A new report on severe coastal pollution problems in the U.S. makes no special mention of Florida. Most of our counties and cities are located along the coast. And almost everyone is involved with something recreational or commercially along the coast. A lot of us come to Florida because of the coast. We see the water looking sort of pea green, which indicates that we have a lot of algae production in the water.
Nutrients stimulate algae which is just like plant nutrients stimulating plant growth.
With that excess nutrient coming into the water, and the excess algae, we get a cloudiness in the water, it blocks sunlight to some of our seagrasses that occur in many of our estuaries. And it can reduce significantly the amount of seagrasses in our coastal areas. With help from its Environmental Studies Program, we're produced at the Whitaker Center at Florida Gulf Coast University and funded by the Southwest Florida Council for Environment Education. I'm Kevin Pierce with the Florida Environment. Virtually every coastal area in the country has been environmentally harmed by high levels of Nitrogen and Phosphorus pollution, according to a new report.