NORTH MIAMI, Fla. – Legendary marine conservationist Sylvia Earle announced this week that her Mission Blue organization has designated Biscayne Bay, the Florida Keys, and the Ten Thousand Islands as “Hope Spots.”
The announcement came ahead of World Oceans Day, observed globally on June 8.
“What it means is recognition that this place really matters and that you can take personal action to move the trajectory from decline to recovery,” explained Earle.
The trio of Florida natural wonders add to the total of 163 Hope Spots over the world, recognized for their role critical to the overall health of our ocean.
Earle was one of the first humans to ever strap on a scuba tank and explore the undersea world in the early 1950s while attending Florida State University. For more than seven decades, she has been exploring and witnessing the changes to our oceans with her own eyes.
“And all the creatures that thrive there that really contribute to every breath, you take every drop of water you drink, in terms of their role in safeguarding the health of the oceans and therefore us,” she explained.
Scientists from Florida International University’s Institute of Environment nominated Biscayne Bay as a Hope Spot. The recognition comes as the bay remains at a critical tipping point, still recovering from the unprecedented fish kill of 2020. For five sweltering days in August of that year, more than 27,000 fish and other marine species died from a lack of oxygen in the northern bay, triggered by decades of pollution flowing into the watershed.
“Well, I think that fish kill really woke a lot of people up, we’ve seen a lot more attention to the bay, people are concerned,” Heather Bracken-Grissom, FIU’s Assistant Director of Coastline and Oceans, said.
FIU scientists continue to monitor the water quality in the bay, often referred to as “the big blue heart” of Miami-Dade County.
Local 10 Anchor and Environmental Advocate Louis Aguirre joined the scientists in the northern bay near Sandspur Island. That’s where the team showed him a brand new research buoy that will soon be permanently deployed there.
“So we have Haulover inlet right there, we’ve got these other two channels that come in,” Kevin Boswell, the director of FIU’s Marine Biology Program, said. “So this confluence is actually an area where a lot of mixing occurs.”
The buoy is the latest high-tech weapon in the ongoing fight to restore the watershed. It joins four other research buoys FIU’s Institute of Environment already stationed throughout the bay to monitor water quality in real time.
“We’ve seen fish kills, we’ve seen algal blooms. Real-time data is critical to being able to respond to those things. Sometimes it’s a sewage break,” Mike Heithaus, Executive Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and Institute of Environment, said. “If you know right away, you can get out there and fix it…if you know you’re not getting enough oxygen, there are things we can do.”
The new location is strategic and the first permanent research buoy in this section of the bay.
“It’s also where a lot of the water quality comes through here and out into the ocean,” explained Heithaus. “So it’s critical we have a healthy Biscayne Bay, if we’re going to have healthy oceans.”
Biscayne was extraordinarily resplendent on the day of the mission, with 15 feet of clear visibility right down to the bottom.
“So what does that tell you?” Aguirre asked Heithaus.
“Well, this tells me that we’re going in the right direction…this is what the bay can look like if we get it right,” he responded.
Also joining Biscayne Bay as a newly named Hope Spot are the Ten Thousand Islands of southwest Florida, and the Florida Keys.
“I want everyone to at least glimpse why we should care, go see for themselves. And what better place than in the Florida Keys to go diving in,” explained Earle.
The Keys have long been a diver’s paradise, but are still reeling from last summer’s devastating coral bleaching event. It was the worst in Florida’s recorded history, with thousands of corals, particularly branching corals like Staghorn and Elkhorn corals lost forever.
This comes as a marine mystery continues to unfold, with 51 critically endangered smalltooth sawfish documented dead since January according to just-released data from FWC. More than 50 other marine species have also been seen spinning and acting erratically.
“Something is wrong. Nature is sending us an SOS we need to understand how everything connects,” Earle said.
Being designated as Hope Spots means that it’s not too late to turn things around. But Earle says it will take all of us to do our part.
“You can look at what your impact is what you choose to eat, the decisions you choose to make the people who are making the decisions that you support, putting people in office who care,” Earle said.
When there is a collective will, there is always hope.
A Hope Spot is not a marine protected area, but it’s a big step towards affording these critical coastal areas the protection they need to thrive. Currently less than 3% of the ocean is protected. The goal is to have 30% protected by 2030.
To learn more about Mission Blue, visit their website. If you’d like to find a World Oceans Day event for this weekend, click here.