| Environmental
War Zone A Dead Zone Eyewitness Report from Florida's Gulf Coast
by Lori Glenn, Chair, Sierra Club Calusa Group, Florida USA
August 18, 2005
An “environmental war zone” is the first thought that entered my head when our boat entered the newest dead zone. It looked like something out of a Stephen King horror movie. A tear ran down my face as I took the first water sample in the once beautiful Gulf of Mexico. Zero percent oxygen, dead fish and horseshoe crabs floating, everything on the sea floor DEAD, not a living marine animal in sight, in an area the size of Rhode Island, off the Sarasota Coast.
If that is not enough of a nightmare, a toxic algae was recently found in the St. Lucia waterways and is most likely in the Caloosahatchee River.
What have we done to our planet?
This is a question that is repeating continually in my mind. Why does the Environmental Protection Agency continue to write permits for excess nutrients and carcinogens, despite warnings for over 20 years from Drs. Lapointe and Brand? Why do we continue to fill in our natural filtration systems, called wetlands, to make room for zero lot line developments? Why have we killed 90% of our Florida coral reefs? Why do the scientists from Mote Marine and FWRI continue to say our habitual algal blooms are naturally occurring? Why does Mote want to pour left over radio active phosphatic clay or deadly ozone in the Gulf to mitigate red tide? Why does South Florida Water Management refuse to clean up the polluted water before it is released? Why are we still pouring 100 million gallons of phosphatic waste daily in the Gulf? Why has the Department of Environmental Protection delisted about 150 rivers from the draft impaired list? Why is the Bush Administration trying to abolish our environmental laws? Why, why, why? The only answer I can find, is to protect the polluters. Keep development booming, keep the dirty water flowing, lie to the public, keep the money flowing to support political campaigns and provide funds for our crumbling infrastructure.
The health effects on humans are likely to be just as devastating. Most of us from yesterday’s sad trip are still suffering with migraine headaches, one of us has a rash, my face and eyes were swollen this morning. These health effects will most likely be suppressed. Remember we need to keep our beaches open.
Even our state paid scientist (FWRI) Dr. Cynthia Heil says it is ok to eat the red tide and toxic algae exposed fish. I would have loved to catch one for her yesterday, but they were all dead. What a horrific legacy we are leaving for our children.
I do hope the permit passers, the evil scientists and the polluters have to answer for this horror on judgment day.
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Article published
Aug 17, 2005 BY Cathy Zollo A dead zone off the Southwest Florida coast is the most recent and dramatic example of the state’s failure to address its water pollution problems, environmental groups said Tuesday. Fishermen and divers report that a 2,000-square-mile area stretching from Pasco County to Sarasota is littered with dead fish, crabs, corals and shellfish. Regulators charged with protecting the state’s coastal waters could head off such destruction by controlling pollution from farms, yards and cities that is washing into the Gulf and fueling red tide, environmentalists say. “Every ounce of human pollution comes from something we are doing, and most of it is regulated, the majority of it is permitted,” said Joe Murphy, spokesman for the Florida Chapter of the Sierra Club. “So there are local, state and federal agencies that are responsible for this, and we need to hold them accountable.” State officials say the dead zone and recent spate of red tides are naturally occurring and not related to human activity. “There is no connection,” said Jeremy Lake, spokesman for Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Research Institute. “It’s a normal red tide bloom that we get every year. It’s purely speculation that they go hand in hand.” Lake and other state officials also say the state’s waters are in better shape than they were six years ago, and that Gov. Jeb Bush has allotted $1.8 billion for improving water quality. “Florida’s water quality program is among the best in the nation, cleaning up water pollution faster and better,” said state Department of Environmental Protection spokeswoman Cragin Mosteller. Red tide needs nitrogen and phosphorus to thrive. Both are components of fertilizer and abundant in storm-water runoff from Florida’s farms, residential lawns and city streets. Activists — and more recently local governments — complain that the state ignores the connection between red tide and nutrients in runoff because it wants to protect big business, including the agriculture and phosphate industries. As an example, they point to the state’s recent decision to drop several local waterways, including Sarasota Bay and the Peace, Myakka and Caloosahatchee rivers, from the state’s impaired waters list, even though they’re still polluted. They also say by allowing industrial waste water to be dumped into waterways, bays and the Gulf — including the million gallons a day of waste water being dumped into Bishop Harbor from the defunct Piney Point phosphate plant — the state is exacerbating the persistent algal bloom that led to the dead zone. The state’s failure to act on the problem is why Lee County last year hired two researchers to look into that area’s growing red tide problem. University