Few can disagree that poor water quality from repeated algae blooms in the nation’s waterways is incompatible with boating, fishing and a healthy ecosystem. Until now, little has been studied about the real economic impact of this green slime, and the results are startling.
A recent report puts real numbers on the negative impact of algae blooms on local businesses, property values, employment, tourism and more. While the report centers on southwest Florida, it signals that all areas faced with annual blooms should undertake a similar economic study to bring all the negatives of the algae into sharp focus and generate regulatory and political actions.
Several non-profits turned to Greene Economics, a firm specializing in identifying economic tradeoffs between environmental protections and costs to communities, jobs and development. The non-profits included Captains for Clean Water, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida and the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation.
The study targeted three Gulf Coast counties — Collier, Charlotte and Lee — but the findings parallel with other major areas, and the lessons learned can be be applied elsewhere. Overall, the study concluded that if these counties were hit with extensive blooms as in the past, the area would lose more than $460 million in commercial and sport fishing, 43,000 jobs, $5.2 billion in local economic output, and $17.8 billion in property values.
In-depth reports by Bill Kearney appearing in the South Florida Sun Sentinel convey that recreation, including saltwater fishing and beach activities, are worth more than $6.5 billion per year across just the three-county area in the Greene report. Moreover, tourism and recreation dependent on clean water account for 12.7% of the study area’s employment.
When the study is combined with other industries, including boatbuilding and marine construction, the direct water-related jobs accounted for a whopping 17.5% of employment. Plus, there is an “economic ripple effect,” says the report.
For example, people who fish also spend money on their boats, fuel, bait, charters, licenses, food and supplies. If they’re visiting Florida, they also stay in hotels, eat in restaurants and rent boats. The area’s famous Tarpon fishing season generates an estimated $63-plus-million in revenue, while overall, the three counties in the study enjoyed sport fishing expenditures of more than $1.4 billion annually from residents and tourists.
And then there’s the property values. The Greene report utilized economic work from other researchers. For example, a 2020 study by economist Andrew Bechard compared sale prices for properties where blooms occurred with ones where no blooms were present. During a bloom event, residential properties within a mile of an affected area sold for 25% less than those in an unaffected neighborhood.
Moreover, a Florida Association of Realtors study in 2015 found a positive correlation between water quality and increased property values in two studied counties.
Publicity on the evening news about green muck, dead fish, bad smells and warnings about waterways containing a threat of mycobacteria and neurological illness isn’t good for the boating lifestyle we sell. And algae blooms are becoming more frequent in lakes and rivers throughout the country.
While groups including local marine trade associations, sportsmen’s clubs and environmental organizations have written and pleaded with authorities in state and local governments for more positive actions to reduce algae problems, the causes haven’t received the actions needed. Those arguments have centered primarily around quality-of-life concerns. It’s time for an added direction.
This study brings in the hard-nosed economic realities of algae blooms, spotlighting a new approach that calls for all boating interests to team up with mutual-interest organizations in their areas to get solid economic data that reveals the huge cost of failing to address algae blooms.
