under the tarp were about 30 large fiberglass molds. the molds, held together by strong metal pins, were filled with concrete and “spacers,” which included a large buoy in the center with small vinyl balls strategically placed around the sides. this morning’s group of volunteers was tasked with breaking open the molds and polishing off the finished oyster reef balls before pouring concrete back into the molds to make their own. 

building a “living shoreline”

these oyster reef balls are a part of the living shorelines that tampa bay watch creates throughout the tampa bay area. the holes created by the spaces in the concrete are designed to increase the change of species recruitment and allow water to flow through the concrete. similar structures are used around the world to create artificial reef structures, in response to a global trend of declining coral reefs, according to eric plage, environmental specialist at tampa bay watch. he has been with the non-profit organization since 2009, primarily working on the oyster reef ball program. 

the ones made by tampa bay watch are the “small ones,” according to plage. measuring 18 inches tall, 24 inches wide, these low-profile reef balls weigh between 150 and 200 pounds. other oyster reef balls, such as “pallet balls,” can weigh up to 5000 pounds. 

tampa bay watch’s oyster reef balls are utilized in the intertidal zone. during low tide, they are completely exposed. at high tide, they rest in about two to three feet of water, according to plage. their purpose has three main components: shoreline stabilization, biological filtration and to create oyster communities. 

in terms of shoreline stabilization, plage listed daily energy from boat wakes and more extreme damage from storms as significant contributing stressors on florida’s coastal environments. according to him, increased activity from boats going through channels can have some serious impact on the very important mangrove forests. 

as more and more people use the waterways for recreational and commercial purposes, the stressing factors continue to expand. increased wave activity and strength poses the risk of waves damaging the roots of mangroves and other vegetation. if serious enough, this can lead to the loss of mangrove forests, what plage dubs as the “first line of defense.” with that defense gone, the erosion is free to continue landward and creep up to a person’s property. 

finding the right solution

to protect property, plage says that many people decide to implement hardened shorelines in response to this erosion, mainly in the form of seawalls. but seawalls can do more damage than people think. 

the florida fish and wildlife conservation commission acknowledges the negative impacts of seawalls on their website. “ironically, these structures often increase the rate of coastal erosion, remove the ability of the shoreline to carry out natural processes, and provide little habitat for estuarine species,” the site says. 

most of tampa bay consists of sloped shorelines that consist of many different habitats: high marsh, low marsh, high tide line, intertidal zone and low tide line. building a flat, hardened shoreline takes away that sloped shoreline and therefore contributes to the erasure of the many different habitats possible. 

but these hardened shorelines also worsen the very problem of erosion that they are meant to address, as they magnify the impacts of boat wakes and storms. ocean waves come in the form of energy, so as a wave approaches the shoreline, the energy needs to go somewhere. with a sloped shoreline, it can be gradually dissipated through multiple layers, having a less profound effect. but with hardened sea walls, the energy simply reflects back and causes more destruction, according to plage. 

to oppose the hardened shoreline strategy, organizations like tampa bay watch use more sloped, living shorelines that are not only more natural but also mitigate effects more sensibly. their living shorelines include three main habitats that they create. 

first are the oyster reef balls themselves, which plage calls the first line of defense. they are placed in the intertidal zone side-by-side. behind the oyster reef balls a lagoon forms, in which oyster shell bags are placed in order to hold in sediment and recruit organisms. behind all this, closest to shore, is salt marsh grass. every part of this shoreline is important in its own way. 

“oyster communities are incredibly important because they’re incredibly biodiverse,” plage said. “within the little nooks and crannies of those oyster balls, there are tons of different invertebrates that use that as a nursery, use that as a safe haven.”

the oysters that are recruited onto the reef balls are impressive in themselves. not only do they add to the diversity of the communities and promote other species’ recruitment, but they also filter water. 

a single adult oyster can filter one to two gallons of water per hour when fully submerged. that’s up to 50 gallons a day, according to the national oceanic and atmospheric administration – another missing component of sea walls. 

a community effort

every part of the shoreline projects takes a lot of manpower. everything from creating the oyster reef balls to growing the salt marsh grasses. the latter is done through another program called bay grasses in classes, which works with local classrooms to grow the salt marsh grasses and see them planted in future shoreline projects. 

