Red Tide Status Update for December 27, 2019

Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission sent this bulletin at 12/27/2019 02:55 PM EST

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

(Having trouble viewing this email? View it as a Web page.)

Current Conditions
The red tide organism, Karenia brevis, was observed at background concentrations in one sample from 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 Sarasota 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).

No reports of respiratory irritation suspected to be related to red tide were received over the past week.

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

Due to the holiday next week, the next status report will be issued on Friday, January 3^rd. Please check our daily sampling map, which can be accessed via the online status report on our Red Tide Current Status page. For more information on algal blooms and water quality, please visit Protecting Florida Together.

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.