Midweek Red Tide Status Update (October 17, 2018)

Current Conditions
Bloom concentrations of the Florida red tide organism, Karenia brevis, persist on Florida’s Southwest, Northwest, and East coasts. Patchiness was observed in each region. Additional details are provided below.

• Over the past week in Southwest Florida, patchy concentrations of K. brevis were observed from Pinellas to Monroe counties. Relative to last week, cell concentrations were similar in most areas but increased in parts of Monroe County, and decreased in parts of Manatee County. Observations of >1,000,000 K. brevis cells per liter (“high” concentrations) occurred at one site each in Pinellas and Sarasota counties; medium concentrations of K. brevis also occurred only in these counties.  
• In Northwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed in or offshore of Escambia, Santa Rosa, and Okaloosa Counties, with “medium” concentrations occurring in Okaloosa and Santa Rosa counties.
• On the East Coast over the past week, observations of K. brevis spanned Brevard to Miami-Dade counties. “High” concentrations were observed at one site in Indian River County, and “medium” concentrations occurred in Indian River and Broward counties. Relative to last week, cell concentrations increased in Indian River County and decreased in parts of St. Lucie, Martin, Palm Beach, and Miami-Dade counties.

Fish Kills
In Southwest Florida, reports of fish kills were received for Pinellas and Sarasota counties. In Northwest Florida, reports of fish kills were received for Okaloosa and Pasco counties. Along the East Coast of Florida, reports of fish kills were received for Brevard, Indian River, Palm Beach and Broward counties.

Respiratory Irritation
Respiratory irritation was reported over the past week in Southwest Florida (in Pinellas, Manatee, Sarasota, Lee, and Collier counties), Northwest Florida (in Escambia and Okaloosa counties), and the East Coast (in Brevard and Indian River counties).

Forecast
Forecasts by the USF-FWC Collaboration for Prediction of Red Tides for Pinellas to southern Monroe counties predict net northwestern transport of surface waters and southeastern movement of subsurface waters over the next three days. Three-day forecasts for Northwest Florida predict net western transport of surface waters and northeastern movement of subsurface waters from Escambia to western Gulf counties.

The next complete red tide status report will be posted on Friday, October 19th.

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.