The photo above depicts how healthy seagrasses should appear; The photo below shows southwest florida seagrasses in critically unhealthy conditions.

Extreme water releases from Lake Okeechobee in 2004 and 2005 resulted in:

A) severe degradation of seagrasses including severe to moderate damage to over 10,000 acres of seagrass beds near the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River including habitat federally designated as critical to the endangered West Indian Manatee and important to threatened sea turtles and numerous fisheries including pink shrimp, seatrout, blue crab and grouper

B) the killing of oyster beds, commercial clam beds and virtually all other filter feeding organisms ranging from barnacles to sponges and corals

C) degradation of federal waters and coastal resources including designated wilderness areas of the J. N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge. A widespread dense bloom of green filamentous algae, a classic indicator of nutrient pollution, was observed throughout the waters of the Refuge where seagrass previously existed. This Refuge is a national treasure that has been severely damaged. The affected waters are all within the federal boundaries of the Charlotte Harbor National Estuary Program, which are supposed to be protected from federally caused damage under the Federal Consistency Program and EPA Clean Water Act regulations.

D) severe impacts to numerous local industries including tourism, marine trades, boating, commercial and recreational fisheries, and fishing guides and has seriously eroded the quality of life for residents and potentially as a result, may impact real estate values.