Solidarity against dead marine life hopes to get attention of lawmakers

More than 400 people gathered along Fort Myers Beach to show solidarity against dead marine life washing up along Southwest Florida shores, and the need for clean water.

While standing in solidarity in hope of change, a chant rang out along the shore, “What do we want, clean water. When do we want it? Now.”

Dan Allers of Fort Myers Beach wants politicians to hear their voice, “As a community and a state, our representatives have to start listening to us.”

Thousands of people gathered across the state Sunday for the ‘Hands Along the Water’ event, lining up hand in hand to advocate for environmental justice.

“Stuff like this is just destroying it. We’re going to do everything we can to stand up for it,” participant Dean Broadwater said.

Millions of dead marine animals have washed ashore for weeks now – from St. Petersburg around to Stuart, and Floridians say enough is enough.

Brittany Berring is the organizer of the Fort Myers Beach event, and she said they’re not going to stop, “The momentum is going to continue from here until we get noticed, until changes are made.”

In SWFL alone, concerned neighbors took these moments of solidarity Sunday from Marco Island to Englewood.

The organizer of this statewide event, Annie Casais, says the sign of unison speaks volumes, “Everyone is feeling the same way about what’s going on with the water, so really quickly we had people lining up wanting to participate, so it spread.”

And their mission is to stand up for change.

Allers said, “All of the representatives at every level need to step up and do something about it.”