Monday, March 19, 2018

Florida: Red Tide Continues in Southwest Florida Waters

A bloom of the Florida red tide organism, Karenia brevis, persists in Southwest Florida.

In Southwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at medium to high concentrations in eight samples collected from Sarasota County, background to high concentrations in eight samples collected from Charlotte County, background to medium concentrations in 18 samples collected from Lee County, very low to high concentrations in 18 samples collected from or offshore of Collier County, and background to very low concentrations in four samples collected offshore of Monroe County.

Additional samples collected throughout Florida over the past week did not contain K. brevis.

Over the past week, fish kills were reported in the following Southwest Florida counties: Sarasota (3/12 at Manasota Beach), Charlotte (3/14 – 3/15 near Placida Harbor), Lee (3/9 – 3/10 at Bonita Beach, 3/15 – 3/16 at Gasparilla Island Range Light), and Collier (3/9 – 3/15 at Barefoot Beach, 3/9 and 3/14 at Marco Island, 3/12 at Residents’ Beach, 3/9 and 3/15 at Vanderbilt Beach). Respiratory irritation was reported over the past week in Sarasota (3/9 – 3/16 at Manasota Beach, 3/9 at Nokomis and Venice North Jetty, 3/9 and 3/15 – 3/16 at Venice Beach), Lee (3/9 and 3/13 at Bonita Beach, 3/11 at Bowman’s Beach and Causeway Islands, 3/9 at Newton Park, 3/14 – 3/16 at Gasparilla Island), and Collier (3/9 – 3/10 at Barefoot Beach, 3/12 at Residents’ Beach, 3/9 at Seagate Beach, 3/9 and 3/12 at South Marco Beach, 3/9 and 3/12 – 3/15 at Vanderbilt Beach) counties.

Forecasts by the USF-FWC Collaboration for Prediction of Red Tides for Pinellas to Monroe counties predict net southern transport of surface waters and southern, onshore transport of subsurface waters over the next three days.

This information, including maps and reports with additional details, is also available on the FWRI Red Tide website. The website also provides links to additional information related to the topic of Florida red tide including satellite imagery, experimental red tide forecasts, shellfish harvesting areas, the FWC Fish Kill Hotline, the Florida Poison Information Center (to report human health effects related to exposure to red tide), and other wildlife related hotlines.

To learn more about various organisms that have been known to cause algal blooms in Florida waters, see the FWRI Red Tide Flickr page. Archived status maps can also be found on Flickr.       

The FWRI HAB group in conjunction with Mote Marine Laboratory now have a Facebook page.  Please like our page and learn interesting facts concerning red tide and other harmful algal blooms in Florida.