Protect Dolphins from Nitrogen Pollution in Florida

Two dead manatees in Indian River Lagoon, Photo by Elliott Jones for TC Palm News

The death of manatees has increased to 80, as of March 21.  Two hundred and sixty pelicans have died in Indian River Lagoon.Manatees are dying where there was a loss of 30,000 acres of sea grass, about 80% of the grasses in the northern end of the Lagoon.  Sea grass beds are forage for the manatees and act as a nursery for fish.

Necropsies of manatees have found stomachs filled with the red-colored algae known as gracilaria.  Manatees have been forced by the loss of sea grasses to feed on algae.  There is a deadly causal effect of nitrogen runoff.  Nitrogen from the land feeds the algae.  Algae blooms kill sea grass by blocking light and by growths on the blades of grass.  Loss of grass deprives manatees and other wildlife of food.  Clearly, algae is not an appropriate diet for manatees.  The nitrogen used to fertilize lawns is indirectly killing wildlife.

You can save wildlife by making a contribution.  Your support will help us gain more people, build broader coalitions, to call on decision-makers to enact responsible stewardship laws to stop nitrogen pollution. By modifying our practices on the land we can save the sea for all wildlife and for all clean healthy waters and beaches.

Give $10 today! Your gift of this amount will cover the costs of gaining two more people in our campaign. To make a donation, visit:

http://www.causes.com/actions/1742016-save-dolphins-and-sea-grasses-from-nitrogen-pollution

Photo credit: Dan Century via Flickr/CC BY-SA

Fifty-eight manatees were found dead in Indian River Lagoon last week.  Indian Riverkeeper Marty Baum talked with me on Thursday.  The newspaper reported that the manatees had been poisoned by toxic algae because there was much algae in the stomachs of manatees.  Last summer vast amounts of sea grass died, the worst die-off ever, in northern portions of the Lagoon - the area where most sea grass lived.  It is not clear what killed the sea grass.  The grass was smothered by algae attached to stems and by floating algae blocking sunlight from reaching the submerged grasses.  Marty fears that manatees were starving due to loss of sea grass and were eating marine algae out of desperation and getting from it too few calories to survive. 

Marty also talks with me about suffering pelicans and a few cormorants, in addition to suffering dolphins in Indian River Lagoon.  The frustration is that last December Brower County nearly unanimously defeated responsible lawn care stewardship that would have significantly reduced nitrogen pollution into the Lagoon.  The commissioners so voted despite 3-4 hours of testimonies by individuals and groups calling for steps that would keep lawn grass green, save lawn owners money and result in cleaner Lagoon water.

Listen to my conversation with Marty Baum, Indian Riverkeeper. http://www.oceanriver.org/Marty_Baum.php

Please sign the petition and invite friends to join with us in signing on to save manatees, pelicans and dolphins in Indian River Lagoon, Florida.

60,000 people ask commissioners to pass a fertilizer ordinance

INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — County Commissioners last week got another reminder about the need to do more to protect the Indian River Lagoon when they were presented with a petition signed by 60,000 people in Indian River County, across the state of Florida, around the country and in many nations throughout the world asking them to pass a fertilizer regulation ordinance to reduce the flow of deadly chemicals into the estuary.

"The Indian River Lagoon has the greatest variety of wildlife of any body of water in the country," says Rob Moir, the renowned environmentalist who presented the neatly-bound  750-page "Petition to Protect Dolphins from Lawn Nitrogen Pollution" to the commission.

Solari continued to lead opposition to a county ordinance, saying fertilizer regulation would be ineffective and undermine human liberty.

When a group of middle school children researched the issue and asked the commission to pass an ordinance banning phosphorous fertilizer, Solari warned them against starting down the path to totalitarianism.

"Hopefully there comes a time when the commissioners feel there are enough constituents and tourists who want the lagoon protected that they will take effective action," says Moir.

Rob's report outstanding in slimy lagoon with 60,000 comments - the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMMa01d-Ftk

Ryan and Rob tabled at the Salerno Seafood Festival in Stuart, Florida, where about 30,000 people saw us on their way to and from the seafood stalls. We proudly displayed your 60,000 voices for protecting dolphins by reducing nitrogen pollution in a five-inch notebook. Many local Floridians signed our petition, encouraged by the bulk of your support. We hand-delivered bound petitions to County Commissioners, newspaper editors and our slime crime-busting colleagues.

Petitions were presented to the Chairman of Brevard County Commission. He voted our way for the summer lawn-fertilizing ban. Unfortunately, all four of the other Commissioners voted against responsible stewardship of lawns and sea. Fortunately, we have a year to build a stronger and larger base of support before the ordinance will be considered again.  We need that time to vet the value of this action with more people in the county.  We need time to build broader and more diverse coalitions that include local business groups, hardware store owners, fishermen, boat operators and others involved with tourism and recreation. 

We need your help more than ever to spread the word and encourage others to sign. We're going for 100,000 voices, and we'll get there with you. All you need to do is get five to ten your friends to join with us. Let's give decision-makers ten-inch binders instead next time. Can they hear us now?  The dolphins of Indian River Lagoon are global treasures, cared for by people from around the world.  Local decision-makers have a responsibility to practice responsible stewardship of coastal waters.  You are making the difference for clean water, healthy marine wildlife, more coastal recreation and a better quality of life.

