Local anglers feared from the beginning that the release of over 215 million gallons of wastewater from the Piney Point debacle could have catastrophic effects on Tampa and Sarasota bays. The fact that each gallon of water held 10 times the nitrogen of raw sewage and that the total release was the equivalent of dumping 200 tons of nitrogen (80,000 bags of fertilizer) in the bay was ominous.
Compounding the worrying scenario was the fact that for the second time in as many years, huge swaths of grass meadows from Robinson Preserve to Anna Maria Sound and Sarasota Bay were covered in an algae called lyngbya, a toxic cyanobacteria. That bloom wasn’t caused by the release at Piney Point, but the potential that the release could exacerbate the existing bloom loomed large and would eventually prove likely, as the extent of the bloom was much larger than the year before.
Then on May 24, marine researchers from the University of South Florida, in what now appears to be an ill-timed news release, stated:
- Early results indicate that the effects of the wastewater discharge were localized in nature, not widespread.
- Concentrations of nutrients have declined over time and are now more typical of those in the historical record for this part of Tampa Bay. Model results show that the concentrations of nutrients within the discharged water have been diluted at least 1000-fold since the initial release.
- A diatom bloom of about 25 square kilometers in size around Port Manatee that formed in response to the discharge has dissipated over time. Diatoms are single-celled microalgae called phytoplankton. Chlorophyll concentrations (a proxy for phytoplankton biomass) are within the range generally observed in Tampa Bay during April and May.
Just this past week a severe red tide outbreak in upper Tampa Bay has called all those predictions into question. In the same news release, to their credit, they did state, “The nutrient chemistry of Tampa Bay is complex. Questions remain about nutrient cycling in response to a rapid influx of wastewater.” Now the current bloom is proving what amounts to, in minds of longtime users of the bay like Captain Scott Moore, a “smoking gun.” Moore, who has fished from Sarasota Bay to Port Manatee and beyond since 1970, states categorically, “In all the years I’ve been fishing I’ve never seen a red tide event in that part of the bay that didn’t affect Anna Maria Sound and Sarasota Bay first. Traditionally I fished north of the Skyway because those were rarely affected by all but the most severe blooms.”
My experience over the last three-plus decades bears that out. Jacki Lopez, Florida Director of The Center for Biological Diversity agrees. Lopez reviewed the records of red tide occurrences over the last 20 years and says, “The red tide data collected over the years by FWC appears to indicate that it is rare to have red tide in Tampa Bay, and rarer yet to have red tide persisting in Tampa Bay without a massive red tide bloom throughout the region. The timing of the Piney Point discharge and the presence of red tide in Tampa Bay, especially so close to Piney Point seems to suggest that the discharge influenced this ongoing red tide event.”
The uncertainty and confusion demonstrate our lack of understanding and failure to act. While red tide events are tracked by satellite, other blooms like lyngbya don’t show up in satellite imagery, which is how scientists model for the predictions they make. This means many harmful algae blooms are not picked up by monitoring programs.
The need for a swift and quantum shift in tracking and addressing these nutrients has never been greater. Are we willing to risk reaching a point of no return or will we address these dire warnings before it’s too late?
