southeastern conifer forests (NA0529):

o This ecoregion is known for the long-leaf pine trees that once dominated the area. Trees reach 60 to 70 feet (18 to 21 m). On the ground, among the fallen pine needles, grow clumps of wiregrass. When intact, this area was the largest forest of conifers east of the Mississippi. Long-leaf pines are fire-resistant and actually depend on fire for their survival. Without frequent fires, deciduous trees will take over the pine's area, which is what has happened throughout most of this ecoregion.

o The fire-maintained longleaf pine - wiregrass forests may have contained the richest temperate herbaceous flora on earth with 3417 herbaceous and shrub species. Tree diversity and endemism are highest in this ecoregion and it also ranks in the top ten for amphibian, reptile, and bird richness. The red-cockaded woodpecker and the gopher tortoise are both endangered species. Gopher tortoises are important to other animals in the ecoregion because nearly 400 other species use their burrows. The coastal areas of this region are important habitat for migratory birds. These light, open forests have some of the richest spring wildflower communities anywhere.

o Virtually all of the long-leaf pine forests are gone, either replaced by mixed hardwood forests as a result of fire suppression or converted to agriculture or trees farms (i.e. slash pine) for lumber or paper pulp. Only two percent of the original habitat remains, and much of this is in small pieces. The reduction in frequent fires, which kept the forests open and prevented catastrophic burns, is a major problem.

· Southeastern mixed forests (NA0413):

o This ecoregion ranks among the top 10 in the United States in number of endemic reptiles, amphibians, butterflies, and mammals. There are more than 3,600 native species of herbs and shrubs, the highest in North America.

o The Southeastern Mixed Forests ecoregion is the most heavily settled ecoregion along the east coast of the United States, with an estimated 99 percent of the natural habitat having been logged and converted to tobacco and peanut crops and other uses. Only small blocks of highly fragmented habitat are left in national forests and rocky outcrops. These fragments face threats from continued logging, conversion to pine plantations, and lack of fire management.

o The most dominant ecological force in shaping both composition and structure of the Southeastern Mixed Forests ecoregion, prior to European settlement, was fire. Fire disturbance favored the growth of oaks and provided good seed beds for pines, which were a much more dominant part of these forests back then.

o Pines and hardwood trees such as oaks and hickories spread their canopies over cedar and holly trees. Dogwood and redbud fill the understory and add color in spring and fall. White-tailed deer, black bears, and box turtles explore the woods, while luna moths and flying squirrels glide quietly through the evening forests.

Wildlife and Outdoor Organizations

· Mobile County Wildlife and Conservation Association was organized in 1934 by Hubert Kimborough, with Fred Stimpson, Ernest Ladd Jr, and Ben Turner as officers. It is the longest serving wildlife organization in the state.

Eastern Shore Inshore Sportsmen

Mobile Master Gardeners.

Alabama Wildlife Federation was established in 1935.

Governmental Wildlife Agencies

Alabama Division of Wildlife & Freshwater Fisheries

Auburn University Aquaculture and Fisheries Homepage

Aquaculture

· Tilapia are several closely related species that are widely used in aquaculture. Tilapia are easy to reproduce, did not require high-quality feeds, readily tolerated culture conditions and were relatively good to eat. The down side of tilapia was that they originated in tropical Africa and generally could not tolerate winter temperatures outside of South Florida. For 20 or more of the last 30 years, tilapia growers in the U.S. struggled to find markets for their product. Competition from wild-caught fish and from pond-raised catfish combined with a lack of market identity conspired to keep demand and prices low. The name tilapia is the first part of its two-part scientific name. Tilapia growers recognized this was a problem and tried to market their product as St. Peter's fish, Nile perch and others. Tilapia imports have risen from about 100 million pounds in 2001 to almost 315 million pounds in 2006. The majority of tilapia comes from China followed by Latin America. Domestic production in 2006 was 19 million pounds. – PR 12/5/07

· The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council is drafting a 300-page amendment that, if approved, would open the Gulf to commercial fish farming. Some scientists note that fish excrement and uneaten food from aquaculture pens have polluted coastal waters in Norway, Scotland, Greece and elsewhere. Diseases have spread with alarming speed from open-ocean fish farms -- where fish are packed together in cages -- to wild populations. And hundreds of thousands of hatchery fish have escaped from captivity, interbreeding with wild populations with sometimes disastrous results, particularly for the endangered Atlantic salmon population in the United States, according to U.S. Fish & Wildlife officials. Salmon runs have been wiped out entirely from some rivers because of aquaculture mishaps, according to scientists. But successful experiments over the past few years in Puerto Rico and Hawaii have given hope to proponents, who argue that technology has rendered the concerns of environmentalists moot. – PR 11/25/07

Revised 6/15/08

Disclaimer: These Notes are not original. They are complied from various sources, primarily the Press-Register (PR), Lagniappe, The Harbinger, and websites. Citations are being added retrospectively. These Notes are for personal, educational use only. Address all comments and corrections to: admin@flotte2.com

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