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On April 12th the Congressional Estuary Caucus held a briefing for congressional staff to discuss the harmful effects of algal blooms in our nation's estuaries. The caucus, which was co-founded by U.S. Reps. Bill Posey, Suzanne Bonamici, Frank LoBiondo and Rick Larsen, brought in a panel of experts to discuss their efforts to understand the causes of harmful algal blooms and share their strategies to mitigate the effects of environmental stressors on our ecosystem.

Rep. Posey and Laurilee Thompson discuss the Indian River Lagoon at a recent briefing of the Congressional Estuary Caucus.

Among the panelists invited to speak was Laurilee Thompson, co-owner of Dixie Crossroads and a member of the Brevard County, Florida, Environmentally Endangered Lands Committee and the Deepwater Shrimp Advisory Panel.

Posey and Bonamici are members of the House Science Committee which is working on legislation to reauthorize research and development activities on harmful algal blooms and hypoxia to help better understand the causes of superblooms. The briefing was the Caucus's 5th successful event to educate Congress on the importance of our national estuaries.  

The next Congressional Estuary Caucus briefing will take place on May 24th and will examine the restoration effort in the Puget Sound in Washington state. Like many of the nation's estuaries, Puget Sound has experienced a number of health challenges which have resulted in a decline in fish, marine bird, porpoise and orca populations.