“we’re a hearty crew of just a handful of people, but we couldn’t do anything without our community volunteers,” plage said. 

plage said that with about 40 volunteers, they can install 200-300 reef balls in a single day. 

margie sundstrom has been volunteering with tampa bay watch for a decade now, mainly with the oyster reef ball program. her favorite aspect is showing the community how the organization is really impacting the shorelines in the tampa bay area. 

“the one thing that i like about it is how the community gets involved,” sundstrom said. “because they see what we’re doing and have an understanding of what’s being done and they can do it too.”

as an environmental non-profit, tampa bay watch gets a hands-on look at projects like these from start to finish. when they see a shoreline that is in danger or in need, they can take data themselves, use it to inform  a restoration plan, create a design, acquire permits for the design and follow through with the help of community volunteers. 

“i think the coolest part of my job is to see one of these living shorelines come to a complete fruition,” plage said. “through many of the shorelines i’ve worked on, i’ve seen them from the beginning to where they are now where they’re prospering shorelines.”

while it can be difficult to reverse what’s already been done to the environment, preserved areas like patagonia show us a model for serious conservation that is possible and inspiring.

coastal chile

slideshow by carter weinhofer

the first two pictures depict just a small aspect of life by the water in the cities of valparaíso and viña del mar. cargo ships are nonstop, the waves of the pacific ocean crash violently against the rocky coast and the scent of fish markets are recognizable every time you pass them in a “micro,” or bus. further north, the beach town of horcón attracts tourists to the bridge of dreams (slide 3), where visitors can write their wishes on a piece of biodegradable fabric and tie them to a colorful bridge by the coast.

even further north, you can find the upscale beach of zapallar (slide 4), popular during this time of summer and home to the upper-class. without a doubt, anywhere along the central to northern coast of chile you can notice the impact humans have on the environment, whether it’s through the litter on the streets or graffiti on the walls.

the “in-between”

slideshow by carter weinhofer

while not always geographically “in-between,” these locations are heavily influenced by humans but also demonstrate the beauty of chile’s diverse environment. first, the dunes of concon (slides 1 and 2) attract locals and tourists alike for their uniqueness. you can find people sandboarding down the massive dunes, while also taking in the views of the cities around it. but, immediately surrounding the dunes are skyscrapers creeping up. while the site was named a national sanctuary in 1993, the protected part of the dunes was restricted to only 12 of the 45 hectares in 1994.

this allowed for large buildings to be constructed all round the dunes, appealing to a more touristy feel. as you get deeper into the country going east, the true hidden beauty begins to show itself. another popular tourist attraction, cajon del maipo (slides 3-5) allows for ziplining, rafting and hiking through the well-preserved land. hiking and nature walks connect people with the environment, facilitating sightings of native and non-native chilean species, like the california quail in slide 4.

during the summer months, you can admire the waterfalls shown in slide 9. throughout this destination, recycling bins and environmentally-conscious signage indicate that respect for the environment is a mutually held value, shared by tourists, workers and locals.

la patagonia

slideshow by carter weinhofer

take a plane to punta arenas in the deep south of chile, then go by rental van or bus through puerto natales into one of the main destinations of patagonia: torres del paine national park. it’s difficult to encapsulate the true feeling of being in a place like this, and photos barely do it justice. aside from a few lodges and eating spots scattered around the whole park, the area remains in great environmental condition, allowing for the flourishing of wild fauna, such as the chilean flamingo (slide 5). 

designated as a biosphere reserve by the united nations educational, scientific and cultural organization, the park is known around the world and attracts more than 250,000 visitors every year. even with the common principles of “leave no trace,” the mass amount of visitors to the national park takes its toll, mainly in the form of erosion to the trails and surrounding areas. to combat this, non-profit organizations such as the torres del paine legacy fund strive to support the longevity of the park.

the organization spearheads projects focused on ecosystem restoration and improving the infrastructure throughout the park, such as trails and bridges. the work of nonprofits such as the torres del paine legacy fund can make huge impacts, but is only one piece of the puzzle in total conservation – luckily, the national forest corporation (conaf), overseen by chile’s ministry of agriculture, works closely with nonprofit organizations such as this to promote conservation. 

