Did former Club Med get off light in the Case of the Murdered Mangroves? Time will tell.

(NOTE: This column contains corrected information about Club Med resort properties in the United States.)

It had all the makings of a good whodunit novel:

A local fisherman stumbles across evidence of a crime at a resort with a storied history. The resort's new owners offer up a totally implausible (and laughable) explanation for what happened. After weeks of investigation, a state agency imposes sanctions on the resort owners.

So, case closed on the Mystery of the Murdered Mangroves? Well, maybe yes and maybe no.

Here's a quick recap of what happened:

Last May, the Sandpiper Bay Resort, formerly known as Club Med, clear-cut mangroves on nearly a half-acre of shoreline along the St. Lucie River — a swath equal to the 951-foot-long Caribbean Princess cruise ship — and covered the nubs with sand, which washed into the river.

Jim Dirks, a Port St. Lucie resident and owner of Stuart Stained Glass, discovered the damage during one of his many fishing trips to the area and reported it to the authorities.

On May 10, investigators from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection found healthy red and black mangroves measuring 15 to 26 feet long in dumpsters on the resort's property, with sand covering the roots.

Representatives from Altitude Hospitality LLC, which bought the former Club Med in 2022, reportedly told investigators a tornado damaged the trees, even though the National Weather Service said there were no recent tornado touchdowns in the area.

At the conclusion of its investigation, the DEP ordered Altitude to pay a $110,395 fine by Feb. 19 and plant 2,780 red, black and white mangrove seedlings and trees in between what's left of the estimated 944 trees it cut to nubs by June 24.

Altitude must also pay $72,000 to St. Lucie County, which will spend it on mangrove restoration at Bear Point Sanctuary, county spokesperson Erick Gill said. The resort must pay 60 days after the County Commission approves a mitigation plan, which is due by April 1.

Dirks, and likely others who have been following the case, have said DEP should have gone further, pursuing criminal penalties against the resort owners.

I don't know if there are applicable criminal charges for a case like this. However, I do know the fines Altitude is being asked to pay the state and county amount to chicken feed to a company with the financial resources to buy a luxury resort.

Remember, long before Sandals and other luxury resorts began proliferating around the world, Club Med was one of the industry's biggest names. It was a badge of honor that Port St. Lucie had one of Club Med's properties in the United States.

As for the new owners, this incident with the mangroves is the first time many of us on the Treasure Coast are hearing about them. They haven't responded to numerous requests for comment from TCPalm journalists, myself included.

It's shocking to me the company didn't make a public apology following this incident. Maybe since its clients are primarily out-of-towners, Altitude doesn't care if its neighbors along the Treasure Coast have a high opinion of the resort.

I hope that's not the case, but again, we don't know what's on the owners' minds.

DEP plans to monitor the mangrove replanting for five years, but it might take 25 years for the new seedlings to reach the heights of the trees they'll be replacing.

DEP aims for at least 80% of the trees to survive. That means the resort must replace trees that die to ensure there are at least 2,224 living trees. If the trees don't grow after first two years of monitoring, the resort must prepare an alternative plan.

So what's the big deal about a bunch of mangroves? Well, the trees play an important role in Florida's ecosystem.

They filter water pollutants, provide wildlife habitat and stabilize shorelines to protect homes, businesses and other structures from storms.

Even if you don't care much about the welfare of small marine creatures, even though they are an important part of our food chain, you can't be happy about someone removing a vegetation screen that blocks winds and waves that can damage property during tropical storms.

Altitude may be taking a short view of all this, thinking the financial penalties and hassle of replanting were worth having a few years of unobstructed views from its shoreline.

That would be a wickedly callous business strategy. It could also backfire if, say, a group of local boaters decided to set up floating camps along that stretch of the river, offering the pampered resort guests good views of the unwashed masses drinking beer, playing Jimmy Buffett tunes and generally having a good old time on the water.

Not that I would ever advocate such a thing. But it would be perfectly legal ― more legal than chopping down protected trees and claiming a tornado did it, anyway.

Let's remember the river is very much a public waterway, even if Altitude might like to believe it was part of the property the company purchased from Club Med.

It seems like Altitude has quite a bit to learn about local laws and customs if it hopes to be a member in good standing of the Treasure Coast business community.

Whether the resort owners take away anything positive from this experience is truly the only remaining mystery here.

This column reflects the opinion of Blake Fontenay. Contact him via email at blake.fontenay@tcpalm.com or at 772-232-5424.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Sandpiper Bay fine was too low, but there may be other repercussions