The Diving Botanist
Thorhaug T and Thorhaug A. The Diving Botanist
The bottom of Biscayne Bay could be considered the source of some of the world's most valuable land. From that bottom, not too many years ago, emerged the fill for some of the most publicized, most fabulous, most expensive real estate anywhere--Miami Beach. But Biscayne Bay itself, with its blue, tropical waters, was without fame or publicity until one Richard Nixon selected its now illustrious Key Biscayne for his summer White House. Now Biscayne Bay, and particularly its invaluable bottom, have recently been in the headlines for quite another reason: an ecological dispute involving the currently controversial subjects of atomic power and thermal pollution. A booming tourist traffic, coupled with a tremendous influx of new residents and· industry, has sent the area's demands for power spiraling. To meet these needs, two large fossil-fuel plants are in operation and two atomic generators (760,000 kilowatt) are under construction, eventually all would draw cooling water from Biscayne Bay; returning it to the Bay at elevated temperatures. The problem is evident: would the normal ·processes and balance of marine life in Biscayne Bay be unfavorably affected by the heated water? If so, would damage be confined to a limited area, or is there likelihood for it to expand over extensive areas of the bay? Perhaps even to adjoining shore regions? The problem is complex, involving as it do.es the highly complicated environment of a relatively shallow tropical estuary. But in seeking help for answers to the question, it was not necessary to look far. For the waters of Biscayne Bay also lap at the docks of a prestigious marine institute, the University of Miami's School of Marin~ and Atmospheric Science, unsurpassed for its work in tropical waters. The institute's scientists who were called in began a search for whatever pertinent data existed.