Jim Waymer

FLORIDA TODAY

Thousands of scaly, rancid corpses dot the banks of the Indian River Lagoon, in clusters from Titusville to Melbourne, likely casualties of widespread algae that's bloomed for months.

On Monday, dead fish drifted near neighborhoods in south Cocoa Beach and Patrick Air Force Base. The death toll spans the spectrum from pint-sized junk fish to plump, prize-sized sport fish. Some residents have reported redfish 25 pounds or larger floating up dead.

"I did see some monster reds, greater than 50 inches," said Robert Kane, of Cocoa Beach, who saw several huge dead redfish Monday near Patrick Air Force Base. "It's terribly disappointing."

Since Friday, a state database that compiles fish kills shows thousands of dead fish reported to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Species include sheepshead, mullet, croaker, puffer fish, catfish, flounder, spade fish, horseshoe crabs and several other species.

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The ongoing brown tide algae is not toxic and no fish consumption advisories or recreational advisories have been issued as a result of the bloom. State wildlife officials could not say for sure what's killing the fish in recent days, but suspect the algae bloom is depleting the amount of oxygen dissolved in the water.

"It could be low oxygen," said Ed Phlips, professor of algal physiology and ecology at the University of Florida. "The algae concentrations have been pretty high."

Excess algae consume oxygen dissolved in the water, killing fish and other marine life. It also can block sunlight from seagrass — the most important plant habitat for fish.

This year's brown tide bloom arrived much earlier in the year and now is prominent in most of the Banana River and Indian River lagoons.

Brown tide returns to Indian River Lagoon

FWC is asking that citizens not try to remove the dead fish, which the agency says will sink to the bottom within a few days.

Several Brevard County agencies are putting together an emergency cleanup plan, as the bigger picture problem of chronic algae blooms looms large over local budgets.

"We've got to prevent as much runoff as possible in that lagoon," Brevard County Commissioner Andy Anderson said. He also cited septic tanks. "That's a huge issue, we're going to have to find a way to find the septic tanks that are failing ... (and hook the homes up to the sewer system)," he said. "That's a lot of money."

"It's going to kill our recreational fishing," Anderson added of the recent fish kill. "I hope they figure it out fast."

Scientists say excess nitrogen and phosphorus from fertilizers, septic tanks, leaky sewer systems, air pollution and other sources is fueling the blooms. While nitrogen and phosphorus are vital components for all life, when too much gets into the lagoon the two nutrients can trigger algae blooms that block sunlight to seagrass. Bacteria spike when the algae die and consume oxygen dissolved in the water, suffocating fish and other marine life.

To remove excess nitrogen from the lagoon, Brevard County recently began dredging out nitrogen-laden muck from canals in Cocoa Beach and the mouth of Turkey Creek and plans several other large-scale muck dredging projects.

The Florida Legislature recently allocated $26 million for lagoon restoration projects in Brevard in the coming budget year, including $21.5 million related to muck dredging, primarily in the Grand Canal area, north of Satellite Beach.

In response to the lagoon's poor condition, conservationists have started an online petition drive to force more federal action to clean up the estuary.

And the Space Coast League of Cities is drafting a joint resolution to be adopted by each municipality, "prevailing upon Federal and State governments to support legislation to clean up the Indian River Lagoon," Mike Miller, vice mayor of Cocoa Beach, said Monday in an open letter to citizens.

"The citizens of Cocoa Beach are all devastated by the condition of the Banana River Lagoon, as evidenced by the recent fish kill," Miller wrote.

Cocoa Beach recycles waste water at its sewer plant, has installed sewer lines, eliminated all but a few septic tanks, built a new sediment control pond at the Cocoa Beach Country Club, and recently lined city sewer pipes to prevent leaks.

A similar brown tide species emerged in coastal waters off New England and New York in the mid-1980s, devastating scallops, clams and seagrass in Long Island's southern bays.

The same brown tide species in the lagoon hit Laguna Madre and Baffin Bay along Texas' Gulf Coast in the early1990s, killing off seagrass for years. The bloom lasted almost eight years, making it the longest continuous harmful algae bloom ever recorded.

But researchers say that system is very different from the lagoon, and much saltier, so they stop short of predicting a similar lengthy brown tide onslaught for the lagoon.

In the summer of 2012, brown tide began in Mosquito Lagoon and moved west to the northern Indian River lagoon. It was the first bloom of the species documented in Florida. It never spread south of Titusville. But as much as 50 square miles of lagoon seagrass had already died a year earlier, after another type of algae bloomed from Titusville to Eau Gallie and a separate, concurrent bloom stretched from Eau Gallie to south of Vero Beach.

In all, more than 47,000 acres — 73 square miles — of seagrass died in the blooms. A 2008 study found that one acre of lagoon seagrass is worth between $5,000 and $10,000 a year to the local economy. So the sport and commercial fishing industry may have lost up to $470 million as a result of the algae blooms.

Some of that lost seagrass grew back, but then brown tide bloomed, again. And scientists worry that if the brown tide keeps blooming as the region enters peak growing season for seagrass, the death toll could worsen.

Want a cleaner lagoon? Why not open Canaveral Lock?

Other reports of dead wildlife this week included an alligator in Sykes Creek and a manatee in Cocoa Beach, but FWC could not confirm those deaths Monday, and it's uncertain whether those are linked to the bloom. Some of the recent pelican and manatee casualties might just be the result of migration and the change of seasons, biologists said.

"It could have been killed by something else, you have to be careful," Phlips said of the report of a dead alligator. "You have to be careful not to overstate animals being dead, especially when seasonal changes happen."

jwaymer@floridatoday.com Follow him on Twitter @JWayEnviro and at facebook.com/jim.waymer

Report a fish kill to FWC's Fish Kill Hotline: 800-636-0511

Or report the fish kill online:

http://myfwc.com/FishKill

Want to take action. Here's what the city of Cocoa Beach suggests:

Contact Federal and State representatives urging support for remedial and preventative legislation to clean up the Indian River Lagoon

Keep grass clippings or landscape trimmings from falling into the Banana River Lagoon

Don't sweep organic and road debris into the storm drainage inlets at the street

Monitor private landscape services to ensure they handle grass clippings and landscape trimmings properly

Support more stringent regulations than required to prevent organic material from being discharged into the Banana River Lagoon

Support funding for more infrastructure projects

Source: City of Cocoa Beach

Have questions about the algae bloom's health risks?

Call the Aquatic Toxins Hotline: 888-232-8635, or the Poison Control Center: 800 222-1222.

Want to learn more about what needs to be done to save the lagoon?

What: Duane DeFreese, executive director of the Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program, will give a talk at Florida Institute of Technology, entitled "Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program —Challenges and Opportunities

When: 4 to 4:50 p..m. Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Where: FIT Campus, Evans Library Pavilion, Auditorium Room P133.