Is SWFL headed for a 'toxic vise'? Health department warns of harmful algae blooms throughout region

As Lee County commissioners plead with the feds to protect the Caloosahatchee and its estuary from excessive Lake Okeechobee releases, health officials are cautioning people to stay away from the water at three popular freshwater boat launches. At the same time, at least five coastal beaches are under red tide alerts.

The one-two environmental punch is starting to look alarmingly like what scientist Paul Cox calls “the toxic vise,” conditions that reached crisis stage in 2018, when then-Gov. Rick Scott declared dual states of emergency.

Lee County health department spokeswoman Tammy Yzaguirre said red tide-tainted sites currently noted include:

• Sanibel’s Tarpon Bay Road Beach and Lighthouse Beach Park
• Lover’s Key State Park
• Bonita Springs Beach Park
• Lynn Hall Beach Park on Fort Myers Beach.

Warnings about blue-green algae (also called cyanobacteria) blooms are at three east Lee sites, Yzaguirre said:

• Davis boat ramp in Fort Myers Shores
• W.P. Franklin Lock in Olga
• Alva boat ramp 

All three places are well-used by anglers, pleasure cruisers and jet boaters. Despite the red-topped warning signs, river traffic was brisk throughout the weekend and overflow boat trailers had to park at the Alva Post Office.

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The estuary needs some fresh water to stay healthy, but too much of the polluted, algae-tainted releases can feed algae blooms. Those blooms include, some scientists believe, saltwater red tide. Caused by a marine microorganism that’s been plaguing the region’s coastline for months now, it can cause respiratory woes and headaches in humans, and sicken wildlife, sometimes leading to massive fish and bird kills.

What really concerns Cox and his team in Southwest Florida "are periodic releases of nutrient- and cyanobacteria-laden waters from Lake Okeechobee," the researcher told the Naples Council on World Affairs earlier this month. Cox directs Wyoming’s Brain Chemistry Labs, but his research on algae toxins and neurodegenerative illness keep Southwest Florida centered in his work, which has been highlighted in scientific journals and the national media alike, including in Fortune magazine.

“We’ve been concerned health officials in the state of Florida have not been giving prompt and accurate information to the citizens on the presence of these toxins and the threats they pose," Cox said.

State health officials may be paying attention and changing their ways.

Fishing guide-turned water advocate Daniel Andrews is glad the warnings are up.

"It’s hard to mark every access location, but I think it shows a step forward, he said.

In recent months, their work has been more visible, with prominently displayed signs and regular press releases about water conditions.

One sent Monday noted, “Blue-green algae can cause gastrointestinal effects if swallowed. Children and pets are especially vulnerable, so keeping them away from the water during a bloom is especially important," wrote spokeswoman Yzaguirre.

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Cox would underscore that message. “Some of the samples we’ve collected (in Southwest Florida) have exceeded World Health Organization (safety) standards by about two thousand-fold, so this has riveted our attention.

Calusa Waterkeeper John Cassani said, “It appears toxin levels are paralleling the increased distribution and severity of the cyanotoxin blooms in the Caloosahatchee. However, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection reported toxin levels are substantially lower than what we reported on May 18,” he said. 

With winds dying down, “Some oxbows and boat basins sheltered from wind mixing are already showing cyanobacteria mat formation,” Cassani said. "As the winds subside we will likely see more surface accumulation that may increase aerosol production and the potential for related inhalation toxicity.

That’s something that concerns him, because while water testing is ongoing, Cassani said, “I don't know of any agency that is reporting airborne brevetoxin (red tide) or microcystin levels.” Mictocystin is the toxin produced  by one of the region’s common algae species, Microcystis.

It can be nasty, dangerous stuff, Cox says. During the 2018 algae crisis, “We received calls from concerned citizens and some post-mortem tissue from their animals who’d fallen in,” he said. “In the worst case, high levels of microcystin can cause death of a dog by basically dissolving its liver in as short as about 30 minutes.”

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To avoid a repeat of 2018 and to keep things equitable for Lee County, Lee Commissioner Brian Hamman is urging citizens to “unite as one voice” as the U.S. Army Corps, which manages the lake and its discharges, completes an operations schedule to govern how the lake is handled for the next decade.

As Hamman explained in a release Monday, the Corps “is currently writing a new playbook for how and when they send water our way from Lake Okeechobee, and it's not looking good for us.”

Hamman urged citizens to email the Corps at LakeOComments@usace.army.mil, asking that they ”decrease high-volume discharges and increase optimal flows. We cannot continue to be starved for water in the dry season only to be deluged by high volume discharges weeks later as the rainy season arrives … Clearly we are at a point where they simply view Lee County taxpayers as a revenue source and a place to put their dirty water, and that's it.”