Host Paul Ruben welcomes Phil Lintereur, board member of the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival, birding tour guide, and contractor with NASA.

The 25th Annual Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival is back this year between January 24th and 28th. It’s been two years since the festival was held due to the pandemic and a lower-than-normal count of birds in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and the Indian River Lagoon. The festival will be located at the Radisson Resort in Port Canaveral Florida and will include presentations, workshops, and field trips in five counties throughout Central Florida:

https://scbwa.net/

You can stream this and past shows on all major streaming platforms. For listener feedback, please contact the Brevard Indian River Lagoon Coalition’s Help Our Lagoon website and page on Facebook, Instagram, or email us at info@helpthelagoon.org. Music was by Vacationer from their album Wavelengths. Thank you for listening. 

Host Paul Ruben is joined by Jessy Wayles, Northern Community Engagement Coordinator with the Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program (IRLNEP), also known as OneLagoon. Jessy earned a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Sciences from the University of Central Florida and began her career with the Marine Discovery Center with their shuck and share oyster recycling program in New Smyrna Beach. 

Long before humans walked, waded, swam, or boated near the shores of the Indian River Lagoon, horseshoe crabs gathered to take advantage of its protected waters. Horseshoe crabs have been around so long, approximately 445 million years, that they existed before there was an Indian River Lagoon (forming roughly 240,000 years ago). But one of the world’s oldest species, surviving 5 mass extinctions, is becoming less and less common. The International Union for Conservation for Nature, or IUCN, listed the American Horseshoe crab as Vulnerable to Extinction in 2016. Overharvesting for biomedical research, bait, and food and habitat loss has continues to put pressure on this prehistoric species. 

You can stream this and past shows on all major streaming platforms. For listener feedback, please contact the Brevard Indian River Lagoon Coalition’s Help Our Lagoon website and page on Facebook, Instagram, or email us at info@helpthelagoon.org. Music was by Vacationer from their album Wavelengths. Thank you for listening. 

Host Paul Ruben welcomes Officer Brian Smith and Matt Culver for a conversation about derelict boats in the Indian River Lagoon. Officer Smith works with the City of Melbourne Police Department Marine Unit and Matt is the Boating and Waterways Program Coordinator with Brevard County.

Following Hurricanes Ian and Nicole in 2022, abandoned, or “derelict,” boats have become noticeably scattered throughout the Indian River LAgoon. Beyond the eyesore of a fiberglass boneyard, there are some real public health concerns associated with irresponsible operation and intentional or unintentional abandonment of boats. Today we’ll learn about the estimated quantity of derelict boats, the cost to remove them, potential opportunities to manage the issue, and hear clips from my field visit on the water with Officer Smith and Mr. Culver. We’ll also hear the perspectives of three full time liveaboard boat owners and a resident who lives near the shores of the Indian River Lagoon.

You can stream this and past shows on all major streaming platforms. For listener feedback, please contact the Brevard Indian River Lagoon Coalition’s Help Our Lagoon website and page on Facebook, Instagram, or email us at info@helpthelagoon.org. Music was by Vacationer from their album Wavelengths. Thank you for listening.