Photos courtesy of NewsPress.

Southwest Florida's sensitive estuaries serve as nurseries to area fish and shellfish, most of which are reliant on marine seagrasses for food and shelter from predators. When water managers began releasing water from Lake Okeechobee in 2004 into the Calooshatchee River at rates of up to 22,000 cubic feet per second, the health of our estuaries dramatically declined.

The salinity levels became diluted by too much fresh water.

Heavy sediment loads blocked sunlight, which is critical for much of our marine life to flourish, and settled directly on seagrass beds.

Increased nutrient levels of nitrogen and phosphorous prompted widespread blue-green algae blooms toxic to marine organisms and humans alike and a carpet of filamentous green algae began growing on sandbars, beaches, mudflats and grassbeds.

The green algae is still clearly visible and causing serious damage at the J. N. Ding Darling
National Wildlife Refuge Preserve off Wildlife Drive, and on sandbars near the causeway and at Lighthouse beach.

Toxic blue-green algae blooms caused extensive fish kills in the Caloosahatchee River and San Carlos Bay.

The nutrient pollution from the releases may well have contributed to the severity and duration of the Fall 2005 red tide event that killed hundreds of thousands of fish that have had to be cleaned up at considerable expense from area beaches and which severely affected tourism.

At its peak (most destructive, highest volume) level, the releases could be compared to dumping 22 full swimming pools of polluted freshwater per second into a delicate marine ecosystem.

Now that we are in the dry season, the water release levels have significantly decreased, and it is our city's mission to keep those releases limited to no more than an average of 800 cubic feet per second in pulse releases during the dry season and a maximum of 2800 cubic feet per second, even when the rainy season begins again. If this doesn't happen and excessive releases resume, our marine seagrasses may not recover and the entire chain of marine life could be devastated.


Why Should We Care That Marine Seagrasses May be Dying?

Many species of fish and shellfish, including commercially and recreationally valuable species such as grouper, seatrout, snapper, redfish, pink shrimp, blue crab, and stone crab, depend on marine seagrasses for their survival. Scientists were disturbed to see three critical seagrass species in our area drop their blades (seagrass leaves) as a result of the discharges. Unless the turtle grass, manatee grass and shoal grass are allowed adequate time to re-grow and recover, more than ten thousand acres of seagrasses in southwest Florida could be permanently lost. This would ultimately lead to the collapse of the entire estuary. As a result, the environmental and economic impacts would be staggering.

Marine biologists are watching to see if new seagrass blades begin to emerge in February-April as they would under normal circumstances.