st. lucie river

Kids fish off of a narrow dock in Manatee Pocket, casting lines into coffee-colored water untouched by the toxic algae bloom fouling the St. Lucie River a mile up the canal.For three days these young summer camp-goers have reeled in snapper, puffer fish, catfish, trout and much else from the dock. Normally they would have ventured by boat to fish beneath the Roosevelt Bridge, which spans the Saint Lucie River in Stuart. But not this year.

Mary Radabaugh peers over her mask at the toxic algae spread across Haney Creek off of the St. Lucie River."You can see the flies that are on the top of it. They're eating the rot so that's like the sewage that is out there. You can see the big brown spots that look like sewage."

Sen. Bill Nelson is calling on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to store more water south of Lake Okeechobee.He says the action would spare coastal estuaries to the east and west where polluted water from the state's largest lake is causing problems.