FWC Current Red Tide Conditions 8.27.21

A patchy bloom of the red tide organism, Karenia brevis, persists in Southwest Florida, where K. brevis was detected in 76 samples over the past week. Bloom concentrations (>100,000 cells/liter) were observed in 19 samples: four from and offshore of Pinellas County, eight from Sarasota County, one from Charlotte County, and six from and offshore of Lee County. Additional details are provided below.

In Southwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at very low to medium concentrations in and offshore of Pinellas County, very low to low concentrations in Hillsborough County, very low to low concentrations in and offshore of Manatee County, background to high concentrations in Sarasota County, background and high concentrations in Charlotte County, and background to medium concentrations in and offshore of Lee County.

In Northwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at background to low concentrations offshore of both Hernando and Pasco counties.

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 Florida’s Gulf Coast in Citrus, Hernando, Pinellas, Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte, and Lee counties over the past week. For more details, please visit: https://myfwc.com/…/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 Hernando, 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 northwestern transport of surface waters and net southeastern movement of coastal 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 3rd. 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.