Florida Bay waters used to be crystalline. The Bay now resembles a frothy swimming pool in desperate need of shock treatment.

Conservation groups and Keys guide associations invited Charlie Crist out for a day of fishing on famed Florida Bay, but also to see the potentially disastrous consequences of persistent blue-green algae blooms distressing the area.

The trip would be guided by a flats guide and the State Research Director of Audubon of Florida, Dr. Jerry Lorenz.

“Algae blooms, although at times naturally occurring, have popped up repeatedly in Florida Bay in the past few years and persisted for long periods of time, which is not natural,” says Lorenz.

Wide-spreading blooms have appeared in every basin in central, south and southwestern Florida Bay, reads the letter. Their size, at times, has far exceeded the blooms that occurred during the early 1990s—conservative estimates are over 300 square miles. The bloom was spotted as far out as the reefline off Islamorada and Long Key, and as far south as Vaca Cut in Marathon.

Once clear Florida Bay waters now lose clarity after a few feet.

The letter stresses a day on the water is the best means to see the die-offs of invertebrates, fish and seagrasses firsthand.

“Make no mistake; it’s a genuine and sincere invitation to the Governor to come down to the Keys for a day of fishing,” said Capt. Tad Burke, Commodore of the Florida Keys Fishing Guides Association. “We’ll show him a good time, put him on some fish—but while we’re out there, we’ll also show him the bloom.”

The letter is co-signed by Audubon of Florida, Bonefish and Tarpon Unlimited, The Snook Foundation, various Keys fishing guide associations, and a commercial fishermen’s association.