MELBOURNE, Fla. — Nearly 200 residents attended a public forum in Melbourne on Tuesday to discuss the Indian River Lagoon’s recent restoration efforts and progress.

During the 8th “Lagoon Straight Talk” event in Brevard County, people learned more about how they can contribute to keeping the lagoon clean from pollution.

While the overall mood at the Eau Gallie Civic Center was positive, supporters of a cleaner Indian River Lagoon said they want to make it clear that there is still work to be done.

While working his first job out of college in 1973, Craig Wallace knew he wanted to retire near the Indian River Lagoon.

Wallace and his wife have lived along the Lagoon for the past eight years.

In 2016, when Wallace and his wife moved in, a massive fish kill invaded the waters of the lagoon, and he said that’s when he decided he wanted to become involved in cleaning it up. 

Since then, in his role as chairman of the board for the Brevard Indian River Lagoon Coalition, he has been trying to educate his community to do the same.

“These are all basically volunteer coordination organizations like we are. We’re an all-volunteer organization, so it’s really just the passion people have for the lagoon that brings them out just to help out,” he said.

Nearly 20 organizations set up tables during Tuesday’s public forum to educate residents on how they can continue assisting with the lagoon cleanup, one person at a time.

“We did a survey a couple of years ago, and we found out that even though everybody in Brevard is paying a half-cent sales tax for this restoration program, only about 30% of the people really knew much of anything about it,” Wallace explained.

That’s why he and other members of these organizations have been taking it upon themselves to educate residents through these Lagoon Straight Talk events. 

In 2016, Brevard County voters approved a half-penny sales tax that pays for the Save Our Indian River Lagoon program.

Since that 10-year program expires in 2026, Wallace said organizations like his need to keep up their momentum.

“Part of why we’re here today is to make sure people are aware that it is still needed. There is still a lot of work that needs to be done in order to try to get it on the 2026 November ballot,” Wallace said.

Another challenge the organizations have encountered is reaching wider audiences.

“A lot of them are new residents, right? People coming for the space industry, people coming to retire. So there’s a lot of people every year that come and they look out at the lagoon and say how beautiful it is, but they don’t know that it could be more beautiful,” said Kontnik, the vice chair of the Brevard Indian River Lagoon Coalition.

He was prompted to get involved in the lagoon's restoration just after a fish kill in 2016.

Brevard County resident Bob Watkins has lived along the Indian River Lagoon for almost 25 years.

He has worked in the eco-tourism industry on the lagoon for the past 22 years after moving down south from Massachusetts.

His support for the lagoon is simple. “I was passionate for the lagoon and the wildlife that’s there, and the beauty of it and the sunsets,” Watkins said.

But he said he hopes to see a greater interest on behalf of the youth when it comes to the cleanup and progress of the Indian River Lagoon.

“We have to find the younger folks to get involved as well,” Watkins said.

The Save Our Lagoon organization announced the completion of 95 community projects since the program began and reported that 96 more are ongoing.

The county expects the half-penny sales tax to generate approximately $586 million over the 10-year span of the program.