Red Tide Status Update for September 10, 2021

Current Conditions
A patchy bloom of the red tide organism, Karenia brevis, persists along Florida’s Gulf Coast. Over the past week, K. brevis was detected in 63 samples. Bloom concentrations (>100,000 cells/liter) were observed in 31 samples: three offshore of Hernando County, five in and offshore of Pasco County, 16 in and offshore of Pinellas County, four from Charlotte County, and three in and offshore of Lee County. Additional details are provided below.

• In Southwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at background to high concentrations in and offshore of Pinellas County, background concentrations in Sarasota County, very low to high concentrations in Charlotte County, and background to medium concentrations in and offshore of Lee County.
• In Northwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at background concentrations in Bay County, background concentrations in Gulf County, background to medium concentrations offshore of Hernando County, and very low to high concentrations in and offshore of Pasco County.
• 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 in Southwest Florida in Pinellas, Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte, and Lee counties over the past week. For more details, please visit: https://myfwc.com/research/saltwater/health/fish-kills-hotline/.

Respiratory irritation suspected to be related to red tide was reported over the past week in Southwest Florida in Pinellas, Sarasota, Charlotte, and Lee counties. For recent and current information at individual beaches, please visit https://visitbeaches.org/ and for forecasts that use FWC and partner data, please visit https://habforecast.gcoos.org/.

Forecasts by the USF-FWC Collaboration for Prediction of Red Tides for Pinellas to northern Monroe counties predict varying surface and subsurface transport over the next 3.5 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, September 17^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.