of Miami professor Larry Brand was one of them, and he has used data collected by the state to look at bloom intensity, size and duration off the Southwest Florida coast. He found that the algae is, on average, about 10 times more abundant than it was 50 years ago. “The bottom line is more algal biomass needs more nutrients,” Brand said. “What changed in the last 50 years in Florida? And, of course, what changed is the human population and its activities.” The current red tide has plagued Southwest Florida since January, causing massive fish kills and bringing dozens of dead and dying sea turtles to shore. It now stretches from Hernando County south to Lee County, though it is expanding to the south, according to Mote Marine Laboratory that is investigating the bloom and the dead zone with FWRI. Mote and FWRI have sent out research teams to investigate the low oxygen zone, its impact and recovery. Fish and Wildlife officials said life is returning to some parts of the dead zone and that the agency will continue to monitor it. That sounds like monitoring the patient until it’s dead, to the Sierra Club’s Murphy. “We can control human pollution. We don’t have to study and monitor and gauge,” he said. “We need to stop polluting our Gulf. That’s the surest way to bring our coastlines back.”
Red Tide choking
life from gulf
Fishing and diving off Pinellas and Pasco counties could be disrupted for more than a year because huge numbers of fish are dying in an oxygen-starved zone of the Gulf of Mexico. Data released Tuesday show oxygen in the gulf has dropped to severely low levels in an area that begins about 10 miles off the coast of mid Pinellas County and extends north to Pasco County. Scientists say it appears the phenomenon was brought on by an especially long-lived episode of Red Tide, which has been blooming in the gulf since January. Wayne Genthner, captain of Wolfmouth Charters and an avid scuba diver, calls it "one of the greatest environmental disasters in the history of Florida." Most scientists won't go that far. But all agree it's a serious problem that hurts diving, angling and tourism, along with the environment itself. The newest scientific evidence, from the state Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, confirms what divers and fisherman have been saying for weeks: The oxygen-depleted areas have turned into fish graveyards. Boaters have found goliath grouper bobbing dead on the gulf's surface and sea turtles too weakened to dive. Divers have searched the sea floor, only to find dead sponges and coral and shells of crabs with no living animal inside. "It's been devastating ... there's just massive fish kills," said Dave Mistretta, captain of the Jaws Too fishing boat in Indian Rocks Beach. Cynthia Heil, senior research scientist at the institute, said the effect on marine life on the sea floor is the worst since a massive Red Tide bloom in 1971. Longtime beachgoers along the Suncoast are familiar with Red Tide, a toxic growth of algae that can kill fish. Outbreaks also can cause respiratory problems in humans. But this episode is much more severe, Heil said, and unusual because it came so early in the season. Red Tide is most common in the fall. This outbreak began in January and has lasted through summer. This summer bloom is occurring when the gulf has a strong "thermocline," a layer of water where the temperature changes quickly. The thermocline, which separates the warmer surface water from the cooler bottom water, traps the toxic bloom near the bottom of the gulf, worsening its effects there, Heil said. When the algae's toxins kill fish, bacteria breaking down the dead matter rob the water of oxygen. The strong thermocline also prevents oxygen produced near the surface from descending. Both the depleted oxygen levels and the Red Tide can kill fish. Many anglers and divers have seen the evidence firsthand. Genthner, the scuba diver, said he saw fish die before his eyes, dropping to the bottom of the ocean like dead leaves. Big and ancient conch shells that Genthner had watched for years have vanished. "The worst part is what you feel when you see what used to be a cornucopia of beauty and grace, beautiful tropical fish and coral and big strong grouper, and all of that is eliminated," he said. "It draws the life out of you. That stuff really hurts." He said he used to do about $3,000 a week in charter business. Some weeks this summer he only earned $300, he said. Herman Maddox, captain of the Sea Fox dive boat in Dunedin, said he sailed out through Hurricane Pass on Sunday and saw dead fish bobbing about 7 miles off shore. He stopped 10 miles out and dove, but the water was "a milky greenish color with about 3 feet of visibility down to about 25." At 40 feet below, visibility was only 1 foot. Later, they sailed 12 to 14 miles off shore and dove again. "At 38 feet it went black," he said. He said he also came upon a sea turtle Sunday, but it was too weak to dive away, as they normally do when a boat approaches. He said he took it to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. Sea turtles are facing problems because of the Red Tide, which is forcing them to swim through a "sea of death" to lay their eggs on shore, said Joe Murphy, coastal protection campaign coordinator for the Sierra Club. And the young turtles have to swim back out through it, he said. The Mote Marine Laboratory has documented an unusually high number of sea turtle deaths the past three months, which it says can likely be attributed to Red Tide. Between