Florida, we have a fish problem.
The fish are vanishing from Biscayne Bay, a fact supported by 20 years of documented decline in fish populations and dying coral reefs.
It's our fault.
We, humans, dump our waste in ocean waters, leave behind debris, ground our boats on precious habitats, damage marine life and coral with our trap lines and anchors _ and, in the name of living longer and healthier, eat too much fish.
We _ our sheer numbers, questionable practices, and urban sprawl _ are decimating fish populations and size, particularly, snapper and grouper, in Biscayne National Park.
And, once again, we have a another threat to a vital state asset at our doorstep. The issue isn't going to solve itself. The fishing industry won't like it, but Governor Ron DeSantis must act with urgency to protect Biscayne National Park from over fishing.
"There is more than enough data and science showing that traditional fishery-management techniques aren't working and won't guarantee a healthy future for the park," veteran angler Martin Arostegui told Miami Herald environmental writer Adriana Brasileiro during a reporting trip through Biscayne Bay.
Brasileiro's up-close look at the issue lays out the case for tougher rules and asks, "is the state doing enough?"
Clearly, the fragile state of Florida's environment and the constant challenges we're facing point to the answer: State government isn't doing enough. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission isn't going far enough with its management plan by only sticking to traditional size and catch limits and hoping that does the job of replenishing the fish.
INDUSTRY OVER ENVIRONMENT
For far too many years, Tallahassee has prioritized industry over environment, money-making over quality of life, and donors to political campaigns over people.
When he ran for governor, DeSantis promised to be a champion for the environment. It was a clever tactic to distance himself from his Republican predecessor, Rick Scott, whose excessively pro-business, conservative policies are largely responsible for recent disasters.
But he has yet to prove critics who called him "a sham environmentalist" wrong.
Here's an opportunity.
It may not be a popular remedy with fishermen, but the FWC must be directed to begin the process of establishing protected zones if we want South Florida fishing to return to bountiful days gone by.
Considering what's happening, establishing a marine reserve at BNP is not an extreme measure that infringes on fishing rights, as some anglers believe.
"Most fishermen I know ... do not favor a no-fishing zone in Biscayne National Park," my former colleague and avid fisherman Arnold Markowitz tells me. "They are certain that if they give up that zone, they will never get it back, and I agree with them."
A no-fishing zone, however, doesn't necessarily mean a no-people zone, although I bet if marine life had a vote, sea creatures would have something to say about our dense boat traffic.
What conservationists like Arostegui are proposing is replenishing.
"Part of the problem, from my view, is that you can't take a fish census in the ocean with much reliability because the fish in a school are many and all look alike and they move around a lot," Markowitz said. "Then again, I think that if the methodology is consistent from one study to the next over a long stretch of time, the results should have some reliability _ at least in terms of proportion, if not raw numbers of fish in one species or another."
TRUST THE SCIENCE
Arostegui says the science is there _ and it's time to tackle the problem aggressively.
Although he doesn't want the prohibition, Markowitz (who writes for Waterfront Times) doesn't deny the research.
"I also know that if someone has a few great days of fishing in a row over those reefs, or in some other part of the park, they are inclined to say 'See? The fishing's great. There's no problem,' " he said.
"This," he added, "is like citing a February blizzard in Montreal as proof that global warming is bunkum."
Government has to appropriately respond to the times.
Like long-overdue focus on climate change, the health of Florida's waters isn't a problem we can pawn off to future generations to solve.
A healthy, rich environment also is an economic engine.
According to FWC estimates, visitors to Biscayne National Park generated $42 million to the local economy and sustained 400 jobs.
Without fish, there is no recreational or commercial fishing.
Like beaches ruined by red tide and agriculture discharges and the Everglades without small animals _ pythons are eating them _ the disappearing fish are all part of the same environmental management (or mismanagement) issue.
This state's vulnerable ecology calls for stricter vigilance and tougher regulation. We can't keep waiting for miracle evolution or conservative solutions to pressing problems.
Gov. DeSantis should step up to the plate and, as he promised, act to protect Florida's treasures.
Establishing no-fishing marine reserves at Biscayne National Park is a must. The science supports this solution, which has been effective in the Florida Keys and the Dry Tortugas, where a 46-square mile no-take ecological preserve serves as a sanctuary for species affected by overfishing and the loss of coral reef habitat in this Gulf region.
Florida's environmental crisis shouldn't be reduced to a political talking point.
You don't need to imagine the consequences when the coral reefs are dying and the fish are disappearing from Biscayne Bay.
It's all too real.
