Well, after last week's blog post, I wanted to continue on with some more information regarding water quality issues in our immediate area. I came across this article from September 2014 which addresses some of the local happenings. Apparently, some good news is on the horizon as the Indian River Lagoon seems to be making a turnaround after 3 years of being plagued by Brown Tide, waterway clogging algal blooms, fish die-offs and a still unidentified die-off of dolphins and manatees.
So moving past 2012-2013 and into 2014 and beyond things are definitely looking up. New water quality monitors have been providing a continuous stream of data to be analyzed. The Indian River Lagoon is showing vast improvement in the expanse and density in sea grass beds, and along with this recovery, many other species are returning to repopulate the area including seahorses and crustaceans.
Another area showing signs of improvement are the oyster beds, with a marked improvement in growth over the preceding 2 years. Finally, although the algae which are responsible for the algal blooms of the recent past are still present in the water, they are present in much lower concentrations than before. This also includes the brown tide which is also still present in the water, but has not shown up in any blooms.
Well, this is definitely going to be something to watch. Maybe we will be able to pinpoint some trends in the water quality which might be either a cause or an aftereffect of this improvement in the quality of our local waters.
Thanks for the report but...what are YOU doing and what does this information have to do with what you are doing??
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