Red Tide Status Update for March 8, 2019

Current Conditions
The red tide organism, Karenia brevis, was observed at background concentrations in Southwest Florida over the past week. Additional details are provided below.

• In Southwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at background concentrations in one sample collected offshore of Hillsborough County and in one sample collected offshore of Lee County.
• In Northwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was not observed.
• Along the Florida East Coast over the past week, K. brevis was not observed

No fish kills suspected to be related to red tide were reported over the past week (please see https://myfwc.com/research/saltwater/health/fish-kills-hotline).

Respiratory irritation was reported over the past week in Southwest Florida in Lee County.

Forecasts by the USF-FWC Collaboration for Prediction of Red Tides for Pinellas to northern Monroe counties predict net northwestern transport of surface waters and southeastern movement of subsurface waters in most areas over the next four days.

The next complete status report will be issued on Friday, March 15^th. Please check our daily sampling map, which can be accessed via the online status report on our Red Tide Current Status page.

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.