CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS
2 DETERMINED FISHING GUIDES CHART THE COURSE FOR CLEAR WATER
Two Florida fishing guides take the fight for clean water to Washington. Find out who’s listening and what these captains have accomplished to make our beaches and waterways better.
They’d rather be gliding through the back bays of Pine Island Sound and Charlotte Harbor, hunting for redfish and snapper, drinking in memorable immersions on the water. Instead, Capt. Daniel Andrews and Capt. Chris Wittman have traded in their cast nets, rods and sunshields for scientific reports, legislative briefings and business jackets.
Two years ago, both Southwest Florida natives put their livelihoods as full-time fishing guides on hold after brown water, polluted with nitrates and phosphates, was released from Lake Okeechobee, turning fish belly-up in the Caloosahatchee River and smothering seagrass beds. They co-founded the nonprofit organization Captains for Clean Water to pull together concerned anglers and like-minded residents to advocate for the science-based protection of the estuarine waters and restoration of the Everglades—unparalleled natural resources.
Andrews, 27, executive director, and Wittman, 42, program director, operate Captains for Clean Water full time, along with two other staff members. Its goal is to educate people about regional problems and solutions so they can take informed action. “As an angler and an outdoorsman, I understand that
everything you do, and every footprint you make, makes a difference,” Andrews says. “Everything you do has lasting impacts.”
Although Captains for Clean Water began here, its scope reaches beyond the Sunshine State. These days, the two travel across the state to talk with civic and business groups and students, and to attend policymaking meetings of the South Florida Water Management District—a governor-appointed board that oversees the management of Lake O.
They travel nationally to stay abreast of the federal restoration of the Everglades and meet with conservation groups. The halls of Tallahassee and Washington, D.C., have grown familiar, and they have formed partnerships with leading organizations, such as the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, Bonefish & Tarpon Trust and The Everglades Foundation.
“We’re the face of the organization fighting on people’s behalf. They trust us because we are a couple of fishing guides who understand the system and have seen changes with our own eyes,” Wittman says. “We have no hidden agenda. We just want the next generation to have what we had.”
The group has about 5,000 members and a broad coalition of supporters, with more than 108,000 Facebook followers. More than 30,000 of these fans, from all 50 states, signed a petition urging Congress to pass a bill that included a critical Everglades project.
“When you’re a nonprofit like us trying to take action, when we get 30,000 to take action, that’s a massive number,” Andrews notes. “That’s a true measurement of the size of an organization. That’s the level of commitment we’re seeing.”
THE CAPTAINS GET SERIOUS
Wittman, who grew up on Sanibel Island, operated Stillwater Charters for 20 years and estimates he used to guide 300 days of the year. Andrews, of Fort Myers, walked away from a scholarship at Florida Gulf Coast University in 2011 and launched Capt. Daniel Andrews Fishing Charters.
They established the 501(c)(3) in mid-February 2016, when cyclical Lake Okeechobee releases fouled local waters—yet again. “For the first time, we had a lot of people that were angry about the water quality and wanting to get involved. It was the first time the
“FOR THE FIRST TIME, WE HAD A LOT OF PEOPLE THAT WERE ANGRY ABOUT THE WATER QUALITY AND WANTING TO GET INVOLVED. IT WAS THE FIRST TIME THE INDUSTRIES WHO WERE VICTIMS OF WATER MISMANAGEMENT WANTED TO TALK ABOUT IT AND MOVE TOWARD A SOLUTION. IN THE PAST, EVERYONE TRIED TO KEEP QUIET BECAUSE OF TOURISM.”
—CAPT. DANIEL ANDREWS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF CAPTAINS FOR CLEAN WATER
industries who were victims of water mismanagement wanted to talk about it and move toward a solution. In the past, everyone tried to keep quiet because of tourism,” Andrews explains.
By summer 2016, things worsened: The discharges ignited an outbreak of toxic blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) on both coasts of Florida, killing sea life and sickening beachgoers. Cyanobacteria occurs naturally in warm, calm, freshwater lakes and rivers but is fed by nutrients from agricultural and urban runoff. Research has established a link between cyanobacteria exposure and ALS, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.
EMERGENCY DECLARED
A state of emergency was declared in three east coast counties and Lee County. Laura Parker of National Geographic reported it was the eighth time since 2004 that toxic algae had fouled the Sunshine State’s coastline. Her story’s headline read: “Slimy Green Beaches May Be Florida’s New Normal.”
Wittman and Andrews, who knew each other from guiding, realized people were alarmed, but missing from the demand for action were outdoorsmen and other stakeholders whose heritage and livelihoods are tied to the water. At their first public meeting at Bass Pro Shops in Fort Myers, more than 300 people—including tackle shop owners, saltwater and freshwater fishing guides, recreational anglers and commercial fishermen—showed up.
