Cashing in on the fall mullet run will be mighty hard for fishermen familiar with working the planks of St. Johns County/St. Augustine Beach Pier. Why? The surf’s about 100 yards east of the T at the end of the pier.

A dredge and fill operation has landlocked the structure, just as a similar beach renourishment project did three years ago.

Darryl Lloyd at the pier’s tackle shop: “Can’t believe they did it again.”

“The sand they’re pumping onto the beach smells bad,” Lloyd complained, “and it’s nasty looking. Nothing like the white, sugar sand that collects naturally on Anastasia Island beaches.”

“But that’s not the worst of it,” he continued. “This stuff is killing beach habitat. There’s nothing alive in the sand or on the beach. No crabs, sandfleas or small mollusks. It’s destroyed.”

FS