CLEARWATER — With manatees and their calves turning up in Stevenson Creek in growing numbers, the City Council gave initial approval Aug. 20 to a year-round slow-speed zone intended to keep boats from striking them.
The ordinance would establish a minimum-wake protection zone throughout the shallow, 3.2-mile tidal estuary, said Mike MacDonald, the city’s marine and aviation director. The zone would extend from the mouth of the creek at Clearwater Harbor upstream through the creek and would include the northern tributary to Overbrook Avenue.
“Stevenson Creek is a shallow, tidal estuarine waterway that connects to Clearwater Harbor and provides habitat regularly utilized by the Florida manatee,” MacDonald said.
Several hurdles remain. The ordinance must go to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for review and approval. The city must then obtain permits and install regulatory markers before the zone takes effect.
Mike Foley, vice president of the Stevenson Creek Advocacy Group, told council members the turnaround is remarkable for a waterway that was polluted for decades.
“But today, after 35 years of improvements … the city has implemented clean water designs, has removed pollution points all along the creek and the entire watershed, and has developed a Watershed Management Plan that it’s been carrying out,” he said. “And now the creek has so much improved, the water quality has come up so much, that we’re getting manatees in large numbers, significant numbers.”
A citizen science survey directed by the Save the Manatee Club counted more than 200 manatees using the creek over eight months, Foley said.
“They come in there for fresh water, because the water quality has improved,” he said.
They also come because the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers finished dredging the estuary in 2014, he said. The sediment was so contaminated the work required a hazardous materials permit.
“Then the city has also been mitigating pollution points all along the creek,” Foley said. “Newer people don’t realize this, but it’s come a long way.”
Volunteers have since counted as many as 17 manatees in the creek at once, he said.
“We’ve gotten so many manatees in there, we feel the need to protect them,” Foley said.
Resident Jeremy Reynolds told council members researchers have counted 27 calves in the creek.
“Not passing through but born there, nursing there, learning that creek the way your children learn their street,” he said.
The creek is not deep enough for a manatee to drop below a boat propeller, Reynolds said.
“You can’t sink in 3 feet of water in Stevenson Creek. In Stevenson Creek there is no down, there’s no out of the way,” he said. “There’s just a mother and her calf, and water too shallow to hide in. And whatever comes around that bend is going to find them.”
Council member Mike Mannino called the creek a “special place” and the ordinance an example of public engagement matching staff work.
“This is a big step for the community and Stevenson Creek. … I know we’re still relying on FWC approval, so if they’re listening, I hope they hear us — let’s get this approved,” he said.