Opinion: Fate of coastal waters is uncertain

A comprehensive report on the condition of the nation's coastal waters and estuaries should be a wakeup call for Florida. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency divided the country into five coastal areas and graded them on a scale of good, fair or poor for ecological health. Overall, the nation's coastal health was rated fair (barely), but the lowest rated area was the gulf coast, which got a grade of poor.

This is no vague doom-and-gloom warning that can be ignored, but a carefully worded study that drew on a variety of scientific information. The EPA plans to use the findings as a benchmark by which we can measure our coastal waters in the future. The outcome will be vital to Florida, especially the Tampa Bay area, where the coast is already showing signs of degradation.

The EPA judged each area on seven signs of health. The gulf coast graded poor for coastal wetlands loss, pollution from runoff, sediment contamination, gulf bottom health and fish tissue contamination. It rated fair for water clarity, and its only good rating came for a healthy level of dissolved oxygen in the water, needed to sustain sea life.

The Tampa Bay area, in particular, faces threats from runoff and contamination of certain seafood. But Florida's waters aren't the worst in the Gulf of Mexico. The water off Louisiana is the site of the largest human-caused dead zone in the Western Hemisphere. Nutrients and decomposed organic material from farmland as far away as Montana and Minnesota flow down the Mississippi River and into the gulf, starving it of oxygen. The zone grew to more than 7,000 square miles in 1999.

Florida's greatest threat will come from development pressure, which threatens wetlands and increases pollution. The fate of our coast is literally in the balance, and that is no minor issue, especially where tourism, the fishing industry and even property values are tied to healthy coastal waters.

The report was short on solutions, however, probably because the fixes won't be cheap or easy. The EPA has begun the process by providing a detailed analysis of the problem, but it will mean little unless we act soon to stop the destructive activities that threaten our coasts.

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