Sick reefs, shores taking human toll

The Tampa Tribune

February 17, 1998, Tuesday, FINAL EDITION

SECTION: FLORIDA/METRO, Pg. 1

LENGTH: 642 words

HEADLINE: Sick reefs, shores taking human toll

BYLINE: JAN HOLLINGSWORTH; of The Tampa Tribune

DATELINE: FORT LAUDERDALE

BODY:

State and federal planners turned their attention Monday to sick reefs, polluted shores and an expanding dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico.

But it was the link between coastal health and human health that dominated the first day of discussion at the Florida Coastal Management Conference in Fort Lauderdale.

"Marine toxins are emerging as agents of human disease," said Dan Baden, a University of Miami marine biologist who researches the effects of numerous micro-organisms.

Among the troublesome microbes:

Red tide, an algae that kills fish, poisons shellfish meat, causes respiratory problems in people and was blamed for an unprecedented 149 manatee deaths in 1996.

Ciguatera, a toxic organism that accumulates in the food chain and can cause illness and affect the nervous systems of people who eat large reef fish.

Vibrio, a virus that can sicken those who eat infected oysters and enters the wounds of people who wade in infested waters.

Pfiesteria, also known as the "cell from hell," an algae that has wreaked havoc along the mid-Atlantic coast.

"The data the health department has is quite limited," said Steven Weirsma, a state epidemiologist who called many of the microbe problems "under-recognized" and "under-reported."

The state health department, for instance, receives about 60 reports of ciguatera poisoning each year. But there may be as many as 1,000 cases in Dade County alone.

Pfiesteria, the organism that has been linked to fish kills and neurological damage in rivers and estuaries in North Carolina and Maryland, has not yet been identified in Florida waters. But its evil twin has - another microalgae with very similar characteristics.

That has investigators taking a broader look at reports of fish with lesions and people with seemingly waterborne health complaints.

Most of the past attention to water-related human health complaints concentrated on lethal or acute illnesses, Baden said.

"Now more chronic, low-level, quality of life issues are moving to the forefront," he said.

The key to dealing with the problem is increased water quality monitoring on a statewide basis, said Ed Conklin, a marine resource administrator with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. "With 8,000 miles of coastline, that's a very expensive proposition," he said.

Equally important is developing a program to better assess the cause of growing microbial mayhem. That, too, requires scarce research dollars, coastal managers said.

In Maryland, where "Pfiesteria hysteria" closed rivers to commercial and recreational use and devastated the local seafood industry, state officials spent first and looked for the money later in search of a remedy, said David Goshorn of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.

"The concern was, there is something going on out there that's affecting human health," he said.

Researchers in Maryland - as in North Carolina, where the organism was first identified in 1991 - have tied the proliferation of Pfiesteria to hog and poultry farming.

The animal waste generated by these massive operations feeds the organism with nitrogen- and phosphorus-laden nutrients.

Maryland officials have responded with a proposal that would require all farmers to implement mandatory nutrient management plans by 2002.

The implications for Maryland's $ 11 billion agriculture industry are tremendous, Goshorn said. But the state's seafood industry also suffered a dramatic blow, with $ 43 million in losses during the past year.

"At the height of this, people were not only not buying Maryland seafood, but lobsters from Maine," he said. Read about more environmental issues on The Tampa Tribune's website at http://tampatrib. com/news/enviro.htm Jan Hollingsworth reports on environmental issues and can be reached at (813) 259-7607.

GRAPHIC: PHOTO (C),

Crescent Beach Club condos leading to nowhere. GARY RINGS, Tribune photo

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