one of the main hikes completed by visitors is to the viewpoint looking out at the famous torres del paine. this is a somewhat challenging hike and is nearly 13 miles roundtrip. the last hour of the hike is almost all uphill and, without a smooth path, hikers need to climb on rocks while simultaneously trying to stand steady against the heavy wind. but, the view (slide 3) makes it all worth it. even with the viewpoint relatively crowded on the day i made the journey, the sentiment shared among people was unlike anything i had ever experienced. after such a journey, everyone just looked on at the famous torres and admired it for what it was. 

at one point, a wind gust took papers from a person’s bag and scattered them throughout the clear blue lake. some hikers close to the water rushed to get there, sharing hiking sticks to grab the trash that had been accidentally taken into the water. and that’s the amazing thing – with no trash cans anywhere on the hiking trail or throughout the park at all, really, the area remains well taken care of with rarely a speck of trash in sight. the level of respect for the environment i experienced in patagonia was truly unique.

established in 1991, the tbep is a product of the national estuary program as a part of the clean water act of 1987. the organization’s goal is “to build partnerships to restore and protect tampa bay through implementation of a scientifically sound, community based management plan.” this plan is funded by the bay mini-grant program, which disperses funding to organizations in the community whose projects work to protect the environment of tampa bay. 

the money for these grants comes from purchases of specialty “tarpon tag” license plates which depict the famous tampa bay tarpon, a highly prized game fish common to the gulf of mexico. 

to gain a little more insight into the tbep and their community work, sheila scolaro, community programs scientist at the tbep, discusses several of the projects funded by the tarpon tag license plates and explains why community science is such an important part of tampa bay. 

this interview has been edited for length and clarity.

q: could you tell me a little bit about yourself and your background?

a: my name is sheila scolaro. i’m the community program scientist for the tampa bay estuary program. i’ve been with the estuary program for about two years. i am a florida native, from near the mouth of the manatee river/bradenton area. i grew up snorkeling and fishing the grass flats of that area, and i remember being really young and kind of becoming really fascinated at the diversity of life hiding just below the surface of the water.

so i knew that i was going to dedicate my career to protecting these sensitive estuarine habitats and coastal habitats, so that future generations would have the same opportunities to explore this amazing underwater world like i had. after i graduated from high school, i went to the university of florida and i studied plant science. and then from there, i got a job at the fish and wildlife research institute studying sea grasses, so i traveled all around the gulf of mexico studying seagrass and water quality. 

i worked at the fwc for about four years and then i ran the seagrass and water quality monitoring program for sarasota county. and now i am at the tampa bay estuary program where i coordinate our volunteer seagrass monitoring effort. and i help coordinate a lot of our community engagement activities.

q: so what got you interested in your current job that you have now? what led you there? 

a: to me, science is really important and management should be based on science, but there seems to be a disconnect between the scientists and the community. part of that issue is that we as scientists, we write in a lot of jargon. i wanted to try and be a bridge between the science and the community so that community members didn’t feel isolated. and they have the same knowledge that the scientists did.

q: could you explain a little bit about your role at the tbep?

a: i help to engage community members. we try to educate our science to the community members so that they can be more informed members of our community and to help them be better stewards of our environment. we have 3.8 million people that live in this region now, and a lot of them are from out of state. i know that most people came to florida because of the beauty of tampa bay, so they don’t intentionally want to do anything to hurt it – so we tried to help them be better stewards. 

some of the things that i do (are that) i manage our bay mini-grant program, which is a community program that’s funded by the “tarpon tag” or the tampa bay specialty license plate. it grants up to $5,000 that is offered to community organizations for projects that help to protect and restore tampa bay. i also coordinate a program which is called “give a day for the bay,” encouraging community members to get out and be part of tampa bay’s restoration story. 

q: what are some of the projects that you’ve been a part of over the past couple of years?

a: we have a lot of projects that we fund through a mini-grant program and through all of the tampa bay programs. so with the bay mini-grant program, we’ve tried to find anywhere from 20 to 25 projects a year. our goal is to fund about $100,000, so i’ve been involved in quite a few projects. the rain gardens are, i think, my favorite – we have quite a few of those. each year we have a request for projects that goes out in the summer and we try to highlight or prioritize a specific action which is basically one of our goals to implement. 

q: what exactly is a rain garden, and why is that your favorite type of project? 

