Tourism officials hear about water quality issues
A water quality information meeting for Fort Myers Beach tourism industry representatives was not designed for solution-seeking but rather resource-generating at Pink Shell Resort and Marina on Monday.
The Lee County Visitor & Convention Bureau held the session to educated the Beach “front line” business employees who are fielding questions, having face-to-face conversations and booking reservations in addressing concerns about the current water issues in the community.
“The single most important thing to the Town of Fort Myers Beach, its residents and its visitors is water quality,” said Beach Mayor Anita Cereceda.
Lee VCB’s Nancy McPhee, the meeting’s coordinator, stated the goal is to provide attending reps with background information and resources on water quality issues within Lee County. Speakers included Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation’s Rae Ann Wessel; Town of Fort Myers Beach Keith Laakkonen; Dr. Richard Pierce, a red tide specialist; and Lee County Department of Health’s Diane Holm and Jennifer Roth.
“Water quality is very important to all of us and an economical issue,” said McPhee. “We want to make sure we are answering questions of the visitors that are vacationing here.”
Wessel, the director of natural resources at SCCF, discussed how water moves through the Everglades eco-system, the rate it flows and the alteration from a flow way that now goes east and west instead of the natural path to the south. Called the “Goldilocks Principle,” the flow way’s existing problem centers on too much flow sometimes and too little flow other times.
“What we want is to get a better balance,” she said during key parts of her power point presentation. “This is our conundrum: too much, too little. When too much water comes into the system too fast, it has no treatment. Too little flow means we have salinity getting too high too far up the river.”
Fertilizer ordinances that are in place help in controlling the system, Wessel says. Nutrients grow plants. Unfortunately, the aquatic plants in water do bloom, giving us red algae.
“We recognize that if we can control sources of nutrients, we can help improve the system,” she said. “If we can control and balance that nutrient, then we can start to improve water quality over time.”
Since June 2014, Wessel stated most of the water flow is coming from a watershed that is almost two times the size of Lake Okeechobee as compared to last year’s reversal trend.
“Year to year, it is very different,” she said.
Real-time readings for releases or discharges at different county sites can be viewed at www.recon.sccf.org when it comes to water flow.
“We use this science partnership that we’ve developed for the west coast to really bring the understanding of this system all the way to Jacksonsville to make sure they know there are scientists here that are looking at this on a day-to-day basis,” she said.
Laakkonen, the Town environmental sciences coordinator, explained the functions of a wrack line -the stuff that is cast ashore on the beaches and involve seagrasses and seaweed- and how it helps to germinate the beach and provide food for small nesting seabirds. He also spoke about many different algae and how they act as indicators.
There are different marine plant life and marine community items that do get washed up. Not one of these items is known as a tar ball, he says.
“We have never had a tar ball on Fort Myers Beach, on Sanibel, or in Lee County despite the thousands of calls we get about them,” Laakkonen said.
The Town scientist explained that some algae is removed while other times it may stay untouched due to prevalent circumstances. Birds and sea turtle hatchlings use the wrack line for camouflage.
“This beach is very important to a lot of organisms,” he said. “You may not notice it when you walk by.”
Laakkonen said a big difference in red tide to red drift algae is how it affects humans. He can be reached at keith@fortmyersbeachfl.gov for more information.
“If you swim in red drift algae, it’s not going to bother you. If you swim in red tide, you might have some breathing effects,” he said.
Red tide has been linked back to the 1500s, says Dr. Pierce, a marine chemist toxicologist from Mote Marine Laboratory. Documented records takes it back to the 1800s.
Pierce stated red tide appears in different colors and defined it as a high concentration of a microscopic-growing algae that causes harm.
“It produces some very potent neurotoxic chemicals. They are like pesticides that affect the nervous system,” he said. “It’s a single-cell organism that causes massive fish kills and affects public health through respiratory effects and contamination of shellfish.”
Red tides are known as “patchy,” so if you notice it on one beach, it may not be on a nearby beach. The toxins release during red tide can be transferred from one food chain level to the next.
“When the cells break apart, the toxins are released in the water. They actually get into the blood stream of the fish by going through their gills,” Pierce said. “When there are million of cells per liter, it just takes a few seconds for most fish to die.”
Red tide is a very complex biological interaction, says Pierce. Nutrients are a main responsibility for its cause. Red tide actually begins on the bottom of a body of water. Even when the tide has broken apart or moved on from an area, there still may be toxins within shellfish for some time after.
“We are doing a study right now to find out how long that is,” he said.
Mote provides a beach report with eight different beach sites, including Lynn Hall Park, Newton Park and Little Estero Island on the Beach. Go to beachconditions@mote.org to learn more.
Red tide affects mammals as well. Dolphin have died from an immune virus that is affected by the tide’s toxins. Manatee die from affected grasses they eat when red tide is present.
The latest forecast shows a red tide event in Pinellas County (the Tampa Bay area). Pierce stated the event will flow south towards our waters, but will move more offshore than it is now.
“We will encounter some dead fish floating in from there, but hopefully we are not going to get that red tide along our shore,” he said.
Holm and Roth described Vibrio Vulnificus as simply a bacteria that can survive in water 58 degrees and warmer. While it can cause an infection, only one out of 100 people might be at risk of infection, says Holm. Eating raw shellfish is another way (intestinally) that one can be impacted.
“More than likely, none of us will be affected,” she said. “You can become infected by exposing open wounds to salt or brackish water. The CDC (Center of Disease Control) has consistently recommended not eating raw oysters or any other raw shellfish.”
Roth stated those with weak immune systems are more likely to be infected. Delaying medical care to open wounds that have come in contact with the bacteria is not recommended. A blood stream infection is called septicemia.
“If you have one of the immunocompromising conditions, your body may not be able to heal that cut,” she said. “So, it’s important to looks for signs of infection that includes pain at the site and swelling or redness that continues for more than a day. If it’s not healing, swelling up, turning red, or warm to the touch, those are all signs of infection.”
Within the 1 percent high risk group, not everyone gets sick, says Holm. If you compute 15 cases in Florida this year to the state population of 19 million, a total of 0.00008 percent have become infected and required medical treatment.
For the most up to date information about Vibrio vulnificus in Florida, go to the Florida Department of Health’s Online Newsroom at www.newsroom.doh.state.fl.us/ .