Broward County has named longtime marine environmental manager Bob Musser to oversee all ecological functions and procedures associated with operations and planning at Port Everglades.

Formerly from Port Canaveral and the Port of Tampa, Musser has been named the new Environmental Projects Manager at Port Everglades, according to John Foglesong, Director of Broward County's Seaport Engineering and Construction Division. He has 10 years of maritime experience and more than 20 years combined in the environmental, marine science, engineering and hazardous waste fields. In addition to his port experience, Musser was a Senior Scientist/Project Manager for Ash Engineering in Tampa, Senior Environmental Scientist with the non-profit environmental organization Tampa Bay Watch, previously worked for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, and held various environmental positions with Laidlaw Environmental Services, Inc. He also taught high school marine science and coastal ecology at The Marine Science Consortium in Virginia.

"Bob's vast experience and dedication to protecting the sensitive environments characteristic of seaports will be a great asset to Port Everglades as we implement our Master Plan and begin the Port's new wetland habitat creation project," said Port Everglades Director Phil Allen.

Musser will be part of a team that will oversee the development of a new 16.5-acre mangrove wetland habitat that will be created from upland area within Port Everglades. The new habitat, once fully functioning, will replace approximately 8.68 acres of mangroves within an existing 48.27-acre conservation easement in the Port's Southport cargo area. The replacement of these mangroves with the new mangrove habitat will facilitate the Port's ability to extend the Southport Turning Notch, where ships can dock and turn around in the channel, by 1,500 feet. The extended Turning Notch will accommodate larger cargo and container ships that will be able to transit widened Panama Canal and create additional berth space for cargo ships that currently call at Port Everglades.