Environmentalists were even more peeved when they found out a month later that Show Management was using the same type of docks at the Palm Beach Boat Show last week, from March 17 to 20.
“It’s a sad situation,” says Russ Redman, the Palm Beach County chair of the Surfrider Foundation, a nonprofit environmental grassroots organization. “It’s a company that’s benefiting off the ocean, and it seems as though they’re going to sell this beautiful vision of going out and
Penny Redford,
“We have limited places that could catch particles larger pieces," Redford explains. "It floats up against the sea wall and some parts of the dock. I could see smaller pieces and particles skimming up at the surface."
Show Management did not return an email seeking comment. We’ll update this post if we hear back.
In the past, South Florida boat shows have been criticized for accidentally destroying mangroves at Marine Stadium in Miami (a mix-up with city contractors) and killing an endangered manatee (albeit outside of the show boundaries).
"It seems pretty obvious [that using these docks] in an environment that we have down here is not a good idea," Redman says. "There's a bigger body of water here, and it gets windy, the waves move docks around a lot, which only breaks up [the Styrofoam] even more."
The City of West Palm Beach held a ten-year contract with Show Management to run the show each year. But now that contract is up for renewal, Redford says. As part of negotiations, she is discussing swapping the current docks with a type that keeps the Styrofoam encapsulated and contained.
"The marine environment is massively important to everyone in South Florida, and we want to make sure that we do everything we can to be good stewards of that," she said.
Show Management runs boat shows in five cities
