We meet the new Collier County Waterkeeper, Ray Bearfield. Bearfield is a former fishing guide and educator at Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, who first came to Naples in the mid-1970s as an editor of The Naples Daily News. He has written for the Coastal Conservation Association, Florida Sportsman magazine, The Miami Herald and other publications. He also worked with the Florida Department of Natural Resources to design environmental education programs that would instill in elected officials the need to protect the health of local waters in order to sustain continued economic growth.
Founded in 1999, the Waterkeeper Alliance is a worldwide network of environmental organizations that work to protect rivers, lakes, bays, wetlands, and other water bodies in the U.S. and around the world.
There are 15 Waterkeeper organizations here in Florida, including the Calusa Waterkeeper and the Collier County Waterkeeper. They use citizen science and private labs to test area waters for things like fecal bacteria, nutrient pollution, and harmful algae. But, they also research the impacts of climate change and work to reduce plastic pollution.
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