Red Tide Status 10.14.21

Francesco Abbruzzino, The Uncensored Report, LLC

via FWC

Current Conditions
A patchy bloom of the red tide organism, Karenia brevis, persists along Florida’s Gulf coast, where cells were detected in 116 samples over the past week. Bloom concentrations (>100,000 cells/liter) were observed in 50 samples: four from Franklin County, two from offshore of Levy County, 12 from and offshore of Pinellas County, 12 from Manatee County, 19 from Sarasota County, and one from Charlotte 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 (in 20 samples), very low to high concentrations in Manatee County (in 18 samples), low to high concentrations in Sarasota County (in 26 samples), low to high concentrations in Charlotte County (in three samples), and background to low concentrations in and offshore of Lee County (in four samples). Samples collected from or offshore of Hillsborough, Collier, and Monroe counties did not contain K. brevis.
In Northwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at very low concentrations in Escambia County (in one sample), very low concentrations in Okaloosa County (in two samples), background and very low concentrations in Walton County (in two samples), background to low concentrations in Bay County (in four samples), background to low concentrations in Gulf County (in five samples), background to medium concentrations in Franklin County (in 14 samples), background to medium concentrations in and offshore of Levy County (in 14 samples), very low concentrations offshore of Hernando County (in one sample), and low concentrations in Pasco County (in two samples). Samples collected from or offshore of Wakulla and Dixie counties did not contain K. brevis.
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 on the Florida Gulf Coast in and/or offshore of Gulf, Franklin, Taylor, 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 on the Florida Gulf Coast in Franklin, Pinellas, Manatee, Sarasota, 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 Okaloosa to northern Monroe counties predict net northwestern/western transport of surface waters and minimal net transport of subsurface waters in most areas 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, October 15^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.