Troubled Waters...
 

Interesting read in todays Daytona mullet wrapper!

Indian River Lagoon

Dang....depressing is the only I can think of right now. Used to fish there with my Dad when I was young, some memories I sure do treasure. I remember one special trip, in an old beat up boat, which was all we could afford, my first speckled trout and then after that one....lots of them. Sometimes us humans can "F" up even a wet dream!!! :(

currently charlotte county is trying to expand there waste water collection; there was a bug fight from some resident but they just recently passed a plan to expand many more home on canals to install a sewer system and eliminate the septic tanks many are over 30 years old and if not already about to fail.

I think its Obama :D

Went through the same thing many years ago here with the Chowan River. Due to a fertilizer plant upriver, we had a massive algae bloom that lasted for years. It took a long time, but, after closing the plant and many years of waiting, things are back to normal. It's gonna take a long time, but, hopefully they'll head in the right direction and get it back to what it once was.

Unfortunately I'm not sure we'll ever be able to close the big "fertilizer plant" (Lake O and the sugar cane and cattle farms that feed it) that dumps into the IR Lagoon! However the folks in Stuart around the St. Lucie river have been raising hell, so now that folks as far away as Daytona are complaining, maybe we can finally get enough state politicians to ignore the special interest $ and get serious about cleaning up the water flow to the Everglades. Then they can start dumping all that water to the south where it went originally! Fixing the leaky dike to allow higher water levels in Lake O will also help, but that's a huge project that has a loong way to go!

FYI,

The link on my opening post is being added to everyday by the
local paper!

You can click on the link and scroll down to the latest article..

Read on....

Too depressing.

We have some of the same going on up here, but we don't have Lake O to blame. Sea grass beds are dying off around Cedar Key, Horseshoe Beach, Steinhatchee, etc. The biologists are saying it's due to elevated nitrate levels in all the springs, Crystal River, and all along the Suwanee River. As Gillie's Sig says, "There's no such thing as normal anymore."

Whoops...I went crazy!

1911 because 911 sometimes is too slow

Another classic quip from castalot - that's a sweet sig, also...

Regarding the lagoon there is hope. Dynamic articles like that and a concerned public go a long way. Surfrider, BayKeeper, TU, DU, etc., exerting the right pressure can get things buzzing along.

San Diego Bay used to be a nightmare of heavy metals, urban runoff and assorted maladies. Even in this defense-driven navy town shipbuilders, repair yards and other gross polluters have cleaned up their acts.

Now we have sea turtles nesting in the flats at the bottom of the bay and pacific bonefish in the channels adjacent to the flats. 8-10# bonito are regular catches in season, and the diversity of species is very good. A couple of years ago I even caught a 35" Dorado (dolphinfish) at the terminal south of the 32 St Naval Base.

Ospreys are nesting all over the the area and 100 fish days (spotted bay bass catch n release) are once again possible. The fish are strong and healthy and pull like little freight trains.

Conservation is everybody's business. It doesn't have to be greenies vs contractors... One world, baby.