Commercial Fishermen and Florida Guides: "Enough is Enough"

Given the he-said-she-said tactics used by both federal and state government agencies to avoid spending money on Everglades restoration in the past two decades, it’s not at all surprising to see long-time adversaries in the private sector coming together with conservation groups to say “Enough is enough.” And with the prospect of a real estate bust giving south Florida a little breathing space, they couldn’t have picked a better time for a truce. (After all, how can you protect water quality with hundreds of acres of landscape being paved with fertilizer-hungry Floritam grass each day?) An article by Timothy O’Hara on KeysNews.com gives details on the new energy being put into getting rid of the algae bloom that has wiped out so much grass and fish food in Florida Bay. “The World Wildlife Fund, Audubon of Florida and two groups that are not often on the same side of the table — Florida Keys Fishing Guides Association and Florida Keys Commercial Fishermen Association — want [governor] Crist to see the persistent blue-green algae bloom that has compromised the health of the bay and could have disastrous consequences for the region’s fishing industry.”