Red tide update from FWC shows medium concentrations in Sarasota County

Francesco Abbruzzino, The Uncensored Report, LLC

FWC Update

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 98 samples. Bloom concentrations (>100,000 cells/liter) were observed in 37 samples: one sample from Pasco County, nine samples from Pinellas County, 18 samples from Hillsborough County, eight samples from Manatee County, and one sample from Sarasota County. Additional details are provided below.

In Southwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at background to high concentrations in Pinellas County, very low to high concentrations in Hillsborough County, very low to medium concentrations in or offshore of Manatee County, background to medium concentrations in Sarasota County, background to low concentrations in Lee County, and very low concentrations in Collier County.
In Northwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at background concentrations in Bay County, and low to medium concentrations in Pasco County.
Along the Florida East Coast over the past week, K. brevis was not observed.

In Northwest and Southwest Florida over the past week, fish kills suspected to be related to red tide were reported in Pasco, Pinellas, and Hillsborough counties. 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 and Sarasota counties. Additional details are provided in the Southwest Coast report and for current information, please visit: https://visitbeaches.org/.

Forecasts by the USF-FWC Collaboration for Prediction of Red Tides for Pinellas to northern Monroe counties predict net northwestern movement of surface waters and net southeastern transport of subsurface waters in most coastal areas over the next four 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, July 2^nd. 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.