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What to expect from politics and water quality

FT. MYERS, Fla. - I can easily remember Chicago beachfronts and shorelines covered with millions of dead and foul-smelling alewives.

Chicago and state politicians along with the late Mayor Daley hemmed and hawed for quite a while before bulldozers and dump trucks cleared the sand and harbors of the massive amount of potential cat food. The Mayor knew he had a potentially explosive issue on his daily agenda.

Chicago beaches had become a major respite for the millions of middle class and blue-collar workers. Their joy was a day of swimming and frolicking on the sand and water while Chicago's skyscrapers loomed in the background.

The alewife population subsequently became the main forage for coho salmon and later the fast-growing king salmon planted on the Michigan side of Lake Michigan.

Gaggles of Chicago and state politicians could finally breathe easier once the ravenous game fish started feasting on the schools of alewives. But the stench of the unwanted, dead alewives lingered on in the memories of Chicago beachgoers for decades. But as long as local pols dodged a major bullet, they could concentrate on easier moneymaking deals, like zoning and liquor deals.

In southwest Florida, water quality problems have been a major pain in the drag systems of fishermen's reels - for sport and charter operators, tourism dollars and politicians alike. This aspect of Mother Nature is called the Red Tide.

Harmful algal blooms, or HABs, occur when colonies of algae - simple plants that live in the sea and freshwater - grow out of control while producing toxic or harmful effects on people, fish, shellfish, marine mammals and birds. The human illnesses caused by HABs, though rare, can be debilitating or even fatal.

But that's only part of the 2015-16 snowbirds' headaches when it comes to fishing and feeling the healing waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

I have never been a great fan of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the simple reason, in my humble opinion, that this bloated bureaucracy, with an annual budget of close to $4.6 billion, has no one to answer to except select members of Congress, and sometimes the White House.

And in recent weeks, the Corps put its energy into lowering the water levels on Lake Okeechobee. And all that polluted lake water was sent down the canals and out into the Gulf. That, in turn, created a massive mud condition that persisted up and down the southwest coast, deterring tourism beaching.

As of today, the Army Corps reported slowing down the water discharges because the levels on Okeechobee have dropped to a more manageable level. But the Corps plans to release more water if Lake "O"'s overall levels rise again.

I spoke with Jack R., a 13-year resident of Ft. Myers. He moved here from Chicago because of the warmer climate and once great fishing. He spends much of his free time shore fishing near bridge areas.

"Fishing is so bad now, it's not worth my time," he said with a sharp tone in his voice. "And it's a combination of the Red Tide and foolishness by the Army Corps, with its nonsensical water level actions," he added. "I thought the Lake Michigan alewife problem was initially a major disaster, but I've come to realize that the Chicago matter was small change compared to what we are undergoing down here."

This past week, mayors from three nearby Florida cities went to Washington D.C. to plead their case about the loss of an economic push.

So, I cautiously absorbed the sun's rays, read three books and made a half-dozen casts in to the murky Gulf water. Better luck next year.

• Contact Mike Jackson at angler88@comcast.net, catch his radio show 7-9 a.m. Sundays on WGCO 1590-AM (live-streamed at www.1590WCGO.com) and get more content at www.mikejacksonoutdoors.com.

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