It's all quiet at the Port Mayaca Lock, but there's quite a bit of algae present.
"It's a mess, it really is," said Terry Cannon at the lock.
Starting Monday, the gates will open and lake water will start heading east. Lake Okeechobee is covered in algae blooms according to recent NOAA satellite images.
While the east coast has been on a discharge hiatus, the west coast has not.
Images along the Caloosahatchee show algae blooms like we saw back in 2016 on the Treasure Coast.
The fear is this will be the St Lucie River's fate.
Ed Stout at South River Outfitters in Martin County hopes the algae stays away. Once the discharges resume he says: "Some have a Christmas vacation we have an algae vacation and we take off every summer."
