by Alan Ritchie
Post dredge reports on the navigation of Wiggins Pass have been very good and, should decent weather continue through the rest of the hurricane season, it should be a great “season” for boating out of Wiggins Pass this coming winter.
It appears that there are some navigation issues in the southbound channel toward Vanderbilt Lagoon which is likely going to take some action by the residents on the water in the Vanderbilt Lagoon area. The ECA has done some depth sounding in the area and there is shoaling in the marked channel. The county has done its best on marking the deepest water with channel markers but because of the shoaling, that water is “pretty skinny” in a couple of spots. You should refer to the sounding posted on the ECA website at www.estuaryconservation.org. Information is also available inside the gas dock office at the Cocohatchee Marina.
Looking Ahead
A friend of mine recently gave me a copy of a Naples Daily News article on Wiggins Pass dated October 23, 1994. This 24-year-old article was all about the development of new condos and marinas inside Wiggins Pass and it was a pretty negative article. A lot of gloom and doom! In the past 24 years, rapid development of the area has continued (and is continuing) and it clearly has had a negative effect on water quality in the Cocohatchee River and estuary. The Cocohatchee River is now technically “impared” and the recent dumping of additional storm water into the river after Hurricane Irma certainly didn’t help.
The Estuary Conservation Association, Inc., a North Naples based charity focused on clean water in the Cocohatchee estuary and the safe navigation of Wiggins Pass has been working on these issues with some success but the reality is that a different approach is needed going forward. The “just say no” to future development just won’t work and we can’t rely on oysters to do the “heavy lifting” for us in cleaning up the water. Some environmental organizations want to pretend that we can “advocate” our way back to the way it was 50 years ago here in southwest Florida…but seriously, it just “isn’t going to happen!” So, what can or should we do?
We need to focus on storm water management, (Collier County is struggling with this now and how to pay for it), and we need people to change some behaviors. We need people to be better informed on our current and future environmental risks and how they can assist. They need to take responsibility. The solution is not throwing more money at these problems…but rather to give residents the tools and leadership they need to help them do the right thing!
I am confident that almost all residents will respond, take this responsibility and make this area an even better place to work and play!