Red Tide Status Update for March 5, 2021

Current Conditions
The red tide organism, Karenia brevis, persists in Southwest Florida. Over the past week, K. brevis was detected in 53 samples at background to medium concentrations. Bloom concentrations (>100,000 cells/liter) were observed in three samples from Charlotte County and seven samples from Lee County. Recent satellite imagery (3/2; NOAA, USF) indicated the presence of chlorophyll patches along and/or offshore of Charlotte, Lee, Collier, and Monroe counties.

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

Fish kills suspected to be related to red tide were reported over the past week in Charlotte County. For more details, please visit: https://myfwc.com/research/saltwater/health/fish-kills-hotline/.

Respiratory irritation was reported over the past week in Southwest Florida in Sarasota, Charlotte, Lee, and Collier counties. Additional details are provided in the Southwest Coast report and for current information, please visit: https://visitbeaches.org/.

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

The next complete status report will be issued on Friday, March 12^th. 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.