FWC mid-week red tide update 9.8.21

Francesco Abbruzzino, The Uncensored Report, LLC

VIA the FWC

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 48 samples. Bloom concentrations (>100,000 cells/liter) were observed in 19 samples: three offshore of Hernando County, five in and offshore of Pasco County, seven in and offshore of Pinellas County, two from Sarasota County, and two 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 nine samples), background to medium concentrations in Sarasota County (in 16 samples), background to high concentrations in Charlotte County (in five samples), and background to very low concentrations in and offshore of Lee County (in three samples). Samples collected from or offshore of Hillsborough, Manatee, and Collier counites did not contain K. brevis.
In Northwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at background to medium concentrations offshore of Hernando County (in eight samples) and very low to high concentrations in and offshore of Pasco County (in seven samples). Samples collected from or offshore of Santa Rosa, Bay, Franklin, and Levy 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 along and/or offshore of 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 variable coastal 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, September 10^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.