Reply #9: And tourists are still swimming in this muck? At least no sharks. [View All]

[Divernan]

A further quote from the article:

"All the coral, all the sponges, all the crabs, not a single
living thing, all the starfish, all the brittle stars, everything's
dead."

I've seen a few very small "dead zones" like this in the Bahamas, at about 40-60 feet depths. This is not a result of overfishing - I've seen those areas too and they still have living coral reefs. These dead zones are littered with dead coral and are literally a gray-brown color. Fish stay out of the areas because there's nothing to eat - the food chain is gone. Water temps were very high there - 89 degrees - and I thought that was what had killed the coral. But I'm no marine biologist.

Back at the Florida coast, Jeb doesn't give a shit about the environment except to the extent it impacts tourism.
I was planning a dive trip to the area around Venice, Florida, on the Gulf side, where there are some large prehistoric (megalodon) shark teeth to be found. But I'll pass on that and head on down to the Keys.