(Photo : SeaWorld Committed to Combating Coral Reef Disease in Florida)
The Florida Reef stretches approximately 360 miles from Dry Tortugas National Park west of the Florida Keys to the St. Lucie Inlet in Martin County. This area faces imminent danger from an outbreak of coral disease termed stony coral tissue loss disease. Already in decline due to degraded water quality, climate change, and an expanding South Florida population, the reef has become the focus of a crisis intervention led by dozens of partners from federal, state, and local agencies; non-governmental organizations; universities; and members of the community.
SeaWorld is among those actively combatting this destructive disease in an ongoing effort to support and protect the environment. Historically, SeaWorld has established numerous resources and funds to help support environmental conservation. SeaWorld s Management Team, which includes interim CEO Marc Swanson and Founder and Managing Partner of Hill Pa
Parts of Florida are already beginning to battle summertime toxic algae blooms.
State environmental regulators said yesterday at a public hearing that they still have no plans to adopt federal Environmental Protection Agency standards for toxic algae.
“Microcystins are the toxin found in algae blooms. And right now the state has no limits for them in Florida waters.”
Dave Whiting is a deputy director with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
“In order to really get good estimates of cyano toxin risk, we have to be able to measure what’s out there. And given the small number of microcystins or other cyano toxins for which standards are available, there’s a lot that we don’t see.”
Health Alert lifted for Caloosahatchee-Franklin Locks
Published: May 6, 2021 1:16 PM EDT
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The Florida Department of Health in Lee County on Thursday lifted a Health Alert at the Caloosahatchee-Franklin Locks based on water sampling results from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. DEP conducted sampling in the area and did not detect microcystin toxins.
When toxins are detected, DOH recommends individuals using the boat ramp avoid contact with the water. DEP will continue to monitor the Caloosahatchee-Franklin Locks and post updates on their website.
Blue-green algae can cause gastrointestinal effects if swallowed. Children and pets are especially vulnerable, so keeping them away from the water during a bloom is especially important.
Thursday, May 6, 2021 by Jenny Staletovich (WLRN )
Toxic algae can cause health problems to local marine, plant, and human life. Photo: Flickr Creative Commons
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Parts of Florida are already beginning to battle summertime toxic algae blooms.
State environmental regulators said yesterday at a public hearing that they still have no plans to adopt federal Environmental Protection Agency standards for toxic algae.
“Microcystins are the toxin found in algae blooms. And right now the state has no limits for them in Florida waters.”
This story originally was published by Southerly.
Betty Osceola, an elder of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians, lives in Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida, where a small Texas-based oil developer wants to build seven new wells. Burnett Oil Company slipped in its application Jan. 22, days before President Joe Biden signed an executive order pausing new oil and gas leases on public lands. I wasn’t surprised, Osceola said through a bitter laugh she knew it would happen eventually.
Big Cypress is part of the Greater Everglades and spans 729,000 acres a size comparable to Rhode Island across the heart of South Florida. Ecologists describe it as a mosaic of distinct yet interconnected wetland ecosystems: hardwood hammocks, pine flatwoods, sawgrass prairies, marshes, sloughs and gloomy cypress domes with cottonmouths and ghost orchids and endangered panthers.