Two years ago, the West Palm Beach Fishing Club joined a coalition of other community groups, county residents and stakeholders who are opposed to the Port of Palm Beach’s long range plan to expand by deepening and widening Palm Beach Inlet and the Port's turning basin. The Save Our Inlet Coalition is made up of members that include environmental organizations, munici- palities, hotel operators, Port tenants, including Tropical Shipping and Rybovich, the Palm Beach County Diving Association, the Everglades Law Center and other community activists.  All share a concern about the negative impacts the proposed inlet expansion would have on fish, manatees, critical marine habitat, public recre- ational areas and nearby businesses and homeowners.  Expansion of the inlet would require dredging healthy seagrass beds adjacent to the Port’s turning basin and excavating channel ledges covered with vibrant coral.   The Palm Beach Inlet and surrounding area is a valuable county asset that supports not only a tremendous diversity of marine life, but also numerous jobs in the diving, fishing, boating and tour- ism industries. Because of the inlet’s proximity to the Gulf Stream current, a twice-daily exchange of very clean water enters the Lake Worth Lagoon giving life to a unique marine ecosystem not found inside other coastal ports.  Area dive boat operators frequent the inlet during clean water tides, which can be a day saver for them when conditions are too rough to take their customers offshore.  The Inlet, along with the nearby Blue Heron Bridge, have become world renowned snorkeling and diving destinations because of the incredible variety of marine life that can be seen there.  The inlet is also a favored fishing spot for recreational anglers and local fishing guides.  Notably, Palm Beach Inlet is home to significant spawning aggregations of snook, a fish that has been highly managed and protected by the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission for many decades.  Manatees season- ally congregate in large numbers at the Florida Power & Light power plant next to the port. FPL recently opened a multi-million-dollar manatee edu- cation and research facility along the Port’s southern boundary.  In recent years, Palm Beach County and other partners have invested mil- lions on environmental enhancements and improving public access at marine recreational parks like Peanut Island and Phil Foster Park.  The “eco-tourism” economy surrounding our inlet and lagoon is significant.  Port expansion should give us all pause, but especially for those living in coastal communities like Palm Beach Shores, Riviera Beach, West Palm Beach and Palm Beach who live in such close proximity to the inlet. Excessive turbidity and sedi- ment migration from a recent port expansion project at Miami’s Government Cut had devastating impacts to nearby corals, which is cause for additional concern. The Port of Palm Beach has indicated that a deeper and wider inlet and turning basin would help attract larger vessels and make the channel safer for existing vessels.  However, Florida Crystals and Tropical Shipping, the Port’s largest tenant, have both indicated that they do not need a deeper or wider inlet.  They just need the depth maintained at the presently approved depths that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is authorized to maintain.  Furthermore, the Port of Palm Beach does not have the money to fund the proposed project.  Congresswoman Lois Frankel has voiced opposition about the Port of Palm Beach expansion proj- ect, authorized in 2014 by Congress, noting the concerns of many stakeholders.  She, along with congressmen Alcee Hastings and Theodore Deutch, have signed a letter to the USACE requesting that federal funding be withheld for this project until there is clear community consensus of approval.    To be clear, the Save Our Inlet Coalition views the Port of Palm Beach as a valuable community partner.  It is important for the port to be financially successful so it will continue to qualify for periodic USACE maintenance dredging. The Coalition supports the Port’s interest in maintaining the presently approved depth in the inlet. However, the Port’s widening and deepening proposal poses far too much risk to marine life, the huge public investments and the growing eco-tourism economy in this environmentally sensitive area.  The Port must develop a business model that does not rely on a deeper or wider inlet.  The port’s 160 acre footprint is simply too small with no room for the development of additional berths to accommodate larger vessels. Because of its inability to expand, the Port of Palm Beach will remain a niche port that will never be able to handle the vessel size or traffic that ports like Port Everglades, Port Canaveral or the Port of Miami can accommodate. The Save Our Inlet Coalition questions the economic viability of the proposed expansion project.  When balanced against the environmental threats and impacts it would have on existing jobs that depend upon a healthy inlet, the proposal in the coalition’s view is not in the community’s best interest. Stayed tuned…This issue will continue to be debated as we approach the August voting primary when some Port of Palm Beach Commissioners will be running for reappointment and new ones will be on the ballot. If you are interested in further informa- tion or becoming involved in the Save Our Inlet Coalition, please let the club know and we will put you in touch with them. Club Joins Save Our Inlet Coalition Palm Beach Inlet provides critical habitat for thousands of spawning snook that aggregate there each summer. Photo credit: Wolcott Henry by Tom Twyford, WPBFC President