What can we do about the death of Florida Bay, our water, our river, our eastuaries? Bring me the person in charge!

What can we do about the death of Florida Bay, our water, our river, our estuaries?

Feeling frustration? Yes me too.

This just in from the keys free press.

Why is Rick Scott destroying Florida?

http://pdf.keysnews.com/weeklys/freepress.pdf

Opinion piece that is in this weeks Florida Keys Free Press at http://pdf.keysnews.com/weeklys/freepress.pdf that reads as follows:

Florida Bay needs clean water now

Unless the South Florida Water Management District takes immediate action to restore flows of clean fresh water to the southern Everglades, its governing board and the man who appointed them, Gov. Rick Scott, will go down in history as the people who destroyed South Florida’s coastal fisheries.

Most estuaries in the district’s jurisdiction are on the verge of collapse. By assaulting the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers with billions of gallons of filthy runoff and depriving Florida Bay of clean fresh water, the district is knowingly destroying many of the iconic waters that make Florida the Fishing Capital of the World.

The discharges out the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers get the most media attention, since they’re urban waterways and always in the public eye. But what’s going wrong in Florida Bay is also reprehensible and costly, especially in the context of Florida Keys tourism. One of Florida Bay’s most popular and prolific fish species, the spotted sea trout or “speckled trout,” has virtually disappeared. Recent studies confirm what veteran anglers like me witness on the water — a near absence of the second most commonly caught fish in Florida Bay, which also happens to be the state’s most commonly targeted species.

You really have to work hard at destroying an estuary to crash spotted sea trout populations. Female trout spawn as frequently as each full and new moon from March through October, broadcasting hundreds of thousands of eggs into waters where they’ve spawned for millennia.

These offspring can survive in a pretty wide range of salinity levels. However, water that’s too salty causes brown algae blooms that block sunlight from reaching seagrass meadows, killing seagrasses and depriving juve- niles of essential cover. Annual hatches of shrimp and crabs, which provide nutrition for juvenile trout, depend upon spring- and summertime influxes of fresh water as well. Without clean, fresh water mixing in the bay, the little trout and many other species don’t get enough to eat. Extremely salty water also interferes with a juvenile trout’s ability to breathe.

Boating and fishing are two of Florida’s biggest economic engines. So you’d think the state that touts itself as the Fishing Capital of the World would bend over backwards to ensure that its most fertile coastal waters get the right amount of clean water at the right times, to maximize the numbers of fish and other marine life these waters can produce. After all, recreational fish- ing in salt water alone generates at least $7.6 billion, with more than $1 billion of that income generated in Everglades watersheds.

Instead, fishermen like me embrace science-based fisheries management and adhere to catch limits recommended by scientists, only to watch fisheries and the ecosystems they belong to crash because of water mismanagement.
We’re tired of being ignored. Florida Bay needs more fresh water, the same water that’s destroying the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee. To restore our coastal fisheries, the district needs to expand water storage, clean the water and send it south from Lake Okeechobee to the Everglades and Florida Bay. … Our fisheries are running out of time, our jobs are on the line and our patience has run out.

Capt. Matt Bellinger, Bamboo Charters, Islamorada

One way you can help this weekend is to attend one of these rallies.

http://floridawaterlandlegacy.org/sections/page/may30events

Finish the Job: May 30 Events

Click on any city below for more information.

Alachua

When: 10:00 am – 11:00 am

Where: 15935 NW US Hwy 441, Alachua, FL 32615
(Parking at Lowes, Sonny’s BBQ, or other nearby lots. This is the stretch of 441 that everyone uses to get to Spring Country!)

Lead organizers: Heather Culp, hculp@floridaspringsinstitute.org and Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson, merrilleeart@aol.com