14/07/2021
Today, MyFWC Florida Fish and Wildlife and Florida Department of Environmental Protection hosted a roundtable discussing Florida’s efforts to combat red tide. “Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) Executive Director Eric Sutton and Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Interim Secretary Shawn Hamilton joined affected stakeholders to discuss Florida’s multifaceted efforts to combat red tide. During the roundtable, hosted at the FWC Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, DEP highlighted funding it is allocating to bolster local response efforts mitigating the impacts of red tide in the greater Tampa Bay area. In response to this red tide event, the state has been engaged with stakeholders and is in the process of executing grant agreements with Pinellas and Hillsborough counties.”
To read more, please click here: https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/FLDEP/bulletins/2e7d5bd.
Florida’s Chief Science Officer Mark Rains said it best, “While red tide has existed for centuries, we know that excess nutrients in our coastal waterbodies exacerbate and encourage the presence of harmful algal blooms, including red tide.”
The state of Florida’s waterways and coastal estuaries are unacceptable and we need everyone’s voice to be heard.
Floridians MUST stand up to elected officials and demand they STOP dumping raw sewage into local waters, eliminate phosphorus runoff, implement fertilizer bans, transition from septic tanks to sewer systems and limit aquatic spraying to name a few.
To contact your local and state elected officials, please visit https://dos.myflorida.com/elections/contacts/elected-officials/.
CCA Florida will continue to work with the Governor’s Office, DEP and FWC to combat this issue.