BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — After a recent cold snap many are keeping a watchful eye on Central Florida’s Indian River Lagoon.
“It’s hard not to think of what happened in 2010,” said Captain Alex Gorichky of Project SeaSafe. “You get the feeling we might see the same things triggered by a fish kill and such in the lagoon in these days.” Gorichky keeps a close eye on the water as both a conservationist and a charter boat captain. He says while this recent cold snap brings back memories, the impact so far is not the same.
“The amount of fish that we’ve seen this cold spell compared to 2010 is more along the lines of those very cold-sensitive fish — and not a blanket over top of everything,” he said.
Brevard County Natural Resources Management says a severe cold snap can damage macroalgae and release nutrients into the water, potentially fueling harmful phytoplankton blooms. So far, county data does not show evidence of blooms tied to this cold event. Still, there have been impacts. More than two dozen fish kills have been reported since the beginning of the month. At the same time, multiple agencies, researchers, and volunteers worked together to rescue about 200 cold-stunned green sea turtles, mostly in Mosquito Lagoon, with a few found in the northern Indian River Lagoon and Banana River.
The Marine Resources Council says the lagoon may be in a stronger position than it was 15 years ago.
“We’ve had a couple of years of kind of steady state,” said Dr. Laura Wilson, the council’s executive director. “It’s been a couple years since our last season and series of big algae blooms and fish kills — and that’s a continuing sign of improvement.”
Wilson added that monitoring today is far more robust than it was in 2010 and 2011, allowing scientists to quickly spot troubling patterns.
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