House Bill 4409
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Florida House of Representatives - 1998 HB 4409
By Representatives Bradley and Carlton
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to red tide research and
3 mitigation; requiring the Secretary of
4 Environmental Protection to create the Red Tide
5 Study Committee; providing for committee
6 membership and duties; requiring an interim
7 report and a final report to the Legislature;
8 requiring the Mote Marine Laboratory to
9 undertake a project; providing project goals;
10 providing legislative intent; providing duties
11 of the marine laboratory; requiring the marine
12 laboratory to consult with the study committee;
13 providing an appropriation; providing an
14 effective date.
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16 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
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18 Section 1. (1) The Secretary of Environmental
19 Protection shall create the Red Tide Study Committee and shall
20 appoint to the committee scientists, engineers, and members of
21 citizen groups. The study committee shall determine
22 appropriate studies and make recommendations for using funds
23 provided under this act for red tide control and mitigation.
24 The committee shall present an interim report, including its
25 recommendations, to the Legislature by January 30, 1999, and
26 shall submit a final report to the Legislature by June 30,
27 1999.
28 (2) The Red Tide Study Committee shall:
29 (a) Review the status and adequacy of information for
30 monitoring physical, chemical, and biological factors
31 affecting red tide development on the west Florida shelf;
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Florida House of Representatives - 1998 HB 4409
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1 (b) Assess the capabilities of existing marine
2 research facilities, both private and public, to provide the
3 resources required for processing, interpreting, and applying
4 data to red tide detection and prediction; and
5 (c) Develop recommendations that can be implemented by
6 state and local governments to control and mitigate the
7 effects of red tide.
8 Section 2. (1)(a) The Mote Marine Laboratory shall
9 undertake a project designed to increase the knowledge of
10 factors that control red tide blooms and to provide a basis
11 for early detection of factors precipitating red tides; for
12 accurate prediction of the extent and seriousness of red
13 tides; and for mounting successful efforts to control, or
14 mitigate the effects of, red tides.
15 (b) The Legislature intends that this project address
16 areas that are not adequately covered in the cooperative
17 program known as Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal
18 Booms (ECOHAB), which Mote Marine Laboratory has recently
19 undertaken with the Department of Environmental Protection,
20 the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and the
21 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, as well as
22 scientists from several universities and other federal
23 agencies.
24 (c) The goal of this project is to produce an
25 integrated detection and prediction network for monitoring and
26 responding to the development and movement of red tide blooms
27 on the Florida shelf. The further goal is that applications of
28 this interactive system will allow resource managers to assess
29 the potential for public health and economic damage from a
30 given bloom and to mount control or mitigation efforts, or
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Florida House of Representatives - 1998 HB 4409
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1 both, at specific sites along the west Florida shelf and
2 coastal regions.
3 (2) In order to perform the project authorized in
4 subsection (1), Mote Marine Laboratory shall:
5 (a) Acquire, if necessary, and use facilities and
6 instrumentation that are specifically designed for monitoring
7 physical, chemical, and biological factors that affect red
8 tide development on the west Florida shelf;
9 (b) Acquire, if necessary, and use other resources as
10 required for processing, interpreting, and applying to red
11 tide detection and prediction the data obtained under
12 paragraph (a); and
13 (c) Establish laboratory facilities for evaluating new
14 methodologies for red tide control and mitigation.
15 (3) In conducting this project, the project directors
16 shall consult with the Red Tide Study Committee and shall give
17 due consideration to the committee's recommendations.
18 Section 3. There is appropriated from the General
19 Revenue Fund to the Department of Environmental Protection for
20 fiscal year 1998-1999 the sum of $3 million to carry out the
21 purposes of this act. Of these funds, up to $300,000 shall be
22 used by the Red Tide Study Committee to direct a study of the
23 economic impact of typical financial losses associated with
24 red tide bloom in Florida using the blooms that occurred in
25 1995-1996 as a model for the study. The economic impact study
26 must be designed in cooperation with and with the use of
27 federal sea grant program funds, if feasible. The remaining
28 funds must be used for activities of the Mote Marine
29 Laboratory which are authorized by section 2 of this act and
30 which focus specifically on the control and mitigation of red
31 tide.
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Florida House of Representatives - 1998 HB 4409
547-131-98
1 Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1 of the
2 year in which enacted.
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5 SENATE SUMMARY
6 Requires the Secretary of Environmental Protection to
create the Red Tide Study Committee to study red tides
7 and make recommendations for their control and
mitigation. Requires the committee to submit to the
8 Legislature an interim report and a final report.
Requires the Mote Marine Laboratory to undertake a
9 project designed to increase knowledge that will provide
a basis for detecting and controlling or mitigating the
10 effects of red tides. Provides for project goals and
procedures. Requires the marine laboratory to consult
11 with the study committee. Provides an appropriation.
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