Deep Trouble update: Lawmakers vow to fight for red tide funding

"It put (the Gulf) on our radar screens -- that there's more work to be done," said Rep. Mike Davis, R-Naples, who is chairman of the Collier delegation that meets today. "It creates public awareness, and public awareness is to some degree what drives us."

He said red tide is important to lawmakers on the Gulf Coast of Southwest Florida because it is a problem that has intensified in recent years, though the search for answers hasn't quite kept up.

Davis said finding the cause for the problem is crucial to allowing lawmakers to deal with the problem, and that will take money.

But in 2002, Gov. Jeb Bush cut funding for red tide research at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota and the Florida Marine Research Institute in St. Petersburg to $1 million after three years of $2 million grants.

So the quest for answers slowed.

Davis said he plans to bring reprints of the series to his colleagues on the Florida House Natural Resource Committee so they can see the bigger Gulf picture and perhaps get them to sway money toward red tide research.

Red tide is an algae bloom that has been around a while -- so long that Spanish explorers documented its occurrences along the Florida coast in the 1500s.

The blooms start offshore but can grow in size and linger closer to the coast, killing fish and giving off a toxic aerosol that can cause respiratory problems in people as well as killing manatees, dolphins and sea birds.

Scientists have speculated that the blooms are caused from iron dust blown from the Sahara and nutrient pollution from Florida's massive agricultural industry. But no one has pinpointed exactly the mechanism that launches a bloom, makes it spread or even what ends it.

What puzzles researchers and frustrates those who make their livings from tourism is the growing intensity and duration of the blooms along the Gulf rim in recent years.

Sen. Burt Saunders, R-Naples, said he joined a group of political leaders that has sought to bring greater awareness to the problem threatening Florida's coastal ecosystems.

"We need to put more resources on the causes and, assuming that those causes deal with things we are doing in terms of pesticides and fertilizer, try to find some solution," he said.

Saunders said the legislative delegation that meets today in Immokalee and Naples won't address the Gulf's issues simply because there isn't enough time.

"I know how important this issue is, but the delegation isn't the right place for it," he said, alluding to limits on how much time can be spent on a single topic.

State Rep. Carole Green, R-Fort Myers, has said she puts red tide research funding at the top of her list for legislation affecting the environment.

"It's going to hurt tourism if we don't figure out something," said Ashley Tucker, legislative aide for Green.