A harbinger of Chesapeake Bay’s future?
My wife and I regularly escape cold, gray wintry days by going to Florida in March. Like migratory birds, we flock to Naples to enjoy the sun and lush greenness, and to visit our daughter and her family, including three wonderful grandchildren.
The Naples area from where I write has very nice, accessible beaches and parks. We search for birds, alligators and gopher tortoises at these natural areas. But sadly, like much of Florida, the region is being devastated by development. From 1936 to 1995, Florida’s population grew from 1.7 million to 14 million, resulting in a 632% increase in urban lands. Forests decreased by 22% and herbaceous wetlands decreased by 51%. Agricultural lands expanded by 60%.
The onslaught has continued with human numbers increasing 57% since 1995 to 22 million. Florida has now lost nine million acres of wetlands, more than any other state. These radical changes have profound effects on water quality, ecosystem health and flood control. Waterbird populations have declined by 90% in Everglades National Park and Florida panther numbers were reduced to 200.
This desecration of the natural world has provoked Mother Nature. Florida is plagued by more intensive and longer-lasting red tides, choking its residents and visitors, killing its marine life, fouling its beaches and hurting its economy. Nowhere is this more evident than in Southwest Florida where a five-month massive red tide bloom plagues 150 miles of coast from Naples to Clearwater.
We had firsthand exposure recently. Birdwatching on beaches has resulted in attacks on our respiratory systems, causing coughing and scratchy throats. Red tide is caused by high levels of Karenia brevis, a Gulf of Mexico algae species.
Large mats of these algae blooms floating in the gulf release brevetoxins as wave action breaks the algal cells open. The toxins cause human respiratory problems and kill wildlife. My first attack came on a birding boat trip on Rookery Bay seven years ago when I started choking even though the red tide was 30 miles offshore. Wind had blown the brevetoxins inland.
The Florida Health Department advises people with severe or chronic respiratory conditions, such as emphysema or asthma, to avoid red tide areas. Vulnerable people living near the gulf are warned to keep windows and doors closed, air conditioners on and to change filters regularly.
One study found a 54% increase in the rates of admission at Sarasota Memorial Hospital for respiratory illnesses, including asthma, bronchitis and pneumonia during a 2002 red tide bloom. Health alerts also warn people to avoid water contact as these dangerous waters can cause skin irritations, rashes, burning sore eyes and hospitalization. We canceled a beach trip with our grandchildren because of these threats.
Eating locally caught seafood can lead to neurotoxic shellfish poisoning. Does all of this sound scary? Well, it is!
Besides human health effects, the red tide’s brevetoxins affect the central nervous system of fish, sea turtles, manatees and birds. Once a sea turtle ingests the algae, the toxin affects its nervous system, which hinders movement and can put the turtle into a coma leading to death.
Since this current outbreak of Karenia brevis, 104 sea turtle deaths have been linked to it. Seven threatened manatees have died from these toxins this year. The manatee population has declined to 7,500 as 1,900 were found dead from all causes in 2021 and 2022. Many died from starvation as excess nutrients killed off their preferred grass beds on the East coast.
There’s no end in sight for the red tide bloom as communities cancel future beach festivals. Such outbreaks occurred in 2018 and 2021 killing millions of marine animals in the gulf. In 2018, then-Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency over the severe red tide. In both cases, red tides lasted for more than a year.
Beaches are fouled with dead fish. We could barely walk on the beach without stepping on dead fish. The stench in the heat was awful. To protect the tourism business, gulf counties and cities are paying for the pick-up and disposal of dead fish and other aquatic life littering their beaches. About 13 tons of fish were removed this month from Fort Myers Beach alone.
Red tides have occurred on Florida’s Gulf Coast since at least the 1840s as the Karenia brevis algae is naturally occurring. But the frequency, length of each occurrence and severity are increasing. Research indicates this is likely because of excess nutrients and warmer waters fueling the algae growth and its toxicity. Such red or brown tides occur from different species of algal growth around the globe, including in the Chesapeake Bay. The Chesapeake Bay’s are fueled in the same way as Florida’s.
These excess nutrients flow to the gulf from thousands of tons of nitrogen and phosphorus from agricultural operations in Florida, other gulf states and from the Mississippi River. Sewage treatment plants add to the load as does stormwater runoff from construction sites and existing developed landscapes. Septic tank leakage also adds to the algae-enriching nutrient flows.
Hurricane Ian and other tropical storms deluging Florida’s Gulf Coast add massive amounts of nutrient flows. Rampant development has destroyed more than half of Florida’s ecologically important mangroves whose dense roots filter nitrogen, phosphorous and other pollutants, help bind and build soils and prevent erosion. With their destruction and that of so much of Florida’s wetlands and forests, the nutrient flows have increased and have been linked to red tide.
Climate change is contributing to worsening algal blooms in marine and freshwater environments and could make the emergence of future red tide disasters more common and of greater length and intensity.
So, what is Florida doing to curb these sources of red tide pollutants? Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, in planning his run for president has denounced “woke” green investments, says he’s “not a global warming person” and has abysmal ratings from national environmentalists. Despite devastating hurricanes like Ian, he has refused efforts to slash greenhouse gas emissions while he greenwashes his efforts and works to brand himself as an environmental hero.
A local Naples newspaper columnist wrote this past week that DeSantis and his legislative majority are nearing enactment of measures to “fling wide open the door to sprawling new development” by making it easier for developers to sue local governments; making citizens pay attorney fees if they sue a developer and lose; ban local governments from establishing their own land development regulations; and forcing local governments to approve or deny building permits within nine days.
Red tide is a warning for Chesapeake Bay officials refusing to act to gain the major reductions in nitrogen and phosphorus flowing to the bay. We might have saved the bay from such red tides for now by our solid gains in reducing nutrients from wastewater plants. But efforts to do the same from agriculture and development flows are failing as EPA and bay states fail to meet mandated pollution reductions.