http://www.pnj.com/article/20110506/NEWS01/105060334/Budget-sinks-aquatic-preserve-protectors?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

Gulf Breeze resident Robert Turpin’s earliest childhood memories include harvesting scallops in a cove near Fort McRee with his family. He has longed for the day he could introduce that ritual to his daughters. But that day may never come.

A program to restore the scallop fishery in Pensacola area waters may cease on July 1 if the Northwest Florida Aquatic Preserve office on Garcon Point is closed.

That office and five others across the state, operating under the Department of Environmental Protection, were not funded in the state budget set for approval by lawmakers today. The budget goes into effect July 1.

“I won’t be able to expose my kids to scalloping unless we’re managing and trying to improve the scallop fisheries,” said Turpin, 50, a marine biologist.

Turpin, other residents and fellow scientists worry what will happen to the entire 76,000 acres of underwater lands in the Northwest Florida preserves and the sea life the lands nurture without the watchful eye of the aquatic preserve staff, especially as the impacts of the BP oil spill still are being assessed.

“The aquatic preserve’s staff are the silent soldiers protecting our natural resources,” said Heather Reed, a marine biologist and the City of Gulf Breeze project manager for the Deadman’s Island Restoration Project.

The aquatic office, with a staff of three and an annual budget of $178,281, is responsible for the restoration and preservation of salt marshes, seagrass beds, oyster beds and shoreline stabilization and water quality monitoring of the submerged land from Perdido Key to St. Andrews Bay.

These resources are directly tied to the quality of the environment and viability of the economy of Northwest Florida, in terms of the seafood industry, tourism, recreation and the quality of life, Turpin said. Restoring, monitoring and preserving these resources is more critical than ever in the oil spill’s wake, he said.

DEP would not allow the aquatic preserve staff to be interviewed for this story.

Turpin, Reed and Vernon Compton, who works closely with the staff as director of the Gulf Coastal Plain Ecosystem Partnership of the Nature Conservancy, said staff members were key players in pointing out to BP’s Unified Command the environmentally sensitive areas of the Panhandle that needed the most protection last year during the disaster.

Special thanks to the Gulf Restoration Network.