A plea for the protection of Apalachicola Bay

If we could just pause for a moment to reevaluate the situation, reality would eventually rule the day and although somewhat difficult, we will find it paramount to do what we all know is right.

The reality that we face, is that Apalachicola Bay and its estuary is one of twenty-seven waterways in the United States that is designated a National Estuarine Research Reserve by the Federal government.

The reality is also in the purpose behind the designation, which is to protect the biological diversity of the system. A complex system that consists of 1,162 species of plants, 308 species of birds, 186 species of fish, and 57 species of mammals. The system also produces 90 percent of the oysters the state consumes and it’s perhaps one of the best places in America for families to play and relax.

In addition, between 60 to 85 percent of the local population make their living directly from this system and seafood landings are worth $14-16 million dockside annually. At the consumer level, this represents a $70-$80 million industry.

For generations the residents of Apalachicola and Franklin County have relied solely upon this diverse waterway and the health of it for their livelihood and recreational outlet. The system also has an added benefit, where it attracts scores of visitors to the area each year pumping millions of additional dollars into the local economy.

Given all of the above, nothing makes more sense to me than to do whatever’s humanly possible to protect this estuary from all harm, especially those manmade.

Something that the small fiscally constrained City of Apalachicola undertook when it filed suit against the US Army Corps of Engineers for decades of restricted freshwater flows, which in turn diminished the reproductive strength of this estuary and placed its inhabitants in jeopardy.

Now we’re been told that we can’t close off all of the three main inlets leading into this protected body of water. An absolute strategy to safeguard against the onslaught of millions perhaps billions of gallons of BP oil that’s wrecking havoc on shorelines, marshes and beaches of other coastal communities along the Gulf of Mexico.

The state’s environmental agency has argued that closing all three inlets would cause retention of freshwater from the Apalachicola River that could kill off the oysters.

Considering which would be more harmful or lasting, I would much rather see Apalachicola Bay receive a huge dose of needed freshwater, a point that the city advocated through it lawsuit, than one ounce of BP’s oil.

Whether the oil’s weathered or not, should any of it reaches or compromise Apalachicola Bay, it could take generations before the estuary is clean enough to enjoy or its resources safe enough for human consumption.

Now when you take into account what’s really at stake, I can’t understand for the life of me why the guaranteed protection of Apalachicola Bay is not paramount.

This is not the time for political grandstanding, we must hold BP directly accountable for this catastrophe, we must insist that the company immediately mobilize their resources or adequately fund city and county governments so that they can mobilize local resources to keep Apalachicola Bay out of harms way. We must do this immediately through all local, state, and federal channels, something that the City of Apalachicola has already begun.

There’s nothing complicated about it, it just takes fortitude to do what we all know is right.