IV-499 



the west coast of Florida and sometimes within the lower bay. The 

 relationship of the fertile bay culture waters to the red tide out- 

 side is still uncertain and under study. However, the high 

 fertility has not destroyed the general middle salinity character- 

 istics of the ecosystem of the main bay where oysters, copepods, 

 pinfish and young shrimp are abundant. Much of the area has been 

 disturbed in dredging and filling although there are still large 

 areas of shallow ecosystems that serve as fertile nurseries 

 (IV-6-9). 



Examples of severe modification and the resulting multiple 

 stressed systems could be multiplied many times. The point is that 

 nearly every trend noted in the socioeconomic environment in the 

 recent past, and in the future, indicates that much of the 

 estuarine zone is likely to receive these multiple man-caused 

 stresses. Thus, the estuarine ecological system of the future 

 appears likely, if past use trends continue, to be characterized 

 by a new emerging "stinko" environment. Clearly, reliance upon 

 existing use, management, planning, economic restraints, and 

 technology to provide solutions to this trend are inadequate. It 

 is essential that the socioeconomic and institutional environments 

 be mobilized to reverse this seemingly inexorable destruction of 

 the irreplaceable estuarine ecologies of the Nation. 



