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Golf course cleanup dooms waterfowl

Removing cattails from ponds at the Paradise Island course is said to have disrupted the ecosystem.

By KATHY SAUNDERS
Published September 21, 2005

TREASURE ISLAND - An effort to clear aquatic weeds around the ponds at Treasure Bay golf course may have ultimately caused the death of dozens of ducks and other waterfowl.

Results of tests on the dead ducks show that they died of avian botulism, a bacteria that begins in dying organic matter and can linger in the environment for years. The disease paralyzes the birds.

City officials sent two dead ducks to the state last month for testing after golf course workers feared that the birds had been poisoned. Maintenance crews found at least 40 dead ducks, egrets and herons. They were baffled because the killer did not attack the fish or crabs in the two ponds.

Recreation director Cathy Hayduke said veterinarians from the state Bureau of Animal Disease Control are 90 percent certain the ducks died from the disease. The only way to be sure, she said, is to test an infected bird before it dies.

"There were no toxins or infectious diseases in the water or the ducks," Hayduke said. "Instead, it was the botulism, which is like Red Tide: It's always going to be there."

Heat increases the bacteria. "If we have an extremely hot summer again it could happen again," she said. "When the elements are right, the ducks will die."

The city's effort to rid the ponds of cattails and the dying vegetation contributed to the problem, Hayduke said.

Last year, she said neighbors at the Village of Paradise Island townhomes complained that the cattails, which can grow up to 9 feet, were overtaking the ponds. In response, the city paid to have weed killer sprayed along the shores of both ponds on the nine-hole golf course. But the spray didn't do the job along the pond closest to the townhouses. A few months later, the city paid $800 to have the plants dug out of that pond.

This summer, residents complained about the dwindling bird population on the waterfront golf course. The city owns the Paradise Island course and the adjacent recreation complex.

The ponds, between the sixth and seventh, and eighth and ninth holes, were becoming a bird sanctuary before the bacteria spread.

"The whole ecosystem of the ponds got screwed up when the cattails were removed," Hayduke said.

Now she is looking for ways to improve the quality of the ponds and prevent the disease from recurring. Environmental companies have suggested scraping the sides of the pond to get rid of some of the lurking bacteria and installing an aerator to circulate the water and reduce the growth of algae.

Hayduke said she is comparing prices for the scraping and different types of aerators, from bottom-based bubblers to fountains.

The solution likely will be costly. Early estimates for aerators and fountains are $3,500 to $6,000, not including the electrical hookups.

[Last modified September 21, 2005, 00:24:18]