a: rain gardens are areas that collect water and essentially slow water movement and allow for that water to percolate through the system. it pulls out all of the nutrients and contaminants in the water before it gets to tampa bay. as somebody who has focused a large part of their career on seagrasses, any project that improves water clarity or water quality is something that i like to be involved in… (it’s) an exciting project for me because it also gets people outside, gets people digging, digging in the dirt, which i think is really important – getting your hands on nature, feeling nature i think is important. and recognizing the beauty of florida native species.

q: what do you think is the importance of community management and community projects in this day and age?

a: i think it’s important to know a little bit about the history of tampa bay to kind of put the community in context and how important that community is to this area. in the early 1950s, tampa bay’s economy was booming and we were rapidly developing, but we had poor wastewater treatment, so we were discharging raw sewage directly into the bay. we had poor nutrient management, and we were just rapidly developing. we had algae blooms over almost the entire bay, but in the northern portions of the bay, the algae blooms were the worst.

by the 1980s, we lost about 70% of our sea grasses, which is a critical habitat for many of our fishes and wildlife species in the region and in the estuary. in about the 1970s, the community kind of stepped up and there was a community outcry. they basically joined forces and started this movement called “save the bay.” they were really the impetus for change in tampa bay. they demanded more from their representatives and they were the ones that kind of got the restoration started in this area.

without the community, the bay might not look the way that it does today. to me, the community members are still at the heart of our restoration story. so community is everything. you know, we’re the ones who live out here, we play out here. we’re the ones that have a large impact. and so if we can be better stewards of the area, even if it’s just our neighborhood, then it can have a pretty large impact on the estuary as a whole.

q: what are some of the impacts that you have personally seen through community programs like this? 

a: i think they have a big impact in the local communities. i mean, in this one park in gulfport we saw the implementation of one project and then another group was inspired by the project – the rain garden that was installed – and now they want to do another one and potentially there will be other spots that have rain gardens also. i think having those small community projects that are visible to the neighborhood, are inspiring to me, to other groups and to new locals and to tourists.

i will just say that we’ve gotten very comfortable lately (with) how beautiful tampa bay is. however, we’re seeing some major changes in the estuary. anecdotally… we’re getting reports of large scale macro algae blooms. we had harmful algae blooms in the northern part of the estuary from 2018 to 2020. we lost 16% of our seagrasses which is pretty substantial.

we’ve had two consecutive reporting years where we lost the grass, and we’re expecting another one…that’s concerning for us as bay managers.

what i would like to say to community members is that it’s time for us to once again come together as a community and recommit to protecting tampa bay because it took 30 years to restore the estuary and we don’t want to miss out or take for granted what those who came before us did. 

florida residents can get the specialty license plate for $17 a year, helping fund community projects around the tampa bay area, like the ones described by scolaro. for those who want to be more involved in the projects, visit the tampa bay estuary program website.

finding community organizations and ways to support them, like a license plate, can be great ways to take small steps toward building stronger community-based management.

clemmons isn’t in the pantry, either. she isn’t among the shelves of donated food items, diapers, feminine hygiene products, paper products, and dog food, nor between the racks of clothing. other volunteers hurry through the donation area, picking out the items requested. next month, they are hopeful they can return to their pre-covid model: allowing the people to come into the building themselves and pick out what they want. 

through the backdoor, past the parking lot, clemmons is shoveling compost with one of her thursday volunteers. it’s an essential part of their closed loop, regenerative farming practice. the approximately 1,000 square feet of soil in daystar’s edible garden is made entirely of the compost. the city donates seagrass scraped off of boat ramps, and coffee grounds and shrimp shells are donated from local companies, all for the compost. 

down the line of crops, you can find papayas, okra, mustard greens, basil, and more. at the end of the line are juvenile avocado trees and a jamaican cherry tree. clemmons searches the whole tree for one cherry, which tastes exactly like cotton candy. once the avocado trees are fully-grown, clemmons hopes they can provide adequate shade for the bus stop that a majority of their visitors take to travel to daystar. for some, it’s an all-day affair just to get here, since the bus comes by so infrequently, according to clemmons. 

the edge of the farm, marked by the avocado trees, sits directly next to a major road, across from an on-ramp of interstate 275, one of the largest in florida. daystar sits in the heart of south st. petersburg – a food desert or, as clemmons describes it, “a services and food desert.” 

