One day last month, Dick Eckenrod of the Tampa Bay Estuary Program opened a map illustrating sea grasses in the bay during the 1950s. Beside it was a map from the current millennium. You didn't have to be a scientist to note the disturbing differences.
"Look at Old Hillsborough Bay," I said. There is a smidgen of once plentiful sea grass left now, but it is so small it barely shows up on the current map.
"Look there," I said to Dick, placing a finger on the Clearwater side of the bay. We had found an area I explored as a boy. "That was a pretty nice place until they murdered it," I said.
I pointed at dredged land where once there were mangroves, while in the bay, there were sea grasses. On the current map, there were neither.
As a child of Tampa Bay, I had looked at seahorses among the sea grasses and eaten scallops fresh from the bay where my finger sat on the map. The only thing left now where my finger rested was water and barren bay bottom.
Homes have replaced the mangroves. Nothing has replaced the sea grasses. Since seahorses and scallops hang on sea grasses, no sea grasses equals no critters.
An estuary is a protected body of water where fresh and salt water mingles; a healthy estuary teems with life. Along the Gulf coast from Tampa to Charlotte Harbor, there are three majorestuaries — Charlotte Harbor, Sarasota Bay and Tampa Bay — and a program devoted to the health of each of them. For weeks I had been receiving an education courtesy of the programs' senior scientists and respective heads: Lisa Beever, Mark Alderson and Dick.
I had poured through comprehensive plans, restoration efforts, education programs and reams of documents from government scientists and private environmental consultants. The combined pages numbered into the thousands. My head was spinning with programs and facts.
Still the simplest fact is the best illustration. It is widely stated that 80 percent of the sea grasses and 50 percent of the mangroves in Tampa Bay are gone. Similar reductions are noted in Sarasota Bay. Charlotte Harbor is still in pretty fair shape, although there is no real baseline for the early health of their estuaries.
Some experts quibble about the sea grass figure for Tampa Bay because the earliest data that exists is from the 1950s. It is quibbling. A whole bunch of sea grasses and mangroves are gone, whatever the percentage.
Both mangroves and sea grasses provide filters for a healthy ecosystem. The healthy system and filters are vastly reduced in Tampa Bay. The same problem exists in Sarasota Bay, while Charlotte Harbor's estuaries are taking a beating from many things, including polluted water flowing from farms along the Caloosahatchee River.
The estuary programs, independently managed and financed through federal, state and local sources, are making a difference. They all coordinate efforts to restore habitat and lessen human impact. The goal of the Tampa Bay program is to bring sea grasses back to the levels of the 1950s. In Sarasota, there has been a drastic reduction in pollution entering the bay and notable restoration work. The Charlotte Harbor program has a stack of commendable programs accomplished or in progress.
A lot of good has been accomplished, and more needs to get done. Nonetheless, our bay and other Gulf coast estuaries are far from out of danger.
The Nitrogen Bomb
Dredging and filling shorelines for development were not the only reasons for sea grass decimation in Tampa and Sarasota bays. Among many factors, perhaps nitrogen enrichment was the gravest.
Nitrogen in itself is a good thing. You and I are partly composed of it. It is the most prevalent gas in the atmosphere. Yet among its many chemical forms are fertilizers that promote plant growth, and not always where you want it.
Nutrients entered our estuaries in the 1950s from runoff, industrial discharge, sewage plants and from the air. The biggest difference in present times is that industrial and domestic wastewater discharges have been greatly curtailed.
But with the old nitrogen loads, algae blooms turned the water of Tampa Bay pea green. Sunlight could not reach the sea grasses. Like any grasses without sunlight, they died.
A little nitrogen goes a long way.
Case in point: Bishop Harbor on the edge of Tampa Bay. Over the past eight months, Florida's Department of Environmental Protection has purposefully released about 12 tons of enriching nitrogen there. This is part of the effort to drain an abandoned phosphogypsum stack, left from fertilizer manufacture, which once threatened a catastrophic spill into the bay. (See "The Monster Above," Weekly Planet, Nov. 5.)
An aquatic preserve, Bishop Harbor is a tiny but rich part of Tampa Bay, where redfish, snook, mullet and stingrays prosper among healthy sea grasses and mangroves.
Or used to prosper, according to some fishing guides.
Encouraged by the nitrogen-rich water from Piney Point, clogging sea lettuce has cropped up in spectacular growths. A massive fish is possible without drastic action. The Florida DEP has hired contractors to yank out the monster algae, dry it on shore and cart it off.
Sea lettuce is a macro algae, meaning you can see it, although most of the time you wouldn't notice it. You can't miss it in Bishop Harbor now. Large, profuse growths covered 200 acres when I visited on March 6. Carloads were being harvested with special equipment. I kept thinking of the green slime that turned into The Blob.
