MELBOURNE, Fla. — The annual Indian River Lagoon report card came out Monday – and results are mixed along the 156-mile area in Brevard County.

This lead to Marine Resource Council (MRC) scientists to not give the lagoon’s health a grade this year.

Instead, they used their data collected to provide an assessment on five areas of the lagoon throughout the county.

Some did better, some did worse.

The MRC used volunteers information to assemble the report card, including data from Jose Hixon who has volunteered with the council for 6 years.

He takes the time to help out the struggling river waterway by gathering data on its health.

“I live on the water, and it’s something I can do in about 45 minutes and contribute,” Hixon said.

Executive Director Dr. Laura Wilson says the team did it digitally this year, and not the traditional paper with maps.

“So we turned in into a digital dashboard, and while we were at it, we changed the way we are accessing. It’s actually more of an Indian River Lagoon assessment,” says Dr. Wilson.

Scientists divided up the central lagoon into five sub basins, and looked at water quality, the amount of harmful algal blooms, wastewater spills into the water and seagrass coverage.

That info was used as metrics to see how each area was doing compared to previous years.

“It helps us see where we are seeing improvements, and where we are not seeing improvements, and hopefully that will help us to determine restoration plans moving forward,” says Dr. Wilson.

The Mosquito Lagoon’s overall health is good.

But going south — the four other basins rate okay to poor.

“It really helps us figure out those questions to ask, so we can find those answers,” says Dr. Wilson.

Hixon says he’ll keep wading in the water to test, with the hope one day he won’t have to anymore.

“We’re fighting the good fight,” he says.

MRC also says there were no discharges from Lake Okeechobee and no direct hits by hurricanes this year.

It helped keep algae blooms down, helped seagrass growth and water quality.