FWC Red Tide Status Update for August 20, 2021

Francesco Abbruzzino, The Uncensored Report, LLC

FWC

Current Conditions
A patchy bloom of the red tide organism, Karenia brevis, persists on the Florida Gulf Coast. Over the past week, K. brevis was detected in 118 samples. Bloom concentrations (>100,000 cells/liter) were observed in 55 samples: two offshore of Hernando County, 13 from and offshore of Pasco County, five from and offshore of Pinellas County, one offshore of Manatee County, 24 from and offshore of Sarasota County, six from and offshore of Charlotte County, and four from 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 or offshore of Pinellas County, background to medium concentrations in or offshore of Manatee County, background to high concentrations in or offshore of Sarasota County, medium to high concentrations in or offshore of Charlotte County, and background to medium concentrations in or offshore of Lee County.
In Northwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at very low to medium concentrations offshore of Hernando County and background 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 on Florida’s Gulf Coast offshore of Citrus, Hernando, and Pasco counties, and 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 on Florida’s Gulf Coast in Pasco, Pinellas, Manatee, 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 net southern transport of coastal surface waters and net southeastern movement 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, August 27^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.