NEWS RELEASE

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

April 5, 2000

CONTACT: Don Fox or Steve Gornak (941) 462-5190

LAKE OKEECHOBEE SPORT FISHERY TEETERS ON BRINK OF COLLAPSE

One of the nation's richest and most famous sport fisheries, the legendary "Big O," is in danger of collapsing unless the high water levels of recent years are lowered.

Lake Okeechobee is at a critical juncture, an environmental crossroads. This is the considered opinion of Don Fox, the top fisheries biologist at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's (FWC) Okeechobee Field Station. Fox has spent nearly two decades studying the 700-mile-square Lake Okeechobee and its abundant populations of black crappie (specs) and largemouth bass.

Ironically, after years of public concern and newspaper headlines about poor water quality caused primarily by phosphorous runoff from agricultural lands, the latest and most fearsome threat to the fishery is high water.

"We could entirely eliminate the phosphorous from Lake Okeechobee tomorrow and the devastating loss of desirable aquatic vegetation would continue," Fox said. "Unprecedented and sustained high water levels over the past decade are the immediate and deadliest threat. This is not a projection for the future. We are already seeing alarming declines in young sport fish numbers."

Recent FWC surveys document a decline in black crappie under one year old at 70-80 percent. Largemouth black bass young of the year show an 80-percent decline, according to Fox. Past electro-shock surveys produced 30 to 40 bass in an hour. That's down to about five or six bass an hour.

Sustained high water in the dike-rimmed lake results in violent wave action crashing and surging into the perimeter marsh, the spawning ground and nursery for young fish. The waves literally tear apart the all-important vegetation and churn the water into a turbid soup.

"We've lost 50,000 acres of vegetation in the last five years," Fox said. "That's unprecedented and spells disaster for the next generation of sport fish. We're losing bulrush, eel grass and pepper grass -- all vitally important aquatic plants, key components in the lake's ecology."

Bulrush has been particularly hard hit. Fox said there has been a 93-percent decline in bulrush due to high water. The 10,000 acres of bulrush, so important in largemouth bass reproduction, has dwindled to 700 acres.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has the final word on Lake Okeechobee's water level. Since 1978 the federal agency has retained water in the huge lake for longer periods of time. Fox said that the Corps is concerned about sending poor-quality water south towards Everglades National Park, and it also must address the water needs of the huge metro area to the east as well as of the Everglades Agricultural Area.

Fox said a water level of 15.5 feet in Lake Okeechobee is the benchmark. Troubles begin when the level reaches or exceeds that mark for sustained periods.

"Before 1978, the lake exceeded that mark only 16 percent of the time," he said. "Since then, the lake has exceeded 15.5 feet 50 percent of the time. And, if you look at just the past five years, the lake level has exceeded that mark 72 percent of the time. On the occasions the Corps has dumped its turbid, nutrient-laden water into the St. Lucie River system, severe environmental damage has occurred."

At stake is a recreational resource attracting fishermen from all over the nation and many foreign countries. Mark Robson, FWC Everglades regional director in West Palm Beach, believes that a depressed sport fishery will trigger a sharp economic downturn for the small communities surrounding Lake Okeechobee.

"The loss of an important sport fishery like Lake Okeechobee's translates into a loss of millions of dollars to the local economy," Robson said. "Fishermen rent motel rooms, boats, buy tackle, food, eat at local restaurants, hire out fishing guides, rent cars, and make hundreds of other expenditures. Lose the fishery and you lose the dollars."

Robson admits that the situation is complex. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers faces a perplexing quandary in attempting to meet the varied and sometimes competing demands of south Florida's farmers, anglers, Everglades National Park, and the huge urban community on the coast from Vero Beach south to Miami.

"All I can say is that we need to mobilize our resources and ideas at the local, state and national levels and determine if we can solve the dilemma," Robson said. "We must act immediately or face the loss of one of the state's most important freshwater fisheries."