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Mangroves Are Priceless and Protected in Florida    

PictureAndrea Frazzetta, New York Times, photographed the last standing mangrove in Kuakata, Banglasdesh in a once-thick forest devoured by ever-fiercer storms and advancing tides.
​  Mangroves provide essential services and are protected by the State of Florida.  In the world, more than 35% of the world’s mangroves are already gone. The figure is as high as 50% in countries such as India, the Philippines, and Vietnam. In the Americas they are being cleared at a rate faster than tropical rainforests.  
  Florida has more than 50 species of native trees. Best known to us are the red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle),the black mangrove (Avicennia germinans) and white mangrove (Laguncularia racemose.
    Mangroves are tropical plants that are adapted to loose, wet soils, brackish water, and being periodically submerged by tides. Four major factors limit their distribution:  climate, water salinity, tidal fluctuation, and soil type.
    Mangroves contribute significantly to Florida’s coastal county-economy.
Up to 85% of the seafood we eat depends upon mangrove ecosystems that. . .
  • provide nutrients in the coastal ecosystem.
  • are one of the basic food chain resources for marine organisms.
  • provide physical habitat and nurseries for a wide variety of marine organisms, many of which have important commercial value.
  • are roosting and nesting sites for many birds.
  • are storm buffers, reducing wind and wave action on shallow shorelines.
  • assist in protecting water quality and clarity by filtering runoff and trapping sediments and debris from adjacent uplands.
The Estuary
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    Estuaries exist where ocean tide meets freshwater from an incoming river.   The nutrient-rich environment underwrites an enormous food supply that supports dense animal populations, from seals to frogs to wading birds. They have also long been attractive sites for urban development because of their prolific supply of natural resources, access to navigable water and capacity to absorb the waste produced by masses of people. 
     One of the main ecological impacts to estuaries has been eutrophication: a decline in water quality caused by an excess of nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus. 
    A second main ecological impact is that urban life has expanded at the expense of wetlands The loss destroys the plant life and bivalves that filter polluted water on its way out of the estuary, and on which other organisms depend.                                    Ted Steinberg , Ph.D. Case Western Reserve University

​Threats to the Forest and Estuary
PictureStand of Dead Mangroves, Bay Soundings
       Threats  include pollution from fertilizers, insecticides, untreated  drainage from sources outside Pelican Bay, and large wakes from speeding boats (often a ski-do ) that disrupt seagrass roots and mollusks, and damage low lying nests.  
        Threats to the mangroves are more complex.  Excessive  dredging may be most important.  MAG approves of dredging when it is needed to benefit the mangroves.  Their roots require periodic flushing with tidal  salt water.  When  Clam Pass is closed from a  build-up of sand,  tidal flow is affected and dredging is necessary. This is the only reason that conservation agencies and regulators allow on the application for permits to dredge. We also approve of  using the sand recovered from dredging to reclaim  and nourish the beaches.   The issue is in agreeing to the plan.  Invariably, the proposed County plan calls for wide,  deep, excessive cuts that we believe are harmful.  Wide channels result in water collecting just inside the system.
    This slows and lessens the tidal flow and prevents the desirable 'scouring' that occurs in a narrow rather than a wide channel.   Deep  cuts may allow rivers and bays to  fill with enough water to drown mangrove roots, wipe out low-lying nests and affect marine nurseries. Other man-made problems are  machinery for construction or repair work, and County proposals to create new  or widen existing paths near the beach at the south-end of the forest.