Red Tide Status Update for October 11, 2019

Current Conditions
The red tide organism, Karenia brevis, was observed at bloom concentrations in Southwest Florida and at background concentrations in Northwest 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 Manatee and Sarasota counties, background to medium concentrations in and/or offshore of Lee County, and background to high concentrations in Collier County.
• In Northwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at background concentrations in Gulf County.
• Along the Florida East Coast over the past week, K. brevis was not observed.

In Southwest Florida over the past week, fish kill reports were received for one location in Sarasota County and several locations in Collier County (please see https://myfwc.com/research/saltwater/health/fish-kills-hotline).

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

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

A midweek status update will be available on Wednesday, October 16^th and the next complete status report will be issued on Friday, October 18^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.