Red Tide: Good News

[BDMX2]

https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/21/us/red-tide-not-observed-in-test-florida-trnd/index.html

 

[bocamike]

Read this, maybe not so good news...

www.naplesnews.com/story/news/local/indian-river-lagoon/health/2019/02/22/lake-okeechobee-discharges-heading-both-coasts-three-weeks/2950981002/?fbclid=IwAR00tmqXn-P9ZQBZfdNf6Fc_wtdWaHTrhp7oP2j_QqSQwZxlv8szxboh59c

Hope this doesn't change things
Mike

 

[BDMX2]

Read this, maybe not so good news...

www.naplesnews.com/story/news/local/indian-river-lagoon/health/2019/02/22/lake-okeechobee-discharges-heading-both-coasts-three-weeks/2950981002/?fbclid=IwAR00tmqXn-P9ZQBZfdNf6Fc_wtdWaHTrhp7oP2j_QqSQwZxlv8szxboh59c

Hope this doesn't change things
Mike

Ah man

 

[Panina]

They keep doing the same thing hoping it won’t happen again. Sad. They are gambling on now versus later will not have the devastating effects.

 

[PigsDad]

This just goes on to give credence to the statement of "don't f**k with Mother Nature". The Army Corps of Engineers have really screwed up the whole watershed in Florida over the years.

Kurt

 

[easyrider]

This just goes on to give credence to the statement of "don't f**k with Mother Nature". The Army Corps of Engineers have really screwed up the whole watershed in Florida over the years.

Kurt

Without the efforts of the USACE, Florida would be nothing but a swamp. I read somewhere that what has changed in the ocean/gulf area is the lack of storms. The storm rains reduce the salinity of the sea water and cool sea water making it harder for red tide to occur.

The real culprit is farm run off. Its the farmers causing the problem, not the USACE, imo.

Bill

 

[PigsDad]

Without the efforts of the USACE, Florida would be nothing but a swamp. I read somewhere that what has changed in the ocean/gulf area is the lack of storms. The storm rains reduce the salinity of the sea water and cool sea water making it harder for red tide to occur.

The real culprit is farm run off. Its the farmers causing the problem, not the USACE, imo.

And where did that farm land come from? Answer: from the USACE draining the swamp land and changing the watershed so dramatically that the water no longer flows from central FL south through the everglades. Instead, now it flows to the east and west. Now I'm not saying USACE did not execute the engineering of the project well, I'm saying that the whole project (draining all the swamp land in FL) was not thought out completely. Developers wanting to make big $$$$ has had a huge influence on politicians and policy makers.

Changing the whole landscape and watershed of FL is the root of the problem. Trying to shift the blame on farmers is a cop out, IMO.

Kurt

 

[rapmarks]

And where did that farm land come from? Answer: from the USACE draining the swamp land and changing the watershed so dramatically that the water no longer flows from central FL south through the everglades. Instead, now it flows to the east and west. Now I'm not saying USACE did not execute the engineering of the project well, I'm saying that the whole project (draining all the swamp land in FL) was not thought out completely. Developers wanting to make big $$$$ has had a huge influence on politicians and policy makers.

Changing the whole landscape and watershed of FL is the root of the problem. Trying to shift the blame on farmers is a cop out, IMO.

Kurt

You said it
Everyday I read an article in the paper that a developer has requested rezoning from 100 homes to 1000, request granted. From commercial to multi family apartment building, granted. They are building subdivision after subdivision along two lane Corkscrew Road, but they set aside 4.4 million to study making a three mile stretch four lane. Meanwhile we flood or get sick from red tide in the air

 

[easyrider]

And where did that farm land come from? Answer: from the USACE draining the swamp land and changing the watershed so dramatically that the water no longer flows from central FL south through the everglades. Instead, now it flows to the east and west. Now I'm not saying USACE did not execute the engineering of the project well, I'm saying that the whole project (draining all the swamp land in FL) was not thought out completely. Developers wanting to make big $$$$ has had a huge influence on politicians and policy makers.