Aug. 1 and Monday, the lab recovered 33 dead turtles. During the entire month of August, the lab typically recovers between five and nine. An additional 21 dead turtles were reported in July, and 18 in June. Although oxygen-starved zones like this can occur naturally as an outgrowth of Red Tide, some environmentalists say longstanding pollution in the area has made the ecosystem more fragile. They say that could make it more difficult for marine life in the gulf waters to recover. "If we had healthy coastlines, occasional natural blips wouldn't be as concerning as they are today," Murphy said. In the past few years, he said, coastline health has deteriorated from pollution, hurricane damage, other Red Tide outbreaks and additional factors. Larry Brand, a marine researcher at the University of Miami, said most scientists agree that Red Tides in many parts of the world are getting worse. It's unclear why, he said. Brand said it's likely increased pollution, wastewater and other runoff from land in the past few decades could be exacerbating Red Tide blooms. "My guess is that the increased nutrients from land runoff are having an effect," Brand said at a Sierra Club news conference Tuesday. "Maybe it's just a coincidence. We need to do more research." The good news is that recovery is possible. The 1971 Red Tide created oxygen-starved zones similar to those observed this year, Heil said. That year, scientists also documented mass deaths of marine life and coral reef inhabitants in roughly the same area as this year's zones. But in about 18 months, fish had come back. And within five years, their populations had been restored to normal levels, according to the Research Institute. "This presents us with an opportunity to actually examine how those communities did recover," Heil said. She said more study also is needed to learn how and why the Red Tide and the oxygen-depleted zones developed. There already is evidence of improvement. In certain sites that the institute has been testing weekly for over a month, oxygen levels have been increasing, she said. But some are skeptical about how much recovery is possible. Genthner said he does not expect a full recovery even in five years, because the water quality is poorer now than it was in 1971 and the damage is so great. "This is not like some goldfish dying in your tank and you shed a tear and flush him down the toilet," Genthner said. "This is the tank. This is everything." Times staff writer Curtis Krueger can be reached at krueger@sptimes.com or at 727 893-8232. Times staff writer Graham Brink and Times researcher Angie Holan contributed to this report. © Copyright
2003 St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved. Expert Seeks Red Tide, Piney Point Link By MIKE SALINERO
msalinero@tampatrib.com Tampa Tribune
TAMPA - A University of Miami scientist will take water samples today around the failed Piney Point phosphate plant, looking for a connection between pollution and one of the worst red tide outbreaks in 30 years. Larry Brand, who specializes in microscopic, waterborne organisms such as algae, said it's possible Piney Point pollution has fueled an especially deadly red tide outbreak. State scientists say the toxic algae is responsible for killing bottom- dwelling life over thousands of square miles in the Gulf of Mexico. The state has dumped hundreds of millions of gallons of treated process water, stored at Piney Point, into nearby Bishops Harbor. The dumping was the only way to avoid a disastrous spill of the highly acidic wastewater into the harbor. Though the state neutralized the acid in the water, it still contained phosphorus and nitrogen, which can feed algae blooms. ``It makes sense as a hypothesis,'' Brand said of the Piney Point-red tide connection. ``It's a reasonable guess, but I've got to get the data. I could be wrong.'' State scientists say he's wrong. Cynthia Heil, senior scientist at the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, said the agency has been testing water from four locations in Bishops Harbor since the dumping began. Heil said a red tide bloom did move into Bishops Harbor but didn't last. ``The bottom line is that there are certain types of red tide species that do grow on these nutrients,'' Heil said. ``Our particular red tide can use them but prefers other nutrients.'' Brand spoke Tuesday at a news conference sponsored by the Sierra Club. Joe Murphy, the club's coastal protection coordinator, agreed with Brand that pollution from humans is causing longer and more virulent red tide outbreaks. ``Once it reaches in-shore waters, it becomes more severe and destructive because of coastal pollution,'' Murphy said. Murphy called on state and federal agencies to enforce pollution regulations. Local governments, he said, need to repair aging sewer systems that allow untreated sewage to flow into Tampa Bay and other estuaries. Cragin Mosteller, media secretary for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, said the agency has reduced the Piney Point discharge to 1 million gallons a day from 2 million gallons a day last year. The daily discharge contains 20 pounds of nitrogen, Mosteller said. That equals 0.1 percent of the 20,000 pounds of nutrients that flow into Tampa Bay daily. Reporter Mike Salinero
can be reached at (813) 259-8303. TILDE HERRERA Bradenton Herald
ANNA MARIA ISLAND - Ten miles off our coast are areas bereft of sea life along the Gulf floor. The devastated marine communities span 2,162 square miles - larger than the state of Delaware.