scarcity and supply

“food desert” is a complicated term, but the fao defines food deserts as “geographic areas where residents’ access to food is restricted or non-existent due to the absence or low density of ‘food-entry points’ within a practical traveling distance.” 

this plays a significant role in the ongoing issue of food insecurity, a complicated and multi-faceted problem. according to feeding tampa bay, approximately 194,514 people in pinellas county, fla., are unable to reliably purchase nutritious food. given that nearly 1 million people live in pinellas county, this means close to 20% of people within the county are food insecure. 

on a national scale, about 10.2% of people in the united states were food insecure in 2021, according to the u.s. department of agriculture. 

studying these issues are people like david himmelfarb, instructor and internship coordinator at eckerd college. he teaches classes such as food movements and food & sustainability and holds a position on the farm advisory committee for the college’s community farm. 

himmelfarb said he became interested in food at a young age, noting that it always seemed to be the central bond among his family. 

“food brings people together,” himmelfarb said. 

this interest developed in a greater appreciation for cultural and biological diversity, leading to a career in anthropology. research in places such as papua new guinea has led himmelfarb to even more insights about food movements. 

“i started really thinking about the ways that people establish communities and strengthen their communities through the exchange of food,” himmelfarb said. 

but food security is a complex issue, and this is something on which himmelfarb and clemmons both agree. according to himmelfarb, you can’t just put grocery stores into food deserts. 

“that perspective is leaving a lot of things out,” he said. “that doesn’t address the fundamental issues of wage stagnation and lack of economic opportunities that make it such that even if the food is around the street from you, you can’t access it because you can’t afford it.”

the cultural, social, and economic aspects of the issue of food security are all intertwined – leaving out or focusing on only one will inevitably have consequences. you can’t address one without the other, according to himmelfarb. 

but, he said, a more conscious effort in making food a focus in our daily lives can help raise awareness. 

“i think it’s important for people to understand and get more involved in the production side of things,” he said. “you don’t need to go out and be a farmer, but if you come out to the farm and help out and see how things grow, you start to understand the choices that farmers are making.”

providing “the good stuff”

large organizations and long-term food social movements are key in creating a more just and adequate food system. but, small-scale, community-based farms like the eckerd college community farm or the edible garden at daystar life center can help support institutional sustainability over the long term. these small steps help drive the social movements or larger organizations necessary in enacting change. 

“food justice is a whole big wheel and i’m just on one spoke of it,” clemmons said. 

clemmons and the volunteers at daystar life center make these strides towards educating people about the importance of food. 

“what you eat is everything,” clemmons said. 

during peak growing seasons, the center hosts practical cooking classes to show people who are receiving goods what they can do with the produce. they explain the health benefits of crops such as collard greens, mustard greens and swiss chard, and then demonstrate easy-to-make meals, some that can be made with just a hot plate. 

they hand out infographics about spices and herbs, and label the crops. as people in need line up to receive donations, they can see the crops growing in the raised beds along the sidewalk and, with these recipes and classes, can get an idea of what to actually use them for.

janine duffy, who has been a regular volunteer with clemmons for just over a year and a half, emphasized the practical cooking classes as something that sets daystar apart from other organizations. 

duffy also described how the garden at daystar provides fresh produce that can be essential to people’s lives. she recalled how impactful these fresh greens can be to people’s lives, especially people with chronic illnesses. according to her, people have come in to receive okra as a staple in their diet for diabetes and have used greens for juices during cancer treatment. 

“people line up when it’s harvest season,” duffy said. “we will bag pounds and pounds of greens that people can utilize instead of eating processed foods.” 

the edible garden at daystar has only been in production for three years. the first year produced 600 pounds of vegetables, the second year 1,400 pounds. as of october 2022, the garden has produced around 1,700 pounds. clemmons said she hoped to hit the milestone of producing an actual ton of vegetables, or 2,000 pounds. 

for clemmons, it’s more than just the numbers, though. 

“i wanted to focus on getting the best food to food pantries, because they always get second-best,” clemmons said. “i want to grow the good stuff for the people who may not have access.”

“i took the lead!” a woman shouted to her husband. she reels in a small, bait-sized fish. but nothing big enough to keep. 

