Southern Florida tourism affected by algae

The algae outbreak makes the water at Outboards Only marina in Stuart look like mud. Algae bloom is a human-provoked process, causing the water to appear and smell disagreeable.

Over the past few weeks large volumes of polluted freshwater released out of Lake Okeechobee into the St. Lucie Estuary since the beginning of the year have affected popular beaches, such as Bathtub Reef on Hutchison Island and Stuart Beach in Martin County. The beaches have been periodically closed and opened as the algae invasion episodes went on and off.

As the tourism in the area is impacted by the algae bloom, the Martin County Board of Commissioners has asked the federal government to emergency situation or disaster area, to limit the immediate impact of the phenomenon. "History shows that when natural or man-made disasters strike, the tourism industry often experiences significant economic losses," the resolution quotes, as a massive algae bloom has already ruined summer tourism season three years ago.

To address this problem, Discover Martin agency began an advocacy campaign to support the local environment. The website called protectourparadise.com encourages ecosystem-related activities to find ways to prevent the algae invasion and boost local tourism.

Meanwhile, the construction of a new water-retention facility to the south of Lake Okeechobee has been taken into account to avoid flooding and add more freshwater to the estuaries of Everglades National Park. 160.000 acres of land are to be purchased and $648 million are to be invested to solve this problem.