Floridas building boom threatens wildlife-rich lagoon

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Florida’s building boom threatens wildlife-rich lagoon

By JASON DEAREN and MIKE SCHNEIDER
1 hour ago

ON THE INDIAN RIVER LAGOON, Fla. (AP) — The most biologically diverse waterway in America is seriously ill.

The Indian River Lagoon is repeatedly being choked with oxygen-robbing algae, its surface increasingly dotted with thousands of dead fish, manatees, birds and other creatures.

The culprits: farm runoff and a huge influx of people that has sent lawn fertilizer and other pollutants into the lagoon, which runs 156 miles along Florida’s Atlantic Coast, almost to Palm Beach, and includes the Cape Canaveral area.

“It’s the death by a thousand cuts,” said Bob Knight, an environmental scientist with the Howard T. Odum Florida Springs Institute who has studied Florida’s waters for 40 years.

The lagoon’s woes threaten the region’s $2.5 billion recreation, fishing and tourism economy, alarming kayak tour operators, charter boat captains, restaurateurs and organizers of bird-watching festivals.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/397d26f77a7c466fa19cc15ae07a7e69/Florida's-building-boom-threatens-wildlife-rich-lagoon

[ihaveaquestion]

1. Soon to be a moot point - Florida is approx 20 years away from serious

economic catastrophe...

That's how long before the insurance and mortgage industries start their exit from Florida properties - beginning with the coastlines.

South Florida has about 50 years before sea-level rise becomes so obvious that no insurance company will insure a property and 30 year mortgages will be impossible to obtain. It will only get worse after that.

I live in Tampa now and am selling out as soon as possible - moving north and west to try to get a toehold for my family in a relatively safe area.