“sixteen to fifteen,” her husband, mark, said. “we keep track of fish and see who catches the most.” 

their cat, scamper, roams around the truck of her owners mark and his wife, michelle. white patches stick out on scamper’s mostly brown fur; her pink, sparkled collar, though, stands out even more. two years ago, mark and michelle rescued scamper from a bad home life.

now, scamper likes to prowl on the piers and lounge on the dash of their truck. the truck is more than just a relaxation spot for scamper, though. 

“i got a grill on the back of my truck with charcoal,” mark said. “i’ll filet (fish) right there.” 

once the fish are cooked, mark says he’ll offer the cooked filets to anyone around. during one of the last weekends of december 2021, mark said he caught a lot of spanish mackerel to cook for everyone on the pier.

but cooked fish aren’t the only thing being shared among the fishing community in the tampa bay area. according to mark and michelle, the community has always been friendly to them. 

“you run out of bait, you don’t have any money, someone will give you bait. always,” mark said. “if you need line, someone will give you line. whatever you need if you don’t have it, the next fisherman will share it.” 

interactions like this show just how important fishing communities are to people around the world. 

“i would describe (urban fishing) as vital, because it’s vital in so many ways,” dr. noëlle boucquey of eckerd college said. “there’s so many different benefits that people get from fishing in urban spaces.” 

boucquey and anthropologist dr. jessie fly have been researching interactions like this through a study called the “urban fishing project,” in which student observers go out and take field observations and record interviews with people fishing in various areas around the tampa bay area. 

boucquey has been interested in fisheries since her days of being a graduate student. during her early years at eckerd, she found that fly had similar interests. they decided to collaborate and start this research project. 

“fishing is such a great example of activities that bring people in close relationships to their environment,” boucquey said. “so it’s a great way to study the more theoretical concepts about how people develop their relationships with their environments in particular spaces.” 

dr. angela collins is a florida sea grant extension agent through the university of florida who works with the manatee, hillsborough, and sarasota counties. collins connects closely with commercial and recreational fisheries stakeholders, and agrees that people more closely related to these sorts of environments have a stronger desire to protect them. 

“people want to protect what they care about,” collins said. “and if they don’t have the opportunity to experience fishing, they’re not going to have that experience and passion to want to preserve it.” 

boucquey and fly published some of their findings in a 2021 paper titled “contested commoning: urban fishing spaces and community wellbeing.” 

they summarize in the paper that fishing is valued as much more than a simple pastime. 

“fish provide food, cultural connections, and social capital currency while the spaces and practices of fishing provide relaxation and entertainment,” the paper states.

people go fishing for many different reasons, something that is backed up by boucquey and fly’s paper. whether it’s for sport, subsistence or to just have a clear mental space, fishing can play a huge part in people’s lives. 

in terms of subsistence, this research found that 77% of respondents kept fish that they caught, while 17% of the respondents could be classified as food insecure. on top of that, 11% of respondents used fishing to prevent hunger. 

fishing also supports diverse communities and interactions between diverse groups of people, both economically and ethnically. 

“our surveys showed that there was a huge range, people with very high incomes next to people with very low incomes,” boucquey said. “and that in and of itself is really interesting because there’s not a lot of spaces where you find those people together.” 

from 293 respondents in boucquey and fly’s surveys, 52% identified as “white including mixed,” 15% as “black including mixed,” 22% as “latinx including mixed,” 11% as “asian including mixed,” ” 3% as “mixed, no ethnicities specified” and 3% as “native american or caribbean including mixed.” 

fishing communities all around the world vary in their social dynamics, but those in florida especially have a profound sense of identity. 

“for people that live here, it’s a source of identity for a lot of people,” collins said. “there’s the family heritage, you grew up fishing with your parents and want to share it with your kids. but then there’s also the importance of being able to go out and catch dinner if you need to.” 

fisheries, along with being promoters of community, are also strong economic drivers. in florida alone, fisheries generate close to $15 billion according to a study from 2017. 

“our recreational angling is a huge economic driver for the state of florida,” collins said. “i mean, we’re the fishing capital of the world. more world record fish are landed here than anywhere else on the planet.” 

but climate change is a cause for concern in these communities. not only can projected sea level rise threaten the physical spaces people fish from, but numerous other impacts of climate change threaten ocean chemistry and fisheries patterns. 