The Fish and Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg, and Sarasota's Mote Marine Laboratory continue investigating reports of "dead zones," or areas devoid of life in the Gulf of Mexico from Sarasota to New Port Richey.
Preliminary results were released Tuesday from a three-day research cruise conducted last week from the mouth of Tampa Bay to Pasco County, indicating that oxygen and sea life are beginning to return to some affected areas.
Also on Tuesday, the Sierra Club held a press conference to call for local, state and federal authorities to curb pollution of coastal areas and fund research into algal blooms and coastal degradation.
It is unclear how much of a role pollution played in the latest red-tide season and resulting reef devastation, but researchers said oxygen is returning to areas that had little or none during the past two weeks, an encouraging sign to the institute's Cynthia Heil.
"The bottom communities are still impacted, but it's the first step in the recovery process," Heil said.
The bottom waters of sample areas from northern Pinellas and Pasco counties, however, still show conditions of anoxia, the absence of dissolved life-sustaining oxygen, and hypoxia, or little dissolved oxygen.
The most intense anoxic areas appear to lie between Anna Maria Island north to Pasco and Hernando counties, said Richard Pierce, senior scientist and director of Mote's center of ecotoxicology.
Offshore from Sarasota, areas of low oxygen were found last week at the 1 mile mark and further south to the Fort Myers area, Pierce said.
Scientists are still unsure whether the mass mortalities were caused from direct contact with the red tide toxin or the secondary effects of oxygen depletion from the decomposition of marine life, Heil said.
The preliminary report said there's a strong thermocline, the zone where the water changes temperature and can prevent upper and lower water levels from mixing and diluting the red tide toxin or pockets of anoxia.
High concentrations of the red tide toxin Karenia brevis were found at the surface and bottom of nearshore regions, as well in the surface waters offshore of the affected area.
Affected sites showed low visibility and high levels of hydrogen sulfide. Hydrogen sulfide is produced by bacteria, emits a rotten-egg-like smell and turns metals black, two occurrences reported by divers last week.
The full report, expected to be released today, will include data from Mote Marine focusing on areas south of Longboat Pass.
The waters off Longboat Pass is where captain Wayne Genthner said he first witnessed the absence of life from the water's surface to sea floor.
"Last Wednesday, (I) found a dead zone seven miles out of Longboat Pass," Genthner told The Herald. "I went diving down there and did five others the same day to confirm my observations."
At Tuesday's press conference, Genthner said the situation has shrunk his weekly charter boat revenue from $3,000 to $300 per week.
Genthner said fish are moving further west so he must take fishing charters further out. The result is higher expense in gas and potential safety issues.
"What happens if a storm gets in between me and land?" Genthner said. Dr. Larry Brand, a scientist at the University of Miami, also spoke at the press conference to share the results of a study he conducted for Lee County using data going back to the 1950s.
"The red tide organisms are 10 times more abundant than 50 years ago," Brand said.
According to the
data from the Gulf between Tampa Bay and Sanibel, Brand said the blooms
are more intense, spatially larger and longer lasting. © 2005 Bradenton
Herald and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved. |
