Miami’s reefs are in dire need of protection from being dredged again – AGAIN! Yes, that’s right, we’re as shocked as you are.

We recently announced that our efforts secured the restoration of 10,000 threatened corals following the PortMiami Dredging – a huge victory for our reefs.

But, what we didn’t know was that the Corps didn’t dredge deeply enough the first time around and they’re coming back for more. That’s right, the Port of Miami will be dredged AGAIN. We can’t allow this to happen and let the same mistakes threaten our reefs.

Pollution from discarded single-use plastics poses a major threat to wildlife and leaves our beaches littered with trash. A portion of that trash is made up of single-use plastic straws and stirrers that do not naturally break down. Plastic straws and stirrers are small enough to be accidentally ingested by wildlife and, rather than break down naturally in the environment like paper or wood-based products, plastic straws break down into smaller and smaller pieces. These “microplastics” are easily eaten by organisms as small as plankton, allowing the ingested plastic to travel up the food chain, even to us humans.

Southwest Florida’s year-long red tide has spread to the east coast of South Florida, forcing local and state officials to close beaches and issue advisories right at the start of the busy winter tourist season. As Florida’s most populous region, the impacts on South Florida could be immense. Red tide also poses a significant threat to Biscayne Bay. Although red tides are notoriously difficult to predict, nutrient pollution and low levels of freshwater influx into Biscayne Bay create conditions known to allow the red tide causing algae, Karenia brevis, to bloom. Upcoming King Tides in October and November can make the outbreak even worse if more algae gets pushed closer to shore and into Miami’s protected bays and canals.

Thank you to our crest sponsor- Biscayne Bank!

FPL’s Turkey Point nuclear plant is contaminating Biscayne National Park, the Biscayne Aquifer (our primary source of drinking water) and filling nearby wetlands with salt. Despite the myriad of environmental and safety problems with the plant, and while currently engaged in corrective action that may or may not work, Florida Power and Light (FPL) is now asking the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to relicense these units. A license from the NRC would make Units 3 & 4 the oldest operating nuclear reactors in the United States and would allow them to operate until 2052 – giving them an unprecedented 80-year operating life! These reactors are already the hottest operating reactors in the U.S. and are the only reactors worldwide that use a cooling canal system rather than cooling towers.

Miami Waterkeeper Staff Attorney, Kelly Cox, delivers comments before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Join Miami Waterkeeper in welcoming Melva Rosa Gil Vera as she joins us for four months to teach us about her work and learn from ours through the Community Solutions Program!

The Community Solutions Program (CSP), sponsored by the Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) and implemented by IREX, is a professional development program for the best and brightest global community leaders working in Environmental Issues, Tolerance and Conflict Resolution, Transparency and Accountability, and Women and Gender Issues. Melva is among 100 individuals from around the world selected to participate in the program this year, and we are so excited to have her expertise on our team.

Lawsuit over Dredging Achieves Restoration of 10,000 threatened corals 

Celebrate our legal victory with us!

Environmentally-Friendly Gardening Tips

Do you use fertilizer on your lawn or landscape? Do you know if you’ve been applying fertilizer correctly? When over-applied or applied incorrectly, fertilizer can be very harmful for the environment. Over-fertilizing plants in a lawn or landscape can lead to pest problems, excessive growth, and the pollution of waterways and groundwater.

Our Miami Marine Stadium Cleanup in April was successful for many reasons- we collected a ton of trash from entering Biscayne Bay, we had a great collaborative effort with the Miami Rowing Club and Miami Parks and Recreation, AND we met some cool people to help us in our efforts. Dana Biddle was one of them- a student at the University of Miami, about to graduate, but still filled with passion to clean our waterways and create awareness about the marine debris issue that is so pertinent throughout the World. After driving off with much of the trash we collected that day, she created an art project to bring attention to the state of our oceans.

Have you noticed abandoned or derelict vessels in Biscayne Bay? Because we have quite a lot of them. These vessels are both navigational hazards and eyesores for our community. Derelict vessels ranging from large commercial ships to smaller recreational boats can shift during storms, destroying crucial benthic habitat – the bottom of a body of water, such as seagrass or coral reefs. Furthermore, toxic chemicals that were onboard at the time of sinking, or oil spills from the vessel itself, pose a threat to surrounding ecosystems and to human health. Additional debris from the vessels such as fishing gear, nets, and other dispersed trash can harm marine life as well.