Tend to our underwater lawns first!
Recently, in Brevard county’s Rockledge, there was a rally of about 100 folks concerned about the health of the Indian River Lagoon. They were protesting the possible easing of a 3 month fertilizer ban by the state Senate. This ban had originally been put in place by Rockledge on March 20th and represents a stricter ordinance than that of the FDEP’s model ordinance for Florida fertilizer use. The tougher ban during the rainy season implemented by the city shows the commitment by this community to get moving on a dire situation in the lagoon that has already contributed to many manatee deaths as well as birdlife. For years, seagrasses in that area as well as most state waterways have felt the detrimental effect of excessive nitrogen in the water from fertilizer overload which leads to algae growth, reduced water quality and eventually acres of “dead zones”. In the case of the lagoon, 50 square miles of dead seagrass beds.
In my neck of the woods on the west coast, I too have started to see a gradual decline of areas I have fished over the past 20 years. In Desoto, around the Sawyer Key area, I noticed a bit more creeping of sandy spots where there was once lush grasses. The flats that do have a reasonable acreage of healthy growth show many signs of another threat to our sea life and the habitats, prop scars. Like Rockledge, we have to get tough and stay the course of not settling for second best or a gradual decline in what was once pristine. There is a limit to manipulating the Florida landscape to meet specific unsustainable desires like lush green lawns. The Indian River Lagoon is well beyond that limit and the caring folks there know it. The rest of Florida needs to take heed as well and more carefully tend to the natural backyard we all love and enjoy. Let’s make the grass below our waters the main priority now before it’s too late.