Statement: Commissioner Levine Cava on the Fish Kill Around Biscayne Bay

MIAMI-DADE – “It’s deeply troubling to see the images shared today by Miami Waterkeeper showing dead fish around Biscayne Bay in the Morningside Park area. We know our Bay is at a tipping point – yet Mayor Gimenez continues to turn a blind eye to this crisis, refusing to heed my and many advocates' continued calls for action.

“For years, I have pressed for the county to aggressively step up our efforts to safeguard the health of the bay. As a Commissioner I've passed legislation creating an action plan on pollution and seagrass die-off, expanding bay water quality monitoring, and combating pollution by banning Styrofoam in parks and improving storm drain maintenance. This is why I co-convened the first Biscayne Bay Marine Health Summit, part of my efforts to support the advocates and scientists leading the charge on bay protection. With decades of data collected, it should not be difficult to explain the leading causes of the Bay's decline, yet solutions have been infuriatingly slow in coming. Reports on the condition of Biscayne Bay have been delayed for literally years. The Bay Task Force, which has sadly been used as an excuse to delay action, still hasn't released their recommendation (to the volunteer members' frustration), and now we have acres of dead fish piling up along our shore to remind us of the Mayor's inaction.