Rookery Bay Research Reserve managers want to do something about the large amounts of freshwater dumping into the Rookery Bay Estuary in Naples. The fresh water changes its salinity levels and affects the organisms living there. That water comes from the Collier County canal system. It was created to control flooding and supply water for the county, but it brought some unintended consequences.
Tabitha Stadler is coordinator for the “Restore the Rookery Bay” project. A three year study that was just completed. It used a computer simulator to look at how freshwater flows into the estuary.
"This piece of science make[s] it clear about where flows can be directed, meaning areas of deficit and where flows should be slowed down-- put into filter marshes," said Stadler.
Stadler recommends altering the timing and amount of freshwater flows to the estuary. She said it’s not so bad for fish there because they can just swim to their preferred level of saltiness. But Stadler said organisms like oysters are stuck, and can be negatively affected by too much fresh water over a long period of time.