According to Charles Kovach of Florida DEP, who oversees the sea lettuce removal, a fish census showed no damage to life. Local guides and fishermen see it differently.
The intentional release of nitrogen into Bishop Harbor, however, is just a tiny amount of the overall nitrogen going into Tampa Bay. According to Holly Greening, the senior scientist with the Tampa Bay Estuary Program, a staggering 5,500 tons (or 11-million pounds) of enriching nitrogen go into Tampa Bay every year. That is 500 times what has gone into Bishop Harbor, and it continues annually, while at least the stuff going into Bishop Harbor will stop some day.
Not long ago my fellow environmentalists were up in arms about the nitrogen the Florida DEP is putting into Bishop Harbor — and rightly so. Why aren't they raising the roof over the other 11-million pounds?
And that's not all, folks. In the area from Tampa Bay to the Caloosahatchee River, perhaps 25-million pounds of nitrogen are spewed forth annually. In some years, 17-million pounds of nitrogen have flowed out of the Caloosahatchee River alone.
So much nitrogen means more than chlorophyll shading out sea grasses. It may have a hand in reducing oxygen for fish.
Most scientists believe stupendous enrichment like this is responsible for red tide's modern length, duration and frequency. Red tide is one enemy of manatees, claiming precious lives of this endangered species every year — not to mention driving sensitive humans from the beach.
An oceanographer from the University of South Florida also believes the enrichment from the Caloosahatchee and Peace rivers is responsible for the phenomenon of "black water." Some scientists have associated this with reef loss in the Florida Keys.
So why isn't someone doing something? Well, they are, mostly coordinated through the estuary programs. The Tampa Bay program created a Nitrogen Management Consortium of government and industry whose efforts have reduced nitrogen discharges. This has resulted in the comeback of many acres of sea grass. But much more needs to be done.
A lot can be done by you, part of the human swarm living along the Gulf coast.
Poisons and Human Wastes
Nitrogen is not the only byproduct of the human swarm damaging our waters. It is just the most pervasive.
Mercury accumulation has prompted "no consumption" bans on certain fish. These include king mackerel and sharks over about 40 inches.
There is currently a "limit" on the consumption of fish caught within Tampa Bay and Charlotte Harbor because of mercury. A limit means no more than eight ounces a week, unless you are a woman of child-bearing age or a child, in which case you are limited to eight ounces a month.
Eight ounces? That's about 320 calories of fish. Doesn't the colorful phrase "Just enough to piss off your taste buds" come to mind? No more all-you-can-eat fish fries.
Within Tampa Bay, the fishes with a limit include grouper, jack, ladyfish, catfish and Spanish mackerel. In the Charlotte Harbor estuaries, spotted sea trout are a limited consumption fish, as are Spanish mackerel and jack. Within many rivers, bass, bowfin and gar contain sufficient mercury to make limited consumption a good idea.
Unlike nitrogen, which does little directly to humans besides wrecking the habitats surrounding them, mercury causes human brain damage and harms the central nervous system. It can even cause death and birth defects.
Other heavy elements in some Gulf coast waters and sediments include copper and lead. Both have nasty adverse effects on humans. Copper appears in everything from brake shoes to pesticides. Lead has found its way into our seas from batteries, paints, sinkers, bullets and industrial operations.
Human and animal wastes present a real and ongoing problem in all Gulf coast estuaries. No one would want to swim along Phillippi Creek in Sarasota, as septic tanks empty into the creek, which empties into Sarasota Bay. Similar conditions can be found along Allen's Creek in Pinellas County, which goes into Tampa Bay.
The beach at the Courtney Campbell Causeway has at times been closed due to the presence of fecal coliform bacteria, an indicator of potential human waste. Recently the R.E. Olds Park in Oldsmar was closed for the very same reason. Many residents of Charlotte and Lee counties are still on septic, a likely source of human fecal contamination cropping up within the Charlotte Harbor estuaries.
Pillagers and Polluters
Sometimes I sit mindless before the television and watch Stephen Segal "act" in On Deadly Ground. There is a sort of primitive environmentalist joy in watching it. The big man breaks the arm of the Native America-insulting oilman. He blows up the oilrig of the greedy polluters.
Unfortunately, any relationship between this movie and solving environmental problems is more than a little skewed. The villains are often us, not Michael Caine playing a bad guy.
The daily realities of improving the world around us are not so simple, dramatic or direct as Segal smashing someone or blowing something up. They are often accretions of continued human efforts, sometimes with setbacks.
