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Water temperatures and algal blooms strain lagoon; seagrass recovery mixed, mapping due in 2026
Summary
St. Johns River and South Florida water districts reported higher water temperatures, localized hypoxia, widespread phytoplankton blooms and mixed seagrass recovery across the Indian River Lagoon at the Aug. 22 council meeting; draft aerial seagrass maps are expected January 2026.
At the Indian River Lagoon Council Board meeting on Aug. 22 in Sebastian, St. Johns River Water Management District scientist Lauren Hall and South Florida Water Management District scientist Melanie Parker presented lagoon-wide monitoring results showing elevated water temperatures, site-specific algal blooms and a mixed pattern of seagrass recovery.
Lauren Hall, presenting Northern and Central Lagoon data for the St. Johns River Water Management District, said rainfall during the May–July period was highly variable across the watershed and that freshwater pulses have driven localized phytoplankton blooms. Hall said dissolved oxygen has dropped at times below the hypoxia threshold and that recent low-DO events have produced local mortality. “Over the last week, we’ve actually seen some more of that, and that is when we start to see the animals being impacted and we start seeing some fish kills in localized areas,” Hall said.
Hall reported salinities above 20 parts per…
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