Florida wildlife officials are distributing 3,000 pounds of lettuce a day to save starving manatees

[onethatcares]

3. I think it's the green algae

that is coming in from the east coast of the state that is causing the starvation deaths. The amount of nitrogen that seeps into the fresh water from golf course, development and fertilizing big sugar causes the real sea plants to die by oxygen deprivation while the slime algae feeds off of it.

On the west coast of the state we have a similar pollution factor and we also have to deal with higher water temps and things like phosphate pit run off contributing to the death of the bay. Piney Point still hasn't been dealt with and if we get abnormal higher amounts of rain there are many other phosphate pits ripe for overflowing/rupturing.

Sadly, in the late 70s Tampa Bay was cleaning itself with the help of a Democratic government and a campaign to stop letting raw sewerage from flowing into it. It was really working and the filtration plants (seagrasses) were re emerging along with the fishing industry. It's changing in reverse now.