I am reminded that years ago in zoos there was an exhibit called "The Most Dangerous Animal." Signs directed human visitors to a mirror where they could look at themselves.
Take a look. Let's start with Tampa Bay, since most of you live around it.
About 21 percent, or 1,200 tons, of the nitrogen entering Tampa Bay comes out of the sky. Both estuaries to the south receive nitrogen this way also. Much of the mercury comes down from what goes up. The scientists call this atmospheric deposition. No bad guys are doing this to us. The stuff from the sky gets up there from our incinerators, power plants and automobiles.
Whose trash do you think they are burning? Whose car do you think is being driven? Whose house is being heated or cooled? If you answer "not mine," you must live in a pup tent and ride a bike.
TECO and other energy companies have been doing their part, more or less, under government regulation. They have emission standards to meet or they get fined. The standards could be tougher, and might be if you and I asked our political leaders for that. Of course, that would make our power bills go up.
Recently TECO set up a natural gas plant on Tampa Bay that cuts emissions of nitrogen and mercury, among other things. I don't think we want to send Segal off to kick some TECO butt. We might want to send him after our backsides, however.
In addition to what you and I send into the sky, approximately 62 percent of the nitrogen going into Tampa Bay comes from storm water runoff. Of that, 14 percent, or about 770 tons annually, comes from residential lands.
Residential lands means your yard and my yard. It is almost 70 times more than the amount of enrichment going into Bishop Harbor. It is twice as much as the phosphate industry leaks in through rivers.
Let me digress.
I am having my car in for annual service. This is my fuel efficient, but emission-producing, compact. Across from me is a woman who is expressing hatred for armadillos.
She says the armadillos dig holes in her manicured yard of green turf. They are digging for worms, so the pretty woman's solution is to have so much pesticide applied that the worms are killed. Now the armadillos don't have to hunt worms in her yard making nasty holes in her turf.
Say what? Don't we want wildlife around us and to be part of the natural world? That would include the butterflies that come from grubs to dance around our plants, and the rabbits, gopher tortoises and turf-destroying armadillos that delight our children.
Despite its pervasiveness, turf is not a native of Florida. And those big green golf courses weren't here to greet the Spanish conquistadors either.
Not only do turf and ornamentals require water ("sprinkling"), which we often do not have in sufficient quantity; they also require fertilizers and pesticides. That storm sewer down the street from your home takes these out with the rain. The waters go where? Yes, of course, into our estuaries. The result: the dumping of nitrogen and poisons.
"We're not saying don't have turf," explains Mark Alderson of the Sarasota Estuary Program. "I have kids who play ball. I want them to have turf. But our yards do not need to be one hundred percent turf. Have the turf you need."
Solutions
Not too long ago, one of my critical readers wrote that I was an "urban pseudo-environmentalist." It's true. Our society is urban, the natural world controlled. We cannot return to the Garden of Eden or bring back all of the natural world. Our houses cannot disappear from the world. Thus we must adjust — to minimize our impact and preserve what we can.
With this article, I offer solutions. Although some of the solutions are from the estuary programs, many are mine, and so do not blame Lisa Beever, Mark Alderson or Dick Eckenrod for the following list for saving our portion of the world.
1. Become informed. We have focused on pollution, sewage and enrichment in this article, but there are many other gauges of water quality and impairment. Other problems are more subtle, less easy to understand without the time and effort to dig in. All the estuary programs have literature available explaining the problems, and our local newspapers are pretty good about reporting most problems. Florida is not a land lacking in environmental issues. Get informed and make your opinion known if you care. Otherwise, drink your brewski and toss your can into the bay.
2. Native plants. When landscaping, have the turf you need, but consider native plants. Use native species whenever possible. Native plants rarely require fertilizer or pesticide, which contain nitrogen and poisons. Native species rarely require watering. They attract wildlife, which is neat for kids and adults like me who have never grown-up. Kiss an armadillo; don't kill his chow. Native plants reduce both storm water and the damage from runoff. Check on the Certified Florida Yard Program by asking your local estuary program for contacts.
3. Automobiles. Cars and trucks with fuel efficiency are naturally going to use less gasoline and spew less bad things into the air. Hybrid cars are not only a solution to oil dependency from parts of the world where we are not particularly well liked. They are also a way to reduce emission quantity. "What would Jesus drive?" I don't know. My Byzantine priest friend Ron would probably say Christ doesn't even need a go-cart. For those of us who drive, something of appropriate size with fuel efficiency would be wise for our world, if not the other.
4. Household cleaners. The Tampa Bay Estuary Program has a list of "Household Chemical Alternatives" on its website. When there is no alternative for some hazardous chemicals, dispose of them properly.