Changing the whole landscape and watershed of FL is the root of the problem. Trying to shift the blame on farmers is a cop out, IMO.

Kurt

I disagree, the projects that the USACE provided only drained the swaps. The canals used for commercial development do not contribute to red tide for the most part. The pollution from these developments, which are a big problem, are not the real cause of red tide.

The main cause of red tide is farm run off. Currently, the measures to control farm run off fall short in Florida. Mega corporations control much of the agriculture. It isn't an actual farmer that is the problem for the most part. Many of these people are farming organic. It is lax farming regulations and farm run off from corporate agricultural lands that is the problem. The EPA needs to crack down on some of these projects. They have where I live.

Another issue, maybe not the main issue, would be the frequency of storms. There hasn't been as many in the last decade in Florida. Without the fresh water provided by storms the ocean water salinity increases and warms. This causes red tide.

Leave the USACE out of this. They did a great job as evidenced by the many cities that now exist in Florida.


Bill

 

[PigsDad]

Again, I reiterate: where did the farm land come from originally? There would be no farm land if the draining projects weren't executed in the first place. The root of the red tide problems can be traced back to the policies of draining the land and screwing with the watershed. Yes, the lax runoff regulations are a major contributing factor for the red tide now, but that is not the root of the problem. (and BTW, "organic" farming can actually cause more toxic runoff vs. conventional farming -- fertilizing land with animal waste is hardly "clean")

I'm not blaming USACE; I just saying that the projects they executed lead to the issues we have now. You can argue that it has been worth it for all the cities that now exist that wouldn't otherwise, but I personally think there are some places where we shouldn't develop in the first place (flood plains, hillsides susceptible to landslides, etc.). And I freely admit that I am a hypocrite, since I have enjoyed vacationing in some of those drained swamps...

Kurt

 

[SmithOp]

Good PBS documentary of the history of Florida, draining the Swamp.

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/swamp/


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[lovetotravel77]

https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/21/us/red-tide-not-observed-in-test-florida-trnd/index.html

We love the west coast of Florida beaches, Siesta Key, Clearwater, St.Pete, Longboat Key..Hoping that the Red Tide does not return! Mid March into April, Easter Break for many vacation on west coast, hoping that tourism will be strong.

 

[Jan M.]

We live in Southern Florida so this is a hot topic in our news. If you look at the population growth in Florida it isn't just the coastal areas that have been developed. Sewage plants and septic systems contribute to the problem too. Agricultural chemicals and animal waste aren't the only contributing factors,; humans contribute their waste and all the household cleaners, detergents, etc they use too. Where there are people there are businesses and they contribute all of the same things too.

 

[OldGuy]

We love the west coast of Florida beaches, Siesta Key, Clearwater, St.Pete, Longboat Key..Hoping that the Red Tide does not return! Mid March into April, Easter Break for many vacation on west coast, hoping that tourism will be strong.

For those who decided not to Snowbird this year, or Florida for Spring Break, because of the horrible Red Tide and Blue Green Algae of last Fall, that's too bad.

It's been the most beautiful Winter ever . . . nice water, lots of fish, dolphins every boat trip, even saw a manatee. No foul air and not one throat-scratching day.

 

[lovetotravel77]

For those who decided not to Snowbird this year, or Florida for Spring Break, because of the horrible Red Tide and Blue Green Algae of last Fall, that's too bad.

It's been the most beautiful Winter ever . . . nice water, lots of fish, dolphins every boat trip, even saw a manatee. No foul air and not one throat-scratching day.

Great news! Enjoy!

 

[theo]

For those who decided not to Snowbird this year, or Florida for Spring Break, because of the horrible Red Tide and Blue Green Algae of last Fall, that's too bad.

It's been the most beautiful Winter ever . . . nice water, lots of fish, dolphins every boat trip, even saw a manatee. No foul air and not one throat-scratching day.

