SARASOTA COUNTY - The beautiful natural resources on the Suncoast are enjoyed by residents and visitors alike year-round. That's why many are working tirelessly to protect those resources, and it's one of the main goals of an upcoming symposium on Sarasota Bay.
The wide expanses of Sarasota Bay draw boaters, wading fishermen, and hungry birds of prey. But none of them would be there if not for efforts to protect the bay and the animals that live there. That began in earnest more than two decades ago with the first bay symposium and the formation of the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program.
The biggest impact in that span has been to keep wastewater treatment discharges out of the bay and cleaning up storm water runoff. "The bay program has really focused on cleaning up that wastewater, reducing the nitrogen that's reaching the bay, and the sea grasses have responded. And so sea grass can now grow on the bay bottom to a depth of a half a meter deeper than it did in the mid-80's, so that's been a real positive accomplishment," says symposium organizer Julie Morris, Asst. V.P. of Academic Affairs at New College of Florida.
Next week, the three day Sarasota Bay Watershed Symposium will bring together scientists, policy makers and educators to make sure our bay waters continue to thrive into the future. "This conference is really going to try to bring a lot of people together to talk about how we can move forward in managing storm water and our yards and neighborhoods and the watersheds in a way that we're all thinking about the connection of our neighborhoods to the bay," says Morris.
For more information on the symposium and how to register, visit
www.sarasotawatershed.com.
