BBAP Comes to the Rescue for NOAA

Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserve’s (BBAP) water quality team was able to lend a hand during the federal shutdown to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the University of Miami by taking the Atlantic Oceanographic & Meteorological Lab’s (AOML) water quality team to complete their October sample run. This monitoring effort includes sample sites in the bay and rivers entering North Biscayne Bay, grouping around Government Cut inlet, samples along the reef line such as at Emerald Reef and finally a sample group near the Miami-Dade County treated sewage outfall (where a surprising number of fishing boats were observed) from the Central District Wastewater Treatment Plant located on Virginia Key. The team at NOAA AOML records field parameters using secchi disks and YSI EXO2 dataloggers as well as collects water samples to run nutrient analysis and bacteria DNA sequencing from both surface and bottom at all sites, the deepest being 190 ft. This is in tandem with a similar monitoring effort run at the beginning half of each month by Nova Southeastern University, Florida’s Coral Reef Coordination Team and DEP.