Headwaters

[1781ccT]

Gotta love the northerners coming down here only to complain about weeds and somebody (government) needs to "do something" SMH

“Do something” does not have to equate to spraying.

But doing something is better than nothing. Nothing can quickly lead to the deleterious effects of too much vegetation, which is much more than just navigation. Diminishing beneficial bacteria that eat the natural muck that comes with eutrophication is one thing. Reduced dissolved oxygen is another thing. In many bodies of water with outlets to a river system or chain of lakes, vegetation can (and does) block natural water movement which can lead to flooding, which further alters water chemistry (of the lake as well as the river outlet).

We have the knowledge to “do something” for our waterways that literally benefits everybody but the chemical companies, and we won’t do it. “Do something” to me, should be calling for physical removal to be the first and best choice for managing vegetation in our waterways.

[Fishshooter]

They have this contraption that looks sorta like an old paddlewheel river boat back from the old days. The paddles grab the garbage on the surface and transfer it to a big barge looking flat boat. Then they take it to a bank and off load it. It works great. That is what they need to use....please do not spray poison on Headwaters.

Or Garcia or Stickmarsh/Farm 13 & stop the killing of Big O & anyplace else they are overspraying. Kinda surprised that groups from Port St. Lucie & Ft. Myers haven't all joined with Scott Martin's group for a bigger push to stop it, or maybe they have & I just don't see it from Ohio. Rooting for people to get it under controll somehow. Pretty sad when I spend 1-2 weeks a year on Okeechobee & the large declines in habitat I see keep happening every time I come back.

[Topwater Guy]

It all boils down to $$$$, the cost of spraying is way less than mechanical methods. I say leave it alone, it makes for better fishing. Start carrying a grappling hook on your boat, make your own path......

[Bandwagon]

They had a excavator cleaning out the canal this week.

[hogzilla]

Sorry wrong post

[FloridaFlyer]

It all boils down to $$$$, the cost of spraying is way less than mechanical methods. I say leave it alone, it makes for better fishing. Start carrying a grappling hook on your boat, make your own path......

You cannot leave it alone. You would not be able to fish a lot of these lakes without some sort of weed control.... they just go crazy and overdo it by a huge amount. On a lot of these lakes, if you left it alone for a couple of years, you would literally, no kidding, have miles of the tossock type islands and cabbage for miles you would have to try to push through.

There are mechanical means they should use over the poison they spray. But you have to do something or you could not fish.

[1781ccT]

I said it a while ago that somebody needs to find a good use for the biomass removed from the lakes, instead of spraying, and a case can very easily be made that the state can collect it and sell it to whoever is using it, to make a few bucks to offset the cost of collecting it. Or collect it and produce the final product, all in state…creating jobs and saving our fisheries from being poisoned and damaged by sludge created from the poisons. It will have to be a big enough financial incentive that it can’t be ignored.

Milorganite is sort of what I’m envisioning. Not necessarily profitable for the state, but at least enough environmental benefit to make the minimal loss a better option than a continuous expense for the poison.

I would 100% love to drive one of those mechanical harvesters. On the water all day and making a direct impact.