Last year Tampa Bay saw the drastic effects of red tide, yet this year another water issue has washed ashore.
Seagrass in the bay has seen a steady decline. According to researchers at the Southwest Florida Water Management District, both the growth of algae and human intervention have been major factors to the drastic number drop. But these factors they say have persisted far greater than the scope of the past year. In 1970, Tampa boomed and saw close to a million people inhabit the land. Inherently bringing more pollution from sinks, showers, toilets, and destruction of the area by construction developers.
Assistant director of the Tampa Bay Estuary Program Maya Burke explained how essential the grass is.
“It is an indicator of clean…clear water. It’s something that provides habitat for fish and wildlife, particularly juvenile fish species,” said Burke.
Conscience efforts to not pollute from residents and consistent donations from groups looking to save the bay have all aided recovery. Burke still retains that this is only the first step.
“The thing that really is…that drives the algae growth in our bay is nitrogen” said Burke.
According to Tampa Bay Estuary Program’s study on emissions. Tampa sees 40% of its nitrogen pollution from rainfall, but car emissions and direct deposit into the bay make up 17%.
A new meaning to a sponge bath
With one of the largest Greek populations in the country, Tarpon Springs hosts a plethora of tradition and customs passed down through generations. Known as the sponge capital of the world, the tradition of sponge cultivation has been around since 1887 for Tarpon Springs. Each day, divers plummet down 60 feet to harvest all natural species of sponges.
One diver, Anastasios Karistinos, has been diving since his family moved to Tarpon Springs in 1970. He said sponge diving can take him to sea for days on end.
“We’ll go out, we stay for 15 to 30 days,” said Karistinos.
The sponge docks are where divers start their descent. They are open from 10am to 10pm and divers can be seen throughout the day.
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Anchors/Reporters: Haley Zarcone, Aziz Turner
Video Editor: Anontio Delucca
Web Editor: Sebastian Wick
Web Managing Editor: Valadou Pantelis
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