Red Tide Status Update for May 14, 2021

Current Conditions
The red tide organism, Karenia brevis, persists in Southwest Florida, where it was detected in 61 samples over the past week. Bloom concentrations (>100,000 cells/liter) were observed in one sample from Hillsborough County, two samples from Charlotte County, six samples from Lee County, and one sample from Collier County. K. brevis was also observed at background concentrations in one sample from Northwest Florida. Additional details are provided below.

• In Southwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at very low concentrations in Pinellas County, very low and medium concentrations offshore of Hillsborough County, background to low concentrations in both Manatee and Sarasota counties, very low to medium concentrations in Charlotte County, background to high concentrations in or offshore of Lee County, very low to high concentrations in Collier County, and background to low concentrations offshore of Monroe County.
• In Northwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at background concentrations in Bay County.
• Along the Florida East Coast over the past week, K. brevis was not observed.

In Southwest Florida, patches of the marine cyanobacterium, Trichodesmium, have recently been reported in offshore, coastal, and nearshore waters. This alga blooms each year, has not been shown to be toxic in Florida’s waters, and often resembles sawdust but can change color as it decomposes. For more information, please see posts on our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/FLHABs) and information about Trichodesmium on our website (https://myfwc.com/research/redtide/general/trichodesmium/). 

Fish kills suspected to be related to red tide were reported over the past week in Charlotte, Lee, and Collier counties. 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 Lee and Collier counties. 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 variable surface currents with net western movement and eastern net transport of subsurface waters in most areas over the next four days.

FWC-FWRI is working closely with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) and other partners on the Piney Point response effort. Status updates and results are posted on the Protecting Florida Together website  (https://protectingfloridatogether.gov/PineyPointUpdate) and on the Tampa Bay Estuary Program website (https://shiny.tbep.org/piney-point/).

The next complete status report will be issued on Friday, May 21^st. 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.