By Richard Brown
Special to In Motion
I would like to focus attention on the unfortunate and incredibly massive fish kills occurring in the Indian River Lagoon recently and to stress how important it is that we act quickly to prevent total devastation of the most ecologically diverse estuary in North America.
From its beginning at Ponce Inlet, the Indian River Lagoon runs south 156 miles to Jupiter Inlet and is home to over 4,000 species of plants and animals. Sadly due to our ignorant pollution and poor water management tactics, these once pristine waters have become tainted with sewage and agriculture run-offs, fertilizers, and other harmful chemicals. Most of these chemicals will never dissolve and eventually make their way into the bodies of marine wildlife.
I came across a startling example of this in dolphins while watching a video by Marty Baum, head of the Indian Riverkeeper, an environmental organization dedicated to protecting and restoring the waters of the Indian River Lagoon.
In the video Baum addresses the chemical pollution impacts on local dolphin populations, he says that “Nearly every first-born dolphin dies, it takes a female dolphin around seven to eight years to reach maturity and in those years she accumulates toxins, then dumps those toxins all into the body of her first-born and they die.”
Females live longer than the males by about five years because they are able to dump their toxins. Lagoon dolphins live 10 years less than Atlantic dolphins located just a half-mile away on the other side of the barrier island. Dolphins in the Lagoon have high nicotine levels as well from all the cigarette butts being thrown into our waterways.
It’s not hard to see how negatively chemicals and fertilizers affect local species, even the mammals. This, however, is not the main cause for the massive spring fish kill, called the worst in Indian River Lagoon history. Fish kills are nothing new for the Lagoon and they are caused by algae blooms that deplete water’s oxygen causing the fish to suffocate. Blooms are naturally occurring phenomena and have been documented many times over the years.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute says that while fish kills happen all the time, the most recent one was particularly massive. The warm “El Nino” winter coupled with Florida’s high January rainfall, about triple its average, created a perfect storm for rapid algae growth. As a result of rainfall, Lake Okeechobee had its highest water level in 10 years, forcing the Army Core of Engineers to discharge billions of gallons of freshwater into surrounding waterways to prevent flooding.
Not only does this affect the salinity of the estuaries, but this water is tainted with harmful pollutants and agricultural fertilizers. The toxic water is devastating to the health of the vital sea grass and oyster beds. Eventually making its way off the coast, it also negatively impacts on coral reefs. Scientists are apprehensive about this year’s bloom occurring so early in spring, fearing the bloom will continue through the coming months resulting in more fish kills. If left unchecked, this algae could completely wipe out the Lagoon’s important sea grass meadows, which have already disappeared more than 50 percent, according to Florida Wildlife Conservation.
Among the top three most bio-diverse ecosystems in the world, after tropical rainforests and coral reefs, sea grass meadows provide habitat and protection for hundreds of marine species. From the large manatees that rely on the grass as their only food source to tiny juvenile fish and who depend on its protection, healthy sea meadows are vital to the total Lagoon ecosystem, as well as many ocean dwelling creatures who travel inland to spawn and reproduce.
Ultimately, maintaining the health of the 156 mile Indian River Lagoon is imperative not only to just our native wildlife, but also to state and local economies that depend on its tourism and the bountiful seafood it provides. If we fail to save this tremendously important and remarkably beautiful ecosystem, Florida’s future tourism and seafood industry will surely suffer.
So whether it be challenging local or state officials to tighten environmental laws or just picking up someone else’s litter, all of us should make the effort, however small, to reverse this growing ecological problem. Although it may seem impossible for one individual to have an impact on such a large problem, each of our daily decisions have rippling effects. From choosing to buy one product rather than another to even informing your close friends how to reduce their carbon footprint, each action will cause another domino to fall in the right direction. We can make a change; we just have to act before it is too late. Mother nature has the ability to heal herself, we just need to give her time.