State of the Bay is Good; Conservation Focus Shifts to Individuals

Since the late 1980s, water quality, seagrass beds and habitat for birds and fish have improved dramatically in Sarasota Bay. The challenge now is maintaining that progress, especially as the region grows.

The Sarasota Bay Estuary Program this evening celebrates its 2010 State of the Bay report, an assessment of the bay's health produced every three years.

The 2010 report paints a picture of progress, with a 64 percent reduction in nitrogen pollution since 1988, a 24 percent increase in seagrass coverage since 1950 and the return of bay scallops in 2008.

But while the report brings good news, such astonishing improvements are not likely to continue.

"The stressors are going to continue to ratchet up," said Jay Leverone, staff scientist.

Maintaining the bay's health requires a commitment to further reducing pollution.

"It's all of us that are creating the problem now," said Mark Alderson, program director...