- Pine Island Sound
Pine Island Sound is located in
Lee County, Florida , lying betweenPine Island (Lee County, Florida) and the barrier islands ofSanibel Island ,Captiva Island ,North Captiva Island and Cayo Costa, which separate the Sound from theGulf of Mexico . The Sound connects toGasparilla Sound and Charlotte Harbor to the north, and toSan Carlos Bay and theCaloosahatchee River to the south. The Sound is conterminous with the Pine Island Sound Aquatic Preserve, which was established in 1970 and consists of 54,000acre s (220 km²) of submerged land. Important habitats in the Sound include mangroves,seagrass es,salt marsh es,oyster communities and tidal flats.For thousands of years, the sound was home to the
Calusa Indians and their ancestors. In the 18th and 19th centuries it was an important winter fishery for theCuba nmullet fleet. In the early 1960s, theCIA trained theBay of Pigs invaders onUseppa Island , located in the center of the sound.References
* [http://www.dep.state.fl.us/COASTAL/downloads/maps/pineisland.pdf Map of Pine Island Sound Aquatic Preserve]
* [http://www.dep.state.fl.us/COASTAL/sites/pineisland/ Florida DEP page on Pine Island Sound Aquatic Preserve]
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