Not seeking to argue, but I do feel compelled to address one specific point regarding "lots of fish".

I spent two weeks in early March in Bonita Beach / Fort Myers Beach. While there, I had a long lunch one day with a college buddy from long ago yesteryear. Officially "retired", but he still runs a very successful inshore charter fishing operation in that area, mostly as a "hobby" activity. He is a "native" who is both very knowledgeable and out on the water almost every day. He has observed that fish populations in that SWFL coastal area have plainly been decimated. He described to me in detail huge front end loaders and bulldozers and dump trucks removing many tons of dead fish from the shore, day after day for many weeks during (and after) the red tide outbreaks in the latter part of last year.

There was no visible evidence of the red tide and / or its' aftermath while we were there last month, but let's be honest and realistic; full recovery of fish populations cannot and does not just magically occur overnight --- and another discharge from Lake "O" (in both directions) was scheduled just a few weeks away while we were there.

Willful biological destruction, brought to you by an Army Corps of Engineers near you.

 

[OldGuy]

Absolutely.

It's horrible here.

Everyone stay away.



& some of you who are already here . . . leave



& when I said lots of fish, etc. that could not possibly have been the case

There are no fish . . . no dolphins . . . no manatees . . . no osprey sitting in the pine tree out back . . . no bald eagles in the other pine tree

There's no shells on the beach . . . there's no sharks teeth on the beach . . . there's no beach

The sun never shines

Find a nicer place to go/live . . . maybe Gary, IN . . . maybe Newark.

 

[OldGuy]

I found this posted 11 years ago:

The bad news is that SW FL is too nice, and Man is too greedy, and eventually the fragile ecosystem of the area will be irreversably (sic) plundered.
Man already cannot keep up with Man in the area, and the signs are already there.

 

[rapmarks]

I found this posted 11 years ago:

The bad news is that SW FL is too nice, and Man is too greedy, and eventually the fragile ecosystem of the area will be irreversably (sic) plundered.
Man already cannot keep up with Man in the area, and the signs are already there.

And keep allowing builders to change zoning and lower the impact fees.

 

[OldGuy]

The Ft. Myers evening news is nothing like it was 20 years ago, not to mention 50 (almost) years ago. It's like an area that's out of control, and nothing seems to be able to do anything about it.

Crime

Traffic . . . driving habits . . . hit and runs . . . wrecks . . . congestion

Lake O, of course.

Ft. Myers Beach issues

Lehigh

Cape Coral

Encroachment of wild animals in their own habitat

 

[rapmarks]

The Ft. Myers evening news is nothing like it was 20 years ago, not to mention 50 (almost) years ago. It's like an area that's out of control, and nothing seems to be able to do anything about it.

Crime

Traffic . . . driving habits . . . hit and runs . . . wrecks . . . congestion

Lake O, of course.

Ft. Myers Beach issues

Lehigh

Cape Coral

Encroachment of wild animals in their own habitat

And hit and run at school bus stops

 

[OldGuy]

And hit and run at school bus stops

Traffic . . . driving habits . . . hit and runs . . . wrecks . . . congestion

 

[TheTimeTraveler]

Traffic . . . driving habits . . . hit and runs . . . wrecks . . . congestion

and gas costing approximately 10 times what it was back in 1969........

A 20 gallon gas tank would have cost $ 6.00 back then. Today it would be nearly $60.00.




.

 

[OldGuy]

and gas costing approximately 10 times what it was back in 1969........

A 20 gallon gas tank would have cost $ 6.00 back then. Today it would be nearly $60.00..

So we're blaming that on SW FL?

 

[OldGuy]

To put the Florida water crisis in perspective, we are now concerned about what has happened fairly recently in history, within the last 50 years.

There are archaeological digs of "tree islands" in the Everglades that were inhabited 3000 years ago.

So, for thousands of years the water in Florida did a fine job of taking care of itself.