Southwest Florida's Gulf Of Mexico Is Becoming A Dolphin Graveyard

    37 dead dolphins have washed ashore since November 21, 2018 (less than a week), in two counties alone in Southwest Florida.

    Well over a hundred dolphins have washed ashore in less than a year on the southwest coast of Florida. The number of dolphins that simply died and disappeared into the ocean will never be known. 

    Many of the deaths are from red tide. Red tide is a naturally occurring algae bloom that is toxic and smothers ocean life. Agricultural runoff, fertilizers from lawns and so forth are like giving red tide steroids. They make red tide far more widespread, dangerous and persistent than it would ever be naturally. Now it is out of control.

   What is being done to stop the agricultural, lawn and other runoff that is killing dolphins, manatees, other marine life and the Gulf of Mexico?

   Oh, that is right. Nothing. Nothing as usual. 

   People get hysterical if you insult their God, or insult one of their inflated prophets. But destroy God's earth? No one cares.

          

    If people want to live near the ocean, then stop this destructive love affair with green, completely unproductive lawns. Green grass requires enormous amounts of water. It requires enormous amounts of fertilizers and chemicals, much of which runs off into the Gulf, fueling red tide and poisoning the ocean. Native plants and a different vision for lawns will significantly help the Gulf.

    Do not allow cats outside anywhere near the coast by miles. Cat feces runs off into the ocean and is extremely harmful to marine life. Make sure dog owners clean up their dogs' feces. 

    The Gulf of Mexico is simply not designed to be the recipient of agricultural run off and waste. Natural water flow must be restored, which means choosing the Gulf of Mexico over a few wealthy sugarcane and other agricultural interests. Destroying the Gulf of Mexico means destroying countless jobs and much of the Florida economy.

     When the red tide passes one day and many of the dolphins and other marine mammals are forever gone, along with countless shorebirds and seabirds, countless fish, invertebrates and sea turtles, people may look at the sunset and marvel at the view.

      But for those who have known the abundance and beauty that may be forever lost, they will see the sun setting over a graveyard.

      Those moments when dolphins happen by along the coastline are an incomparable sight. If the bottlenose dolphins of Southwest Florida are lost forever, living next to their graveyard will be a sad place indeed.