A unique classroom is literally growing beneath the waves off the coast of Florida. In the Gulf of Mexico, seven and a half miles due west of Bonita Beach and 30 feet below the surface grows Kimberly's Reef, an artificial reef complex created by The Water School at Florida Gulf Coast University. WGCU is producing a documentary about the reef and the planned scientific research around it. In the meantime, WGCU’s Pam James will keep folks informed of progress on the reef and the documentary with the occasional "Dispatch from Kimberly’s Reef." Here is the first.
Florida Gulf Coast University began installing the base of its new artificial reef, named Kimberly’s Reef, in the Gulf of Mexico. Groups of concrete culverts will create an 11-acre underwater laboratory for scientific experimentation and research.
This is the Water Quality Report that will be updated weekly to highlight harmful algae blooms such as red tide, blue-green algae, and other fresh water and saltwater blooms. Some are caused by stormwater runoff or leaky septic systems, and cause fish kills and acrid smells that can be harmful to humans and pets and deadly to wildlife. Nutrient pollution is a cause, whether from Lake Okeechobee, the Caloosahatchee River, or the Gulf of Mexico. Karenina brevis, hydrogen sulfide, enterococcus, bacteria, microalgae, and phosphate and nitrogen are often to blame when algae blooms occur commonly in places like the Alva boat ramp and Davis boat ramp, Matlacha Pass, and Charlotte Harbor. The Water Quality Report is created by WGCU Public Media, NPR & PBS for Southwest Florida and Tom Bayles, senior environmental reporter #EnviroManWGCU
Florida Department of Health officials in Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte, Lee, and Collier counties are issuing health alerts daily warning of the real and present danger to human and animals.
From Tampa Bay south to Ten Thousand Islands, the algae bloom is so prevalent, pungent and potentially poisonous that the authors of health advisories ignored the long-established practice of softening the language to avoid scaring away tourists.