Red Tide Mid-Week Update for August 18, 2021

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 K. brevis was detected in 99 samples. Bloom concentrations (>100,000 cells/liter) were observed in 47 samples: two from offshore of Hernando County, 13 from and offshore of Pasco County, five from and offshore of Pinellas County, one offshore of Hillsborough County, 21 from Sarasota County, one from Charlotte County, and four from and offshore of Lee County. K. brevis was also detected in three samples from Duval County on the Florida East Coast, but not at bloom levels. 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 17 samples), background to medium concentrations offshore of Hillsborough County (in four samples), background to low concentrations in Manatee County (in six samples), background to high concentrations in Sarasota County (in 34 samples), low to medium concentrations in Charlotte County (in two samples), and background to medium concentrations in and offshore of Lee County (in seven samples). Samples collected from or offshore of Collier County did not contain K. brevis.
In Northwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at very low to medium concentrations offshore of Hernando County (in six samples) and background to high concentrations in and offshore of Pasco County (in 23 samples). Samples collected from or offshore of Santa Rosa, Walton, Bay, Gulf, Franklin, Wakulla, and Levy counties did not contain K. brevis.
Along the Florida East Coast over the past week, K. brevis was observed at background to very low concentrations in Duval County (in three samples). Samples collected from Nassau, St. Johns, Volusia, Brevard, or Palm Beach counties did not contain K. brevis.

Fish kills suspected to be related to red tide were reported along Florida’s Gulf Coast in Hernando, Pasco, 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 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 variable transport of surface waters and net southeastern 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, August 20^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.