Making our environmental protection agencies favor the environment over polluters and industry is a difficult task. Because of state self hype, many citizens think they are doing a good job, but the truth is they are failing miserably.
As a result they are letting our springs and our manatees die.
Read the original article in Florida Conservation Coalition.
Comments by OSFR historian Jim Tatum.
jim.tatum@oursantaferiver.org
– A river is like a life: once taken,
it cannot be brought back © Jim Tatum
As manatees continue to die, water polluters must pay
March 21, 2022
By Sarah Gledhill for Orlando Sentinel
“Excessive nutrient pollution associated with fertilizers, deteriorating septic tanks and sewer lines as well as harmful discharges from Lake Okeechobee have triggered harmful algae blooms that cloud Florida’s waterways, preventing sunlight from reaching the seagrass beneath the surface. As a result, since 2009 the Indian River Lagoon has lost 58% of its seagrass. Since 2012, Tampa Bay has lost 13%, while between 2018 and 2020, Sarasota Bay lost 18%. This decline in aquatic vegetation is also evident in our freshwater systems. In the St. Johns River, we are also witnessing a 90% decline in eelgrass, another source of food for manatees. For our beloved manatees, food scarcity means they face a crucial choice when cold snaps occur. Either stay and potentially starve or forage elsewhere and freeze…
The Florida Wildlife Federation (FWF) supports the bold and bipartisan leadership from Reps. Vern Buchanan and Darren Soto for championing the Manatee Protection Act of 2021. The Act calls on Congress to reclassify the manatee as endangered. In 2017, the federal government unjustifiably down-listed the manatee to threatened in response to a special-interest petition based on shortsighted science.
FWF also supports the bipartisan Marine Mammal Research and Response Act of 2021. Co-sponsored by Reps. Brian Mast and Stephanie Murphy, the Act would allocate $42 million over six years to support ongoing efforts to rescue and rehabilitate sick and injured marine mammals and to mitigate what is causing high mortality rates…
Now is the time for stronger and meaningful water quality-policy enforcement. Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) needs to shift away from the soft-handed education approach and actually enforce water-quality protections. For far too long, big industry polluters are getting a slap on the wrist. Now is the time to hold them accountable and make polluters pay. Improving water quality doesn’t only mean creating a better environment for manatees and wildlife in general, but also a better quality of life for Floridians as well.”
