Coral reefs are one our greatest protections in Florida. They provide a huge protections against storm surges from the ocean. Coral reefs are huge host for fish and sea life. In order to help sustain this life and our shores we need to be taking care of our reefs. We could benefit our coral reefs by simply putting less pollution into the ocean. It would also be a great idea to reduce how much we fish coral reefs and instead try to spread out the fishing across other areas. Managing our water cleanliness is the largest point that needs to be acted upon. This is due to us living in Florida and we have a huge affect on what is put into the water, because we are so close to it. Instead of letting all the toxic waste we let soak into the
Human Development is the reason why Florida has water-supply problems. In the nineteenth century, the Everglades submerged more than half of Florida’s 36 million acres in clean, fresh water (43). Our water supply problems commenced when the SFWMD and the Army Corps of Engineers began draining and paving over the everglades in the early twentieth century. With concrete covering the ground, the 150 billion gallons of rainfall received has since been unable to filter down into the ground and replenish the aquifer. Instead that rainfall becomes run-off. The run-off does not return into natural watersheds,
The Florida Oceanographic Coastal Center is a local educational center for lovers of marine life. Located on Hutchinson Island in Stuart, it offers educational programs for visitors and manages an abundance of its own research programs. The center also possesses restoration programs that aid in creating healthy costal ecosystems.
We are going to talk about Florida’s history, economy, energy resources, famous, landmarks, and geography. It is a state with a lot of good people and places. It has a lot of history and beautiful landmarks. We are going to learn about Florida and everything in it.
It would be quite a challenge to try to find a more beautiful outdoor community than Cape Coral, Florida (FL). With its waterway canal systems, exotic birds and floral environment, the city is both a great place to visit and live. One of the drawbacks found within the city's borders is the presence of drug addiction problems that seem to be a part of the overall culture throughout the state.
The Everglades Restoration Plan is the policy to increase the flow of clean water to the Everglades, in an effort to protect the environment, provide for recreational activities, and supply South Florida with a clean supply of potable water. At a cost of more than $10.5 billion and with a 35+ year time-line, this is the largest hydrologic restoration project ever undertaken in the United States. The Federal Government approved Florida’s landmark water quality project that, once constructed, all parties agree will provide the clean water the Everglades need (Scott, 2013). The Everglades restoration has been hampered by decades of futile bickering over how to decide the most rational approach to restoring the flow of water to the Everglades.
Florida has 12,133 square miles of water and 53,297 square miles of land as stated by Florida's Fish and Wildlife Conservation. While Florida is recognized for are agriculture and our state's bodies of water, issues in these fields are present and will only continue to grow in the near future. Florida currently has a problem with our water management; though Florida is the Sunshine State, we have a lot of rain, and this rain often overflows into man-made sewer drains. Rain then runs off into our drains and oceans and then starts to leak into our groundwater, carrying pesticides and other dangerous substances into our drinking water. When a high level of pesticides enters the aquifer, the quality of our water diminishes.
This problem has event caught the attention of the government and the senators of Florida. Since 1994, organizations, acts, and the awareness has developed. One of the first acts, passed in 1994, was called the Everglades Forever Act. It was created to decrease the phosphorous levels in the water of the Everglades after it was found mainly in farm areas. From then on, projects like the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, also known as the CERP, have began to appear. It states in the text passage “Water Quality Nearly Halts Everglades Restoration”, “But many were unhappy with the red tape and slow pace of the CERP.” AS a result, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers decided to make another way to help the Everglades flourish once more; the Central Everglades Planning Project. This project was also to improve the quality of the water, but also fill the canals and installing filters. America has spent lots of money trying to restore the Everglades; however, they hope to bring the Everglades back to its original, healthy
Not much can be done to stop the bleeding in the Florida Bay as of now but if someone such as myself who is only in high school can bring awareness to this issue, it shows how powerful and important this die off is to us in South Florida. If more people bring awareness to what is going on in the Florida Bay, we can eventually garner more attention to this issue from the government and environmental organizations around the world so we can work together to at least slow down the rapid sea grass die off and to think of long term solutions towards “Making the Florida Bay Healthy Again!” While I was down doing research on the water, I was angered and disgusted to see the water with a yellow “fog”, which is just a symptom of the sea grass-die off, imagine seeing the Florida Bay like this for years, without changing back to its original, beautiful, clear state
Protecting Florida’s coastal birds nesting sites is extremely important in the protection of the species. A multitude of birds call Florida’s many beaches home. We must make an effort to protect our beaches and these birds.