“climate change will impact fisheries and aquaculture through multiple drivers and pathways in ways that will be strongly dependent on specific characteristics of the different systems,” the 2017 study states. 

for example, drivers from climate change like temperature, rainfall, altered circulation, acidification and habitat loss can all have profound impacts on fishery environments, according to the 2017 paper. 

this study raises the point that these types of changes will without a doubt have an impact on the benefits fishers get from their catches, speaking economically. 

additionally, coastal development threatens the accessibility to fishing grounds. 

“a lot of people want to live here and build right on the water,” collins said. “but these waterfront areas are also really important to remain accessible for seafood producers, for anglers in general, to be able to get to the water.” 

collins stated that being able to get on the water without having to drive a considerable distance to get to a boat ramp is important, since so many households have some connection to fisheries. 

“if you lived on any street, probably every third house is going to have a fishing rod in it,” collins said. 

sometimes, fishing is just simply a way to take a few hours and relax; the simple casting of a line, the breeze off of a pier or the smell of the saltwater can be therapeutic. and to some, it’s the only way to put food on the table. 

for those of us who buy our seafood, collins said that one of the keys to sustainability is the choices people make. 

“when you’re picking an item off of the menu or at the restaurant or buying seafood at the grocery store, just knowing that you want to protect the ocean helps you make better decisions as a consumer,” collins said.

the entire city of st. pete has implemented an ordinance banning plastic drinking straws. gina driscoll, vice chair of the st. petersburg city council, was one of the founders of the “no straw st. pete” campaign which ultimately led to the ban being passed in 2018. 

“it was never really just about plastic drinking straws,” driscoll said. “it was starting with that one simple object that grew into a bigger conversation about making better choices for the environment.”

an estimated 6300 million metric tons (mt) of plastic waste had been produced between 1950, when the large-scale production and use of the material began, and 2015, according to a study from that year. of that 6300 mt, a mere 9% has been recycled. another study showed that in 2010 alone, 275 mt of plastic was produced in 192 coastal countries. somewhere between 4.8 and 12.7 mt entered the ocean that same year. st. petersburg’s proximity to the florida gulf coast pins the municipality at the front of these issues. 

passionate about the environment and sustainability, driscoll wanted to figure out how st. petersburg could “lead the way” in getting rid of single-use plastics. during her first year on city council, driscoll came across an article about a ban on plastic straws in fort myers. 

“sometimes we find great ideas by looking at what other cities are doing,” driscoll said. 

this led to the formation of a campaign called “no straw st. pete,” which worked in collaboration with local organizations like “i love the burg” and suncoast rise against plastics coalition, even including the national bank ozk. businesses could pledge to go “straw free” and join the campaign, getting them a sticker on their door and more credit among environmentalists. by december 2018, the campaign had demonstrated that banning plastic straws could be viable. 

the suncoast rise against plastics (rap) coalition is composed of 17 institutions and environmental groups including tampa bay watch, st. petersburg audubon society, clearwater marine aquarium, and national groups like oceana. 

oceana field representative for the florida gulf coast, hunter miller, was involved with the st. petersburg straw ban from early on, meeting with the suncoast rap coalition and members of the st. petersburg city council. 

miller acknowledged that the coalition means more than just passing laws. volunteers work hard during beach clean ups and other events throughout the area, but the pollution problems still linger. 

“what we’ve found is, and what volunteers have found, is that those individual things are important, but they’re not going to get us to where we need to be,” miller said. “and that’s what really kind of brought the coalition together.” 

nevertheless, volunteers were a driving force behind this campaign, according to miller. after the “no straw st. pete” campaign started in early 2018, volunteers from the st. petersburg community went door-to-door to businesses to propose the straw ban and try to rally support. 

“it takes a village, really, when you want to get something ambitious done,” miller said. “but that strong volunteer legwork and people coming together is what it takes.” 

and businesses really were open to this idea of banning straws. miller said that a survey sent out to businesses after the ordinance was put in place showed “overwhelmingly positive” attitudes from businesses in response to the ordinance, and very few businesses in the st. petersburg area opposed it. 

according to driscoll, businesses were not forced to quit plastic straws cold turkey. there was a “phasing period” that started with straws being available by request only or in drive thrus. now, plastic drinking straws are not allowed anywhere in the city of st. pete, unless by special request due to medical conditions. 

kahwa coffee, a tampa bay coffee chain, is one business in st. petersburg that has been with this from the start in 2018. according to kahwa marketing associate natalie moore, the business is close to “i love the burg,” which is how they got on board with the “no straw st. pete” campaign. 

