Spraying chemicals can be dangerous to the environment in many ways. But for Floridians, they can contribute to harmful algae blooms and damaging releases along the coast.
There are other ways to remove invasive plant species that may not require chemical spraying. James Douglass, an environmental scientist at Florida Gulf Coast University says the other methods could have several benefits and chemical spraying is actually the worst way to solve the problem.
Douglass agrees that other methods create a win-win for everyone. “It takes that rotting material out of the water and actually uses some of the materials from those aquatic weeds as fertilizer and return nutrients to the land where they’re needed instead of having them cause algae blooms in the water,” he said. An aquatic weed harvester not only opens waterways for navigation, but it is very effective in removing excess plant material.