Originally published in the News-Press by Amy Bennett Williams on June 4, 2024
Already, cyanobacteria is blooming upriver, streaking shorelines from the rural community of Alva east of I-75 to Fort Myers Shores, some five miles from downtown. Despite the sliming, pontoon boaters, kayakers and Jet Skiers were untrailering and splashing through the water at both ramps the first three days of June.
State agencies didn’t appear to be monitoring this.
When The News-Press visited the Alva boat ramp, which was ringed with bright green blooms June 1 and 2, it hadn’t been sampled by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection since April 8.
Ten miles to the west, blooms also streaked the water’s surface at the popular Davis boat ramp, which hadn’t had its water tested since April 3.
DEP spokeswoman Brooke Keck couldn’t immediately say if the department had a regular sampling schedule or if it relies on filed reports before it dispatches staff.
After a News-Press reporter used the DEP’s algal bloom dashboard to notify the agency of the blooms, the following morning staffers took from both places; results are pending, but at neither facility were there signs cautioning users about the blooms.
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