Florida’s Algae Blooms: What You Can Do
Save the Manatee Club has received many calls, comments and questions in regard to the algae blooms in Florida. We encourage you to share your stories and your photographs with your online network of contacts and with your elected officials at the local, state, and federal levels. Please ask for their help in healing our waters.
Protecting our environment is a marathon, not a sprint, and requires not just reacting to bad situations but working proactively to prevent them. If you are not already working with local nonprofit groups in your area to address these issues, please get involved. Clean water and a healthy environment is not just an environmental matter. Dirty water is a threat to health; to our economy; and to the quality of life for humans and other species. We know that there can seem to be too few hours in the day to volunteer and take action, but we are at a critical time in our state’s history. We need Floridians from every corner of the state and every walk of life to send a clear message that we demand clean water.
Please take a few minutes to send messages to your elected leaders. Most importantly, stay engaged, even when the blooms disappear. We have a long road ahead of us to truly protect our waters and we need your voice to help us get there.
What You Can Do:
- Report distressed, sick, injured or dead manatees at 1-888-404-FWCC (3922), *FWC or #FWC on your cellular phone or send a text message to Tip@MyFWC.com. You can also use VHF Channel 16 on your marine radio.
- Sign the Floridian’s Clean Water Declaration: wewantcleanwater.com.
- Sign the Now or Neverglades Declaration.
- Write to your elected officials and voice your concerns. Enter your address online to find your state and U.S. congressional representative as well as your state and U.S. senators. Share your videos and photos with them.
- Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper and share your thoughts and concerns.
- Sign up for Save the Manatee Club’s free Action Alerts.
Report algal blooms and get more information from the Florida Dept. of Environmental Protection.
Watch a short video featuring Dr. Katie Tripp, Save the Manatee Club Director of Science and Conservation, and learn about the current algae blooms in South Florida, their causes, how they may affect manatees and what you can do to help.
