Brian Carlstrom won’t be taking many more complaints about a no-fishing zone, under-enforcement, boat-crowding prohibitions and all the other headaches he’s endured as superintendent of Biscayne National Park since March 2013.

Carlstrom is leaving in mid-November for a National Park Service headquarters job as deputy associate director for natural resource stewardship and science. A title with so many words must mean it’s an important job, right?

Right, says Biscayne public affairs officer Matthew Johnson: “It is a significant step up for Brian because there are seven regions in the National Park Service and Brian is going to the national office, which oversees all the regions.”

Sula Jacobs, a former deputy superintendent under Carlstrom’s predecessor, Mark Lewis, will be acting super until a permanent replacement is chosen — same as she did between Lewis’ retirement and Carlstrom’s appointment. Jacobs now is superintendent of Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, in parts of Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky.

Carlstrom’s term at Biscayne was comparatively short — Lewis served seven years and his predecessor, Linda Canzanelli, did five — and it was tumultuous. He’ll be remembered as the super who finally pushed the controversial no-fishing marine reserve zone into effect after 15 years of arguing between competing public interests.

If the squabbling ever got on Carlstrom’s nerves, he never showed it in public. When fishing-doers hollered at him about the marine reserve zone plan, his own voice was placid and steady, as if discussing something abstract.

He called the Biscayne job “a wonderfully enriching experience.” He said he enjoyed all aspects of being superintendent and didn’t make an exception for the hollering — or cite that as a reason he applied for the headquarters job.

“Getting to know and work with the visitors and partners that care about the park has taught me many valuable lessons,” he told Waterfront Times. “I will be applying those lessons in my new position.”

Grants to pay for park perks

If not for grants from the South Florida National Parks Trust, a lot of necessary things would not be done in Biscayne, Everglades, Dry Tortugas and Big Cypress Preserve.

The trust has announced $236,647 in new project-specific gifts that include a major improvement in Biscayne’s limited and often-criticized capacity to enforce fishing, environmental and safety regulations.

That item, a mere $11,000, will pay for an infrared radar system and night vision surveillance equipment to enhance public safety and combat poaching, says Don Finefrock, executive director of the SFNPT: “The equipment will be purchased this year and operated by rangers on patrol. The project is not specific to the marine reserve.”

It will, however, enable after-dark enforcement in the 10,512-acre offshore reserve once the detailed regulations are put in effect. Until then, it will give rangers the ability to detect and sneak up on nighttime fish poachers using unlighted boats. Here’s some info from the park’s request for the grant:

“Both pieces of equipment significantly increase law enforcement’s capacity to apprehend resource poachers and for rangers to safely patrol/navigate and monitor other vessels/park visitors on the water at night and aid in reducing vessel collisions which cause serious injury or death.

“The [radar] system enables park law enforcement officers to see all heat signatures, such as people in the water, vessels with no lights, or objects creating navigational hazards. The night vision surveillance equipment allows law enforcement officers the ability to see ‘everything’ at night, including people, surrounding areas, vessels with no lights, markers, obstructions, etc. The equipment would be used by the park’s law enforcement officers for the protection of marine fisheries, coral reef and other night patrols."

The other new grants:

Biscayne: $25,000 to remove abandoned traps, stray ropes and other debris for a reef restoration project. $15,000 to support education programs for school children in a nationwide initiative that encourages children and families to get outdoors and discover nature. $25,000 to repair, replace and install navigational markers, channel markers, mooring buoys and other aids to navigation guide boaters and protect natural resources. $23,100 to support the Alternative Break program for college students who remove marine debris from park beaches in before sea turtle nesting season.

Everglades: $19,600 to replace channel markers in Florida Bay and aids to navigation formerly maintained by the Coast Guard. $23,900 to promote better stewardship of Florida Bay through community outreach, education and to pay a seasonal ranger assigned to the bay. $24,600 to fund two interns who will work with scientists to control invasive species and protect native wildlife. $4,500 to support Camping Adventure with My Parents (CAMP) and other programs for the public. $6,600 to support a new season of public tours at the historic Nike missile site.

Dry Tortugas: $14,000 to monitor sea turtle nesting activity on remote beaches during the summer nesting season.

Big Cypress: $35,000 to complete the restoration fresh water flow into the Turner River, a popular tour for paddlers. $8,900 to support the 5th annual Swamp Heritage Festival, a celebration of the history and culture of the Big Cypress on Saturday Dec. 5.

Kids and fishing

You have friends, neighbors, relatives and job colleagues who don’t do fishing but they and/or their kids want to learn. They hesitate to put you on the spot and you’re glad they don’t ask.

Instead of playing Scrooge, fob them off on the IGFA, which eagerly wants to teach families, especially the kids, about fishing. They will thank you as gratefully as if you did it yourself.

In three monthly sessions at public parks in Broward County beginning Saturday Nov. 7, IGFA staff and volunteers will teach knot tying, baiting, casting, unhooking, safety, conservation, regulations and, yes, actual fishing.

Parents have to be with their children but don’t have to buy fishing gear. Rods and reels will be provided by IGFA.

It’s almost free, $8 per person for everyone age 3 or older. Prove you’re only 2 and it’s free. Don’t forget that county parks charge admission on weekends but it isn’t much. Every child will be given an IGFA goody bag. At each session, a rod and reel will be raffled.

All events run 10 a.m. to noon. Here’s the schedule: Nov. 7 at CB Smith Park (freshwater), 900 N. Flamingo Road, Pembroke Pines. Park admission $1.50 per person.

Dec. 12 at Markham Park (freshwater), 16001 W. State Road 84, Sunrise. Park admission $1.50 per person. Jan. 9 at Hugh Taylor Birch State Park (saltwater), 3109 E. Sunrise Blvd., Fort Lauderdale. Park admission $6 per vehicle with as many as eight riders.

For more info or to register, phone 954-924-4309 or e-mail reservations@igfa.org.