There are 4,000 species of fish and 800 species of hard coral. Healthy coral reefs are among the most biologically diverse and economically valuable ecosystems on earth. Coral reefs also protect shores against erosion by causing large waves to break and lose some of their force before reaching land. In contrast, coral reefs are one of the most endangered natural resources. Throughout the world, individuals have came to the self-realization that these reefs are dying. Native families on certain islands in Southern Caribbean are no longer able to catch their food close to the shore-line like they once could. Declining reef health is harmful not only to creatures inhabiting coral ecosystems, but also to the human populations that depend upon them. Coral reef depletion is caused inadvertently by air pollution and greenhouse gases. The greenhouse gases cause a change in the PH of the rain. Since coral is a basic substance, acid rain can cause the coral to dissolve away. America should step up to change what is happening for several reasons. These can include because of the reliance on fish for consumption, and the economic gain due to trade or purchase. America is the most powerful country and should therefore take the initiative on these types of issues. Our country has went this period of years without any criminal punishment or regulation for the destruction of our reefs.From the year 1996 to the year 2002, coral reefs onent from 70% coral coverage to below 10% coral coverage. With America’s dependence on fish biodiversity & the supply demand thereof, one can see that allowing coral reefs to undergo such a decline would be a prime example of an unjust action. Boats would purposely run over top of such ecosystems & tear up the homes of millions of organisms. When individuals do this, the economy will directly or
The Florida Reef provides many benefits to our world. The coral living in it are part of the phylum Cnidaria which a group of invertebrates. Though it may provide many benefits to us, we provide many dangers to it. Our debris and overfishing can damage the Florida reef along with many other coral reefs. Not only that, due to over excessive tourists and their recklessness, we are endangering the Florida Reef even more. So how can human action improve the ocean ecosystem that is the home to the many species of the Florida reef? One is by polluting less. We can also fish more carefully and help reduce runoff. We can help the Florida Reef and it can continue to benefit us.
Living in Florida there are many things to be worried about from alligators, hot heat, and the most important hurricanes. The first hurricane I experienced was in the first two months of me living in Florida. I moved here from New York and I had no idea what to expect when I heard that a hurricane was coming. It was like nothing I had experienced before, seeing a tree pulled from the ground by only water and wind was a devastating experience that I was something I did not expect to see. After the hurricane, my dad went to the store and bought as much; canned food, water bottles, candles, flashlights and batteries he could find to make sure that just in case another hurricane hit we would be prepared. After the hurricane, I started to wonder about better ways on how to prepare for another hurricane. Especially, living in Florida there are
Coral reef destruction is a big deal. There are many environmental threats on coral reefs which means they are slowly dying. Coral reefs play a very important part in marine ecosystems. Sea creatures depend on them for protection, camouflage, as a home, and also for food. Scientists believe this could be from natural causes like erosion, and global warming as reasons that coral reefs die off but one of the main reasons is pollution. There are many different ways pollution can affect coral reefs. There is a chemical in sunscreen called oxybenzone that may be contributing to the destruction of coral reefs as swimmers are trying to protect their skin. This chemical has toxic effects on young coral that can damage their DNA,
The article I chose was titled, “Crown Jewel of Cuba’s Coral Reefs” by Erica Goode found in the New York Times on July 13, 2015. Jardines de la Reina, a vivid and striking marine preserve, is thriving while other ocean habitats decline and Dr. Pina is conducting studies to understand more about this preserve. As a college student in Havana University, he took part of the first ocean survey of Jardines de la Reina after the Cuban government established a 367 square mile preserve banning all fishing except for lobster, a crucial part of Cuba’s economy and restricting tourism. It was surprising to read that as relations between the United States and Cuba have warmed, their embassies in Havana and Washington would reopen by July 20 for the first
However, many fisherman are unable to catch as many fish as they used to, so they are increasingly using cyanide and dynamite in fishing, which further degrades the coral reef ecosystem.[6] This perpetuation of bad habits simply leads to the further decline of coral reefs and therefore perpetuating the problem. One solution to stopping this cycle is to educate the local community about why conservation of marine spaces that include coral reefs is important.[7] Once the local communities understand the personal stakes at risk then they will actually fight to preserve the reefs. Conserving coral reefs has many economic, social, and ecological benefits, not only for the people who live on these islands, but for people throughout the world as well.