5. Septic tanks. Get off septic and onto sewer. If you must use a septic, have it pumped every three to five years. The money saved by not doing this is minor, while the potential damage to the world is great and nasty.
6. Conservation. The more recycling the less incineration, thus lowering the bad stuff coming down from the sky. How hard can it be to get a recycling bin and not send your plastic and newspapers to the incinerators? It's called caring. Energy-efficient appliances and reasonable electric conservation reduce skyward emissions also.
7. Accept that progress costs money. Residents along Phillippi Creek in Sarasota are less than overjoyed about switching from septic to sewer. Part of the reason is surely the $5,000 price tag. Likewise, when legislators began to require Progress Energy to reduce its emissions, there was a public reaction because it would increase utility bills. Unfortunately, science-fiction writer Robert Heinlein had it nailed down — "There's no such thing as a free lunch." While some provisions should be made for those on fixed income or in poverty, for the rest of us, it is either pay now, or make others pay instead now and in the future.
8. Volunteer work. Following this article is a list of organizations through which you can do volunteer work to repair damage to our local habitats. You may also be equipped to contribute to education efforts. Much of this work is scheduled through the estuary programs. I know modern life is frantic, time is limited, kids need raising and significant others need attention, including mine. Work it in to the extent possible. Make it a project for kids and significant others, because it is their world too.
9. Contributions. A cash contribution to estuary programs goes directly into restoration or education. The estuary programs' overhead, which is very small, is fully funded by a combination of local and federal government moneys. Funds for restoration and education projects is what is lacking in tight budgets. A dollar into an estuary program results in a dollar's worth of benefits, and sometimes it results in something more precious than money. The Tampa Bay Estuary Program also has a specialty license tag that raises funds for Tampa Bay. Tampa people: Buy it.
10. Become active. Many of the solutions to the problems of our estuaries come through government agencies and political action. Each of our estuary programs is involved with many layers of government, including cities, counties, water management districts, regional planning councils, Florida DEP and the Federal Environmental Protection Agency. Attend the meetings and express opinions to elected officials. The estuary programs can keep you apprised of meetings and issues. You would also be surprised how much your state legislator or congressman cares about your views and your vote. If you don't make your voice heard, no one will listen to you. Vigilance is also necessary to keep backsliding from occurring and often to motivate almost inert agencies, who are frequently reactive and defensive instead of proactive. Many agencies measure and analyze while doing little and less. Who can kick them in the butt with pesky opinions? You can.
Feel relieved. It is not necessary to become a green mountain man and live in a log cabin without electricity while hunting your food with a bow and arrow. Nor do women have to leave home and go to Alaska like Neil Young's "Sun Green" to become a goddess in the planet wars (Greendale). No need to go to karate and weapons classes either to become like Segal in the movies so we can kick polluters' asses and blowup their property.
Concern and moderate action over time will have an enormous effect, just as neglect and abuse over time had a catastrophic one. For our estuaries, you can make the difference in many ways perhaps not so dramatic but much more effective and long lasting.
Contact freelance writer Tim Ohr at TimOhr@mindspring.com.
Resources:
Helping Our Estuaries
Charlotte Harbor
• Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife, 239-772-7332, www.ccfriendsofwildlife.org
• Charlotte Harbor Environmental Center, 941-322-1000, www.checflorida.org
• Charlotte Harbor Estuary Program, 239-995-1777, www.charlotteharbornep.org
• CREW Land and Water Trust, 239-657-2253, www.crewtrust.org
• Estero Bay Buddies, 941-463-3240
• Friends of Charlotte Harbor Aquatic Preserve, 941-575-5861
• Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation, 239-472-2329, www.sccf.org
Sarasota Bay
• American Littoral Society, Southeast Chapter, 941-377-5459, amlitsoc@suncoast.quik.com
• Mote Marine Aquarium, 941-388-4441, www.mote.org
• Pelican Man's Bird Sanctuary, 941-388-4444, www.pelicanman.org
• Sarasota Bay Explorers, 941-388-4200, www.sarasotabayexplorers.com
• Sarasota Bay Estuary Program, 941-951-3650, www.sarasotabay.org
Tampa Bay
• Clearwater Marine Aquarium, www.cmaquarium.org
• Florida Marine Resarch Institute, www.floridamarine.org
• Save Our Seabirds, www.seabirdrehab.org
• Tampa Bay Estuary Program, 727-893-2765, www.tbep.org
• Tampa Bay Watch, 727-867-8166, www.tampabaywatch.org
• Terra Ceia Aquatic Preserve, 941-721-2068, wendy.quigley@dep.state.fl.us
This article appears in Apr 22-28, 2004.