Mark Perry of Stuart, Florida is one of the voices advocating for our waterways to the Florida legislature and agencies, for both environmental and economic reasons.
MP: I’m Mark Perry. I’m the executive director at Florida Oceanographic Society.
It’s a non-profit that his own father helped found in the 1960s. We visit him at their campus, located along A1A in Stuart.
MP: Our mission is our research, our education and our advocacy. My father was one of the founding members in 1964 and so I grew up in this area back then.
In the 1970’s, Perry began writing grants and eventually became the executive director.
MP: So, 41 years I’ve been the executive director.
We ask him about the campus.
MP: We’re 57 acres. Goes from A1A all the way back to the Indian River Lagoon.
Here, scientists grow sea grass and oysters to restore and replenish the Indian River Lagoon. They research water quality. And there is a hands-on Florida waterway theme park of sorts, with regional aquariums, touch tanks, nature trails, and a…
MP: …750,000-gallon big game fish lagoon.
The hope is to inspire environmental stewardship of Florida’s coastal ecosystems. The idea is: you come and learn; you leave and start taking care.
An appeal to the heart for sure. Perry also appeals to the wallet.
MP: So goes the water, so goes our economy. You may not think you’re about the environment, but you should be if it’s about Florida, because Florida is all about the water. People are not going to want to live on a polluted water body. They’re going to move away and they’re not going to support the businesses and things around here.
Perry co-chairs the Everglades Coalition, which is made up of…
MP: …62 organizations like Audubon, Sierra Club, Florida Oceanographic. We’ve been meeting for 35 years now. We’re trying to have those flows redirected from Lake Okeechobee south to the everglades that needs it in Florida Bay and not being discharged to the coast, to these estuaries…
He also works with the Stuart area River Coalition formed in 1998 and made up of 105 organizations.
MP: It’s not just environmental groups. This is composed of realtors’ associations, and builders’ associations and chambers of commerce because they all realize it’s important to the economy as well as the environment.
We ask for a tour of the Coastal Center.
MP: Yeah, we’ll go take a look and see!
We enter a large room filled with aquariums. A young family is on a guided tour.
Guide: It’s a brittle star, so it’s a sea star like the one over there, but its arms can pop off. Like a snake tail and then the animal can grow it back.
There’s a tank of breeding sea horses…
Guide: We have a stone crab if you look back in there under the rock and down….
Outside are tanks where you can touch sting rays, sea snails, horseshoe crabs, sea urchins…
MP: I think we have hermit crabs over here.
We walk over to the sea grass nurseries. Perry says sea grass is a food source for manatees and sea turtles, and it is vital habitat…
MP: …for over hundreds and hundreds of species of little crabs and shrimp and larval fish. If you don’t have the juvenile fish, you don’t have the big fish! Right? So, we need to provide that support for the whole food chain.
He says the oyster beds also provide habitat for small fish and creatures, just like sea grass does, plus they actually…
MP: …filter about 50 gallons of water a day per oyster. So, all that filtration going on really cleans up the estuary and the water.
Later this year, they’ll be opening their new 26,000 square foot Ocean Eco Center – filled with brand-new exhibits. Learn more by following this link: https://www.floridaocean.org/coastal-center