Managing Marine Resources in the Coastal Seascape of South Florida

by Dr. John C. Ogden

Originally written for Seaweb, 1996-7.

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Don't forget. The ocean is threatened by relentless coastal human population growth

In 1900, there were 30,000 people living in Florida south of Lake Okeechobee. In 1990, there were 4.9 million people in the same area. This explosive growth, typical of many coastal areas, has caused the tight linkages of land and sea habitats, or "seascape," to fall in a cascade of destruction which threatens human health and the economy, in this case based on tourism, agriculture, and fishing. What can we learn from Florida’s attempt to deal with this problem?

Human alteration of the landscape is linked to destruction of the seascape.

In a 50 year project on the scale that has made them infamous, the Army Corps of Engineers straightened rivers and built a massive flood-control system of canals, dikes, locks, and pumps which diverted the natural flow of freshwater through the Everglades to the Atlantic Ocean. Flood control allowed the development of the Miami area and the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA), better known as "Big Sugar," hundreds of square miles devoted largely to highly subsidized, mechanized sugar cane farming.

Runoff of fertilizers from the EAA caused the displacement of natural vegetation in Everglades National Park by noxious weeds. In 1988, the Federal Government sued the State of Florida for allowing the pollution the Everglades.

Farther downstream in Florida Ray, the diversion of freshwater flow changed the normal seasonal cycle of salinity to persistent high salinity which has been implicated in a massive die-back of seagrasses. This began in Florida Bay in 1987 and continues today with cascading impacts including death of sponges and loss of fisheries.

At the bottom of the cascade in the Florida Keys, water from Florida Bay, polluted from dying seagrasses, has caused the death of corals many hundreds of years old and has threatened the very existence of coral reefs. The clearing of vegetation for building sites, parking lots and highways damaged the natural buffers and changed formerly "gin clear" coastal waters to those clouded by plankton blooms and sediments from land runs. The prevalence of on-site sewage disposal systems and even open cesspits for a rapidly growing resident population of over 80,000 annually bolstered by millions of visitors has increased pollution to the point where canals smell like open sewers and swimming is hazardous.

The history of fishing is over-fishing.

The ocean has been traditionally viewed as a "commons, " available freely to all but the responsibility of none. The pressure uf over-fishing in the Florida Keys has damaged coral reefs which are particularly sensitive to the removal of large predatory and plant-eating fishes. Their removal disrupts the natural balance by the elimination of corals and the dominance of the reefs by algae.

What is Florida doing about these problems?

In 1991, in response to the Federal suit, the State of Florida agreed to institute a series of control measures to prevent pollution of the Everglades. The current Farm Bill contains $200 million for land purchase which, supplemented and matched to approximately $600 million, will be used to buy out farmers and to purchase buffer lands for the EAA.

In 1993, the Secretary of the Interior formed the Everglades Restoration Task Force and began a planning effort to restore the natural, rainfall-driven freshwater flow through the Everglades and hence to Florida Bay and the Keys. The Corps of Engineers is committed to a multi-year, multi-billion dollar project to reach thi$ goal.

This August, the Management Plan of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS), created by Congress in 1990, will be released. Water Quality and Zoning are the two most important and controversial of the 10 Action Plans in the Management Plan.

The Water Quality Action Plan mandates advanced sewage treatment and control of runoff. A study has been commissioned to set a "carrying capacity" for Monroe County (encompassing the Florida Keys), which currently has a 10-year restriction on new construction at 250 units per year and may be the first county in the nation to cap growth based on environmental quality.

Zoning is the key to managing the ocean commons.

The Management Plan uses zoning to separate potentially conflicting uses as we have done for hundreds of years on land. Marine Reserves, no-harvest areas scattered strategically through a larger zoned area, have proven to be the most controversial zones and have been attacked by politically organized fishers.

A large grouper is more valuable seen by snorkelers than on a fishing line.

Within 3-5 years the Reserves will build up populations of large fishes, increasing both the reproductive output of larvae and their genetic diversity. They will also attract people who expect to have undisturbed areas to visit within a larger area zoned for many uses.

Florida is struggling to develop the political will to change.

A petition is being circulated to place a Constitutional amendment on the November ballot that will assess a cent per pound tax on sugar production to clean up the pollution of the Everglades Agricultural Area.

Also in November, there will be a referendum on the Sanctuary in Monroe County. Polls indicate that a majority are in favor, but intensive lobbying campaigns are currently underway on both sides of the issue.

Until these stakeholders have spoken and until the Governor signs a cooperative management agreement with the Federal Government, the fate of the "American Tropics" remains in doubt.

What happens in Florida will be an example for the world.

The massive Everglades Restoration and the adjacent Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary are this country's largest, most challenging, most politically sensitive, and most expensive attempt to date to manage the coastal seascape for the sustainable use of marine resources.