Red Tide Report (August 17, 2018)

A bloom of the Florida red tide organism, Karenia brevis, persists in Southwest Florida and currently extends along ~130 miles of coastline. Observations of >1,000,000 K. brevis cells per liter (“high” concentrations) continue to occur at coastal and inshore sites from Manatee to Collier counties, although cell concentrations decreased in parts of Manatee, Sarasota, Lee, and Collier counties relative to last week. Coastal currents important for transporting cells of K. brevis continue to alternate between predominantly northern or southern flow. K. brevis was observed in Pinellas County (for the second week in a row), and additional sampling there and in Hillsborough County indicated that concentrations were below 100,000 cells per liter in all samples examined. More specific details are provided below and at http://myfwc.com/redtidestatus.

In Southwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at background to low concentrations in Pinellas County, very low concentrations in or offshore of Hillsborough County, background to high concentrations in Manatee County, background to high concentrations in or offshore of Sarasota County, background to high concentrations in or offshore of Charlotte County, background to high concentrations in or offshore of Lee County, and very low to high concentrations in Collier County.

In Northwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at background concentrations in one sample collected from Santa Rosa County.

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

We continue to receive reports of fish kills in Southwest Florida. Over the past week, reports were received for multiple locations in Pinellas, Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte, Lee, and Collier counties. More detailed information is available at http://myfwc.com/fishkill.

Respiratory irritation was reported over the past week in Pinellas County, Manatee County, Sarasota County, Lee County, and Collier County.

Forecasts by the USF-FWC Collaboration for Prediction of Red Tides for Pinellas to northern Monroe counties predict variable movement of surface waters with net northern transport expected close to shore, and net southeastern 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.

Additional information regarding the current status of algal blooms in South Florida is being consolidated and posted on the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s website: https://floridadep.gov/dear/algal-bloom.