Environmentalists say public
officials aren't doing enough to curb the threat to the Indian River Lagoon.
By Suzanne Wentley staff writer
Port St. Lucie News
STUART ? Members of a local
environmental group said on Friday that state and county officials aren't doing
enough to control the spread of an exotic algae they say poses a threat to life
in the Indian River Lagoon.
"Here we've got a fire going
in the river, but we're not doing anything about it," said Henry Caimotto,
the Martin County Anglers representative at Friday's Rivers Coalition meeting.
Concern about the plant began to
grow in early March, when Brain Lapointe, a senior scientist with Harbor Branch
Oceanographic Institution specializing in exotic algae, confirmed the presence
of Caulerpa brachypus, an algae native to the
Originally found killing coral
reefs in deep waters off Juno Beach, the algae grows rapidly in nutrient rich
conditions, shading sea grasses from necessary sunlight and overtaking critical
aquatic habitat.
Caimotto and other coalition
members said they were disappointed to learn the officials with the state
Department of Environmental Protection have done little to solve the problem.
But Willie Puz, a spokesman for
the department, said there's little the agency can do.
"It's thick, really
thick," said Mark Perry, executive director of the Florida Oceanographic
Society. "It's going to outgrow everything. It's a big threat."
The state DEP was not present at
the Rivers Coalition monthly meeting on Friday, but Puz said researchers have
disagreed whether the exotic species known to kill reefs and sea grasses is
actually in local waters.
The issue could be discussed at a
meeting of the Harmful Algal Bloom Task Force, formed in 1998 by the Florida
Marine Research Institute, Puz said.
"I don't think we've
experienced something like this. We're monitoring the situation," he said.
"There are still a lot of studies that need to be done and are looking to
be funded."
But the estuary activists say it
is only a matter of time before the algae could kill most of the native species
in the lagoon. Perry said the state should conduct a survey to determine where
the algae is, but Caimotto said the county should get involved.
"I've not heard one word from
the county. It's like the Indian River Lagoon is not in the county," he
said. Deputy County Administrator Dan Hudson said the county did not have
jurisdiction to address exotic species problems in state waters.
The topic is set to be discussed
at the coalition's May meeting, but its members, including Kevin Stinnette, the
"By then, it'll be too
late," he said.
- suzanne.wentley@scripps.co