“we were one of the first to partner with them and start removing plastic straws from the company,” moore said. “also with the production of sippy lids, we kind of stray away from offering straws at all.” 

on behalf of the company as a whole, moore said that they have seen mostly positive attitudes from customers about the straw ban. 

“there always are people who don’t like it, but we do provide the alternative sippy lid so you don’t necessarily need a straw,” moore said. “but honestly, a lot of our customers are local and very involved with the community, and they’re completely on board with the no plastic straws.” 

additionally, kahwa has reusable plastic and metal straws available for sale.

there are 13 kahwa coffee locations across the tampa bay area, and even though straws are only legally banned in the st. petersburg locations, kahwa does not offer plastic straws at any of their locations, according to moore. 

that being said, if you go to a dunkin’ donuts in st. petersburg, you’ll likely be given a blue compostable straw instead of one made from plastic. but if you drive just ten minutes away to the neighboring city of gulfport, you’ll get a plastic straw from the same franchise. 

and that doesn’t just apply to dunkin’ donuts. gulfport also considered banning plastic straws the same time that st. petersburg did; but, the city council voted to table the consideration in 2018. similarly, st. pete beach, a separate township from the city of st. petersburg, lacks a ban on plastic straws. a lot of businesses in st. pete beach and all the beaches close-by do try to stay away from single-use plastic, but there is no law requiring them to do so. 

st. petersburg, gulfport, and st. pete beach are all in the same county. so at a county level, there are no laws against plastics. it’s at the smaller city level that some laws do exist. 

according to associate professor of marine science at eckerd college amy siuda, policy is one of the most impactful ways to reduce single-use plastic pollution. 

“having the codified (ordinance against plastic straws) is much more effective than just asking people to reduce their straw use,” siuda said. “because then it’s just not available. you can just remove those things from the system and people will find other ways to live without a plastic straw.” 

siuda has been at the college for six years and runs the tampa bay microplastics monitoring program with professor of biology and marine science shannon gowans. the program is a part of the larger tampa bay estuary program. 

siuda agrees that single-use plastics are something that can be avoided.

“single-use plastics are mostly unnecessary,” siuda said. “if we can reduce our single-use consumption, then we can reduce, hopefully, a lot of the harm that can be happening in the environment from plastics.” 

siuda and gowans’ monitoring research focuses mainly on microplastics and how these “invisible” plastics can be affecting all sorts of organisms. as a plankton ecologist, siuda has focused her attention on how these microorganisms, or copepods, are interacting with microplastics. gowans, a marine mammalogist, realized that a larger grazer is also being affected by plastics in the bay––manatees. 

while, according to siuda, the majority of plastics are coming from the land and not from river runoff, humans are not always the main transportation of these plastics. when terrestrial animals, like a squirrel for example, get ahold of these plastics while scavenging, they inevitably break those plastics down. 

“they’re dropping microplastics in the process of that, or breaking that thing down physically into smaller pieces that make it into the ocean as microplastics,” siuda said. “the big stuff is harmful to bigger organisms, but the little stuff is kind of harmful to everything.” 

siuda also added that larger plastics are capable of transporting invasive species across water systems, having serious negative impacts on ecosystems. 

this research and monitoring helps to buttress policies, and aids in educating others on the harms of single-use plastics and microplastics. according to siuda, education starts the process of getting support from people, which leads to policies. 

just by choosing not to take one plastic straw, consumers have the ability to limit the amount of single-use plastic going into the system. 

“i know it seems like one person can’t make a difference, but you have to start somewhere,” siuda said. 

the idea of starting somewhere small often leads to a larger-scale change. miller said that this is a driving force for systemic change. 

“what really brought people out to hit the pavement,” he said, “is the excitement to systematically address this problem through policy and knowing that the changes that they’re biting for locally are going to fuel the movement for bigger change at the state level, and the national level.”

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editor’s note: this story is the first in the planet forward series “so long, single-use?” check back over the next several weeks for more stories about how communities and individuals can––and are––reducing single-use plastic waste.