From Seagrass destruction to lettuce drops

The health of seagrass is a metric for the health of coastal ecosystems. It provides food and habitat and helps to stabilise the seabed.

From 2018 to 2020 it is estimated that Tampa Bay lost 16% of its seagrass, or more than 6,350 acres. This is a disaster for the manatees that need to eat over 100lbs of seagrass a day and for the fishing industry, as seagrass is a vital habitat for juvenile fish.

But the decline on the Gulf coast is dwarfed by events on the Atlantic coast in the Indian River Lagoon : in the northern part over 50% of the seagrass has been wiped out and in Banana River over 96% is gone. The culprit is pollution from Florida's booming development programs and runoff from agriculture. The result is 100s of manatees starving to death.

To try and prevent more deaths from starvation, manatees are being fed romaine lettuce at the Cape Canaveral Florida Power & Light plant.

According to a study published in the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin, the main source of the Indian River Lagoon pollution is a few hundred thousand septic systems from nearby homes and businesses, and stormwater runoff that adds to the pollution deposition. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025326X21009620?via%3Dihub)

Scientists are working hard to find the best way to replenish the seagrass meadows, but in the interim surely the simplest fix is to plug the leaks and give our sewage system the overhaul it so desperately needs.