Listen in to Rob talking with Cris Costello in Florida. No one has worked harder to defeat harmful algal blooms and to stop red tide outbreaks in Florida during the last six years than has Cris Costello of the Sierra Club.  Lessons learned along the way will with time, sufficient vetting, and burgeoning coalitions result in passage of responsible stewardship ordinances.  Please help by signing and sharing this petition. 

In a few days we will deliver letters signed by more than 60,000 individuals.  Please invite friends to sign a.s.a.p.  Your signatures will be organized by town, state and Country to demonstrate the demographics of people that care for healthy dolphins.  Four County Commission Chairpersons will receive a printed and bound copy of the petition.  Such a volume will be hard to miss.  Your letters will be easy for those in the hallsof local power to take a look at while flipping the many pages. 

Watch my 2 ½ minute video on how we can modify our practices on the land, take a holiday, to better protect dolphins from suffering and death in toxic waters.

You may also watch a video of Rob describing how one can have it all with a summer holiday, greengrass and healthier dolphins.  This video does not have any images of suffering or dead dolphins.

Comments by those who wrote them will stand out for the Commissioners looking over the sea of names and places.  If you would like to write a few lines as to why we should protect dolphins from nitrogen pollution or how bad the skin-eating fungal infections are for dolphins please go to our petition page.  We ask for your complete mail address so that decision-makers may write back to you.  In this case I doubt anyone will write back unless you live in the Commissioner's district.

Please forward this message out over the social media.  

There are still a few days for more people to sign on to the petition. 

Please make a modest contribution to help cover the print costs. http://www.causes.com/causes/574232-ocean-river-institute/actions/1720056

We will print on both sides of recycled paper with the smallest legible print size and bind in three inch binders.  

Thank you for helping to protect Indian River Lagoon dolphins!

We cleared 30,000 and are moving up the goal post. January will find us tabling in Florida, educating, activating, and getting more signed petitions. I will present your letters by hand to commissioners. I look forward to having a hefty number to impress commissioners the national importance of cleaning up the waters of Indian River Lagoon. Thanks for your signatures and for taking a moment to speak up for healthy dolphins.
We are launching a fund-raising drive to raise needed funds to increase our outreach to the people of Indian River Lagoon in January.
Please help and spread the words to friends and associates. It will take many helping hands to advance dolphin-saving stewardship of the land in Florida.
For more information and updates via eAlerts please visit Ocean River's website.
For healthy dolphins and cleaner seas,
Rob

Due to an immense outpouring of your support we are pleased to move up the signers goal to 25,000. Clearly many people really care about dolphins. You understand the need to protect dolphins from nitrogen pollution by adjusting our behaviors on the land. Thanks to all of you who signed our petition; it really helps. Your comments are most appreciated and they will be presented to decision makers along with all of the signed letters. They will be hand delivered in three inch binders in January. Please invite others to participate in this cause by sharing with friends on Facebook, Twitter and emails.

Dolphins are dying at alarmingly high annual rates. In 2008, 43 dolphins died in the Indian River Lagoon. In 2009, 48 dolphins died. Research has revealed that dolphin deaths are highest when chlorophyll and nitrogen levels are highest in the water. The EPA estimates that the Lagoon gets 475,000 pounds of phosphorus in a year. This is twice the phosphorus load that the ecosystem can sustain. Three million pounds of nitrogen per year comes off the land. This is 1 million pounds of nitrogen over the ecosystem's sustainable threshold. Excessive nitrogen in the ocean (phosphorus in fresh water) create toxic algae blooms, ocean dead zones, fish die-offs, harms wildlife, and greatly threatens biodiversity, as well as lessening recreational beach and water experiences. Dolphins are getting sick, exhibiting skin-eating fungal infections, and they're dying. Their waters have become a toxic soup. Beaches have become slimy. To save the dolphins, we must lessen the amount of nitrogen pollution entering the Lagoon.

There are two populations of dolphins. One lives completely inside Indian River Lagoon, the other outside. The outside pelagic population does not show any decrease in numbers. These dolphins are only beginning to exhibit skin-eating fungal infections on their bodies, while the IRL dolphins are greatly covered to varying degrees of some to nearly all. When I mentioned dolphin deaths to the County Commissioner, he was hearing complaints of algal slime on the beaches. That too, I explained, is caused by blooming algae fed by nitrogen from the land. More people connect to ocean on beaches than in any other way. The locals care most about clean beaches. Nothing upsets grandparents more than seeing grandchildren yucked-out by green slime on beaches. Causal factors do not drive the passage of ordinances, the opinions of the voters do. We are not talking good science, we are talking responsible stewardship of Indian River Lagoon and what positive steps citizens can take.

Some have complained about big business and farmers, not realizing that these folk know what they are doing. They are not going to waste money needlessly fertilizing, nor be hoodwinked by fertilizer advertisements. It is political suicide to expect elected officials to go up against businesses. In Indian River Lagoon ag businesses over fertilize a bit while lawns are getting five (5) times the needed amounts. The best way to effect change here is to reach the captains of industry in their homes. Once responsible stewardship of one's own lawn is understood, most especially by one's own children, business leaders will act more responsibly at work. Businesses improve organically without mandates. The goal is to clean up Indian River Lagoon not push dogma on people.