Reefer Madness
My Florida county, Little Martin, contains a diversity of natural habitats and aquatic systems due to its general location at the northern demarcation of the continental subtropic zone. The resulting meld of tropical, subtropical, and temperate influences has created some rather unique and interesting loci. One of these is the St. Lucie Reef, considered the northernmost tropical coral reef in the state. The reef, nearly five square miles in area, has recently been showing signs of increased human activity due to our population growth.
The good news is that the reef system is located offshore from the St. Lucie Inlet State Preserve, an isolated and protected area that can be accessed only by a two-mile beach hike or by boat. The bad news is that boat traffic has increased significantly in the past few years as Little Martin absorbs more South Floridians escaping from the mess they created there. As a result, well-meaning but dunderheaded boaters, divers, fishing enthusiasts, and nature "lovers" are anchoring on the reef, touching the coral, littering the reef beds, and using destructive fishing practices. There has also been an increase in spearfishing, strictly illegal in the onshore and offshore preserve.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has been monitoring increased damage to the reef system and will be installing boundary and mooring buoys. The DEP hopes that the buoy system will curtail reef damage due to dragging boat anchors and hinder illegal spearfishing and littering with warning signs. B2 says that the only way to curtail anything is to increase DEP, Marine Patrol, and Fish and Wildlife monitoring and patrols, expand the penalties for illegal activities, and allow no exceptions for stupidity.
Meanwhile, a toxic organism known as cyanobacteria has been attacking reef systems along the coast of our southern neighbor, Palm Beach County. The organism occurs where human populations crowd up to the shoreline and is a result of septic tank effluence, deep injection wells, and nutrient runoff.
While concentrations of such algal communities ebb and flow with the assistance of weather patterns, rainfall amounts, and freshwater flood control discharges, Florida's largest and the Treasure Coast's most populated county has already screwed the pooch when it comes to human impacts. Care to wager whether algal madness respects county boundaries?