Conservation

Captains For Clean Water

April 15, 2022

Captains For Clean Water was organized in 2016 as a grassroots 501(c)3 nonprofit organization working to restore and protect Florida’s delicate water resources. Over the years, failing water management policies and practices piled up incalculable economic and environmental losses that harmed all Floridians. With no relief in sight, a small group of fishing guides stood up and made their voices heard.

Captains For Clean Water (“Captains”) was founded to reverse the harmful results stemming from empty governmental rhetoric, an industry-serving water management system, and the unintended economic and environmental consequences those short-sighted decisions triggered.

WHAT THEY DO

Through awareness, education, outreach, and advocacy, Captains works to advance science-based solutions to water quality issues. They engage and educate massive numbers of people, mobilize them to take action and demand change, and advocate for legislation and policies that improve and protect water quality. Their small team of passionate individuals unites anglers, fishing guides, residents, businesses, industries, government agencies, policymakers, conservation groups, and thousands of supporters to carry out this shared mission.

Chris Wittman observing Toxic Blue Green Algae Bloom

AREAS OF FOCUS

Captains has organized its efforts around three highly focused and fundamental strategies where it feels it can have significant influence and impact on Florida’s water quality:

Operations, or how water is managed. When and why infrastructure is utilized to clean and convey freshwater. Has limitations depending on available infrastructure.
Infrastructure. This includes advancing Everglades restoration and ensuring state and federal funding is allocated to build critical projects, such as the EAA Reservoir, so further operational progress will be possible.
Nutrient Pollution. Spreading education and awareness on how nutrient pollution impacts waterways.

Tarpon swimming along Florida Gulf Coast Noah Miller

CAPTAINS IMPACT & BIG WINS

2021: Securing a favorable lake operations plan — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers undertook a multi-year process to re-write the rulebook that dictates lake operations for the next decade. Captains was intimately involved in the process with one goal: to influence the outcome of the Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual (LOSOM) so that more water flows south to the Everglades and Florida Bay and that damaging flows to the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie estuaries are minimized. Captains united stakeholders and supporters, generating widespread public engagement through education and awareness campaigns, call-to-action opportunities (mobilizing 26K supporters email the Corps), outdoor industry involvement, and also hosting Colonel Andrew Kelly on multiple occasions. Captains efforts were integral in securing an equitable, new plan that is significantly better than the status quo, reducing harmful flows to the northern estuaries and sending more than three times more water south.

2020: Derailing attempts by special interests to hijack LOSOM — For decades, the industrial sugar industry has had a stranglehold on lake management to guarantee water irrigation for their crops at the expense of all other users. As the new LOSOM threatened their control, Big Sugar made numerous attempts to influence the outcome and roadblock progress. In January, sugar lobbyists were planted on the LOSOM Project Delivery Team (PDT). Captains and others exposed the conflict of interest and sent letters to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, ultimately resulting in their removal. A few months later during the early confusion of the Covid-19 pandemic, Big Sugar attempted to sneak language into the Water Resources Development Act of 2020 that would handcuff water managers on when and where they can move water. Together with dozens of conservation groups, Captains sent a letter to Congress urging them to reject their efforts. Captains launched an awareness campaign to publicly expose the effort and mobilized 6K supporters to email Congress. The harmful language was successfully halted and WRDA 2020 was passed with added protections and beneficial provisions.

2019: Resignations of corrupt water management board — Shortly after Ron DeSantis won the gubernatorial primary, the sugar industry attempted to quietly extend leases on the land needed to construct the EAA Reservoir and STA. Captains launched a massive awareness campaign (and this video) to expose the scheme, rally the public, and demand fixing it. As a result of public pressure, Governor DeSantis called for resignations of the South Florida Water Management District governing board and appointed new members that weren’t conflicted, including Chauncey Goss, a Captains board member, as its new Chairman.

2019: Influencing a shift in political priorities to clean water and public interest —Historically in Florida politics, policymakers and water managers were unduly influenced by special interests usually to the detriment of all other stakeholders. With the growing influence of Captains and their spotlight on water quality, political changes intended to re-prioritize Florida’s natural resources were enacted by Governor Ron DeSantis who campaigned on the promise to fix Florida’s water issues. Two days into office, Governor DeSantis signed Executive Order 2019-12 committing $2.5 billion toward Everglades restoration and outlining a plan to protect Florida’s environment and water quality. Alongside the governor for this announcement, Captains Executive Director, Capt. Daniel Andrews said, “We are committed to continuing to work closely with Governor DeSantis to fix Florida’s waters. We’ve made it clear to the Governor that the coastal communities and anglers need a seat at the table. Our voices have been ignored for far too long.”

2018: Senate passes Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), authorizing EAA Reservoir — In 2018, Florida experienced a crippling water crisis that lasted for more than a year. Toxic red tide and blue-green algae suffocated the coastlines, threatening human health and causing massive die-offs of fish, marine life, and sea turtles. These issues received national media attention (even instigating a Comedy Central spoof) and distressed Florida’s tourism-based economy. Captains deployed education and awareness campaigns uniting stakeholders to demand change and mobilized over 30K supporters to email their US Senators helping push WRDA 2018 to victory. The Senate passed WRDA, authorizing the EAA Reservoir, the project that will reduce harmful Lake Okeechobee discharges more than any single project in the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP).

2017: Senate Bill 10 passes – Captains’ first major legislative victory. SB10 was passed and signed into law in 2017 authorizing and funding the state’s portion of the EAA Reservoir. After being told SB10 was unlikely to pass, Captains rallied over 35K members and supporters to email policymakers and mobilized hundreds more to work the halls of Florida’s State Capitol in Tallahassee, meeting with the offices of more than 50 Senators and Representatives. These efforts pushed the bill across the finish line.

Rallying the outdoor industry to the frontlines — Historically, the health of Florida’s water was viewed by policymakers as an environmental issue. Captains was the first to illustrate the economic value and quality of life perspective of clean water and healthy estuaries at scale as the lifeblood of Florida’s economy and $85.9 billion tourism industry, including a $33.3 billion fishing and recreational boating industry. Captains recruited legendary anglers, fishing guides, global outdoor brands, and marine manufacturers to advocate alongside them including YETI Coolers, The Orvis Company, Costa Sunglasses, Hell’s Bay Boatworks, SeaDek Marine Products, Pure Fishing Brands, Yellowfin Yachts, and more. This shift sparked a new energy and level of influence that has supercharged their efforts to advance clean water solutions.