“Then it became a big snowball that started rolling downhill,” Wittman recalls. He and Andrews worked to build the organization on their own time and dime between guiding.
“It kind of happened that this needed our effort and we needed to dedicate our day-to-day life to it. We both felt that was the right decision to make,” adds Wittman. “It didn’t come hastily. It came with a lot of weight. I worked hard all my life to become a respected fishing guide. But these problems are hitting us firsthand, and we all have to act.”
Captains for Clean Water was in place, but it seemed more like a dress rehearsal for the dual environmental assault that engulfed Lee County in 2018: persistent red tide (Karenia brevis) and a devastating blue-green algae bloom in the Caloosahatchee and in Cape Coral and North Fort Myers canals. Last summer, separate state of emergency orders for blue-green algae and red tide were declared in seven counties by thenGov. Rick Scott.
Though Karenia brevis is a natural part of the ecosystem, it can bloom to high concentrations when conditions favor it, releasing a neurotoxin (brevotoxin) that kills fish, marine mammals and sea turtles, and causes a choking respiratory irritation in humans. Among other complex issues, scientists are working to understand how blue-green algae interacts with, and impacts, red tide.
Red tide counts during summer 2018 were well above 1 million cells per liter, the highest number Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reports per sample. Measurements taken by the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation and other monitoring groups were 100 million cells per liter and higher.
The death toll in Lee County was unfathomable: millions of pounds of fish and all manner of marine life, as well as high numbers of dolphins, manatees and sea turtles. Shorebirds suffered, too.
Tourism sputtered. Beaches, hotels and Gulf-front tiki bars stood empty. State and federal economic disaster recovery programs for business owners were activated.
The Sanibel & Captiva Islands Chamber of Commerce reported a combined loss of revenue of $36.9 million during a 10-week period of summer 2018 on the two islands alone. A survey of Lee County businesses found that 86 percent of local businesses reported losses because of the red tide, with 73 percent tallying their losses at $500,000 or more. Nonprofit organizations stepped in to assist hospitality employees and others suffering from lost income.
Water quality became a touchstone in the November elections. “It hits every single industry one way or another. We’ve had to take it from an environmental conversation to an economic conversation. It takes a dollar impact to get their [policymakers’ and politicians’] attention,” Wittman says. “The environment should be good enough, but it takes more.”
LOOKING BACK AND AHEAD
Restoring the Everglades has proven to be a politically and financially complicated chess match, resting in the hands of federal and state agencies. When the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan was authorized by Congress in 2000, it was billed as a 35-year undertaking to build 68 projects at a price tag of $10.5 billion. Because of delays, it is estimated at $16 billion—and counting.
Historically, the Everglades region comprised the vast miles of lands south of Orlando, made up of Lake O, prairies, marshes and wetlands. Water moved slowly south as shallow sheet flow, becoming known as the River of Grass, until dredging and draining more than 100 years ago made the land habitable and farmable.
Those lost wetlands were invaluable. Prairies, marshes and swamps store floodwaters and maintain surface water flow during dry periods. An acre of wetland can clean and store a million gallons of water, allowing it to percolate into underground aquifers, which supply water for 8 million south Floridians, according to The Everglades Foundation.
The seasonal release of water from Lake O into the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers has long been a source of contention for downstream communities, which bear the brunt of its impacts. The water level is managed so that it does not flood rur al communities to its south, with releases dictated by the South Florida Water Management District.
It was a decided win when the Water Resources Development Act was approved by Congress in October. The act included the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) Reservoir and a vast man-made marsh southeast of Clewiston marsh designed to hold about 80 million gallons of water.
Tracking this project and others is a current focus for the captains. They, and other Everglades advocates, don’t believe the EAA should take the projected 10 years to complete. Wittman and Andrews believe that the South Florida Water Management District should have members who represent the coastal communities and businesses affected by water management.
Cathy Chestnut is a freelance writer and frequent contributor to TOTI Media.
“WE’RE THE FACE OF THE ORGANIZATION FIGHTING ON PEOPLE’S BEHALF. THEY TRUST US BECAUSE WE ARE A COUPLE OF FISHING GUIDES WHO UNDERSTAND THE SYSTEM AND HAVE SEEN CHANGES WITH OUR OWN EYES. WE HAVE NO HIDDEN AGENDA. WE JUST WANT THE NEXT GENERATION TO HAVE WHAT WE HAD.” —CAPT. CHRIS WITTMAN, PROGRAM DIRECTOR OF CAPTAINS FOR CLEAN WATER