 HARBOR BRANCH SCIENTIST RECEIVES GRANT TO STUDY HARMFUL ALGAE BLOOMS OFF THE PALM BEACHES FORT PIERCE, FLA., May 7, 2001 - A news conference was held Wednesday, May 9, at 9:30am at the dock at New Port Cove Marina, 255 E. 22nd Court in Riviera Beach, to announce plans to study invasive and harmful algal blooms that have begun appearing in the waters off Palm Beach County. The research is being funded with a $75,000 grant from the Florida Marine Research Institute, and will be the first such research in the area to be carried out on such a large scale. State Senator Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie, was instrumental in providing direction and support in obtaining the funds for HARBOR BRANCH Senior Scientist Dr. Brian Lapointe, an expert in invasive species of algae who first recognized the problem in the early 90s. At 10am, immediately following the news conference, Dr. Lapointe and several research assistants will board a chartered dive boat to go obtain samples of the latest Codium and Caulerpa algal blooms, about one mile off the Palm Beaches. Any members of the media who would like to go along are welcome. Underwater video can be provided to anyone who requests it in advance. The boat is scheduled to return between 1pm-2pm. Dr. Lapointe will be looking for evidence that the Caulerpa algae, the most damaging species, is growing and expanding from an initial patch of only a few square meters near the Lake Worth inlet to an area that is now more than six miles long, extending north toward the Jupiter Inlet. The invasive algae displace the native marine plants, and eventually the area can resemble an underwater desert, with diminished populations of native marine plants and fish. The cause of these harmful algal blooms is thought to be related to nutrient enrichment, which can be caused by sewage, polluted stormwater runoff, or natural upwelling of deeper, nutrient-enriched water. For more information please call HARBOR BRANCH at 772.465.2400. Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution, Inc. is one of the world's leading nonprofit oceanographic research organizations dedicated to the exploration of the earth's oceans, estuaries and coastal regions for the benefit of mankind. |