Death of Spanish Rocks...

[NitroRoo]

Hey everyone I spent the better part of yesterday diving down in Bradenton... Dove the sugar barge and the reef just up the road (spanish rocks). Anyway, it had been several months since I dove here and I was absolutely shocked by what I saw... pretty much everything was dead.. we saw maybe 3 fish on the reef (that were alive). Dead crabs, fish, startfish.. you name it... It was like diving after a nuclear war.. really really sad. Last time I was there we saw tons of life and quite a bit more color. Vis wasnt great but that's too be expected. Anyway, wondering if anybody else has dived here recently? Maybe this is old news but it was really sad to see. I guess it's from red tide... Bummer.. Any guesses on how long it will take to replentish it's self?

 

[simbrooks]

I tried to find it last year, but it looked like there was some renourishment that went on and buried the first reef line, didnt find anything further out so we went elsewhere. I was hoping to dive around there again some time soon. What was the temp like?

 

[CiXeL]

as long as the nitrates stay high in the water, never. blame all the sewage and extreme amounts of fertilizer from sugar cane fields for the loss of coral. anyone who has a reef aquarium knows its not just high temps that cause bleaching. high nutrient in the load stresses the corals and heat just does the final blow.

 

[simbrooks]

No i meant, how warm is the water, is it low or mid-90's yet, so i can work out how warm i will be diving there or Venice etc sometime soon.....

Also cane fields are typically further south than Bradenton, there are other nitrate sources and a whole load of other things in the watercourses up here though.

 

[NitroRoo]

... it can be hard to find sometimes. I have swam through gaps in the reef and completely missed it before... I thought it was covered up but turns out I just happened to miss it - or didnt go out far enough. Temps were 88 on the bottom, 90 on the surface. It's really sad to see this little environment ruined in the last 3 or 4 months.