County officials have recieved permission from the state Department of Environmental Protection to use more aggressive methods to clear seaweed from Coquina Beach. PAUL VIDELA\/Bradenton Herald <\/p>\n
pvidela@bradenton.comBuy<\/a> Photo <\/p>\n MANATEE -- The county has stepped up efforts to clear Anna Maria Island beaches of seaweed after receiving permission from state environmental officials to use mechanical rakes. <\/p>\n \"It's all done, I was very pleased with the quick action of the county,\" said Bradenton Beach resort owner David Teitelbaum. <\/p>\n \"They did the whole north and south of us,\" he said. <\/p>\n It was a far cry from last week, when Teitelbaum, who operates four Bradenton Beach resorts, wrote in an email message to commissioners complaining that the beaches were \"a total mess,\" and that \"the smell is simply awful.\" <\/p>\n Steve West, the local representative for the state Department of Environmental Protection, helped to provide the necessary permit to rake beaches from the <\/p>\n southern most end of Coquina Beach to the northern tip of Anna Maria Island, with the caveat that county crews adhere to permit requirements, such as caution around sea turtle nests, wrote Cindy Turner, county director of parks and recreation in an email update to county commissioners. <\/p>\n Monday, clean-up crews raked along Gulf of Mexico beaches from Cortez Road to a few blocks north of State Road 64, and then hauled the debris to a compost pile, said Holmes Beach resident Glenn Wiseman, education director for the conservation group Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch & Shore Bird Monitoring. <\/p>\n Wiseman rode an all-terrain vehicle alongside a mechanical beach rake in order to protect turtle nests in the sand, and help the crews to avoid shorebird nesting and foraging areas, he said. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n See the rest here: <\/p>\n Manatee County steps up effort to clean seaweed from beaches<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" County officials have recieved permission from the state Department of Environmental Protection to use more aggressive methods to clear seaweed from Coquina Beach. PAUL VIDELA\/Bradenton Herald pvidela@bradenton.comBuy<\/a> Photo MANATEE -- The county has stepped up efforts to clear Anna Maria Island beaches of seaweed after receiving permission from state environmental officials to use mechanical rakes Continue reading