Red Tide Report For 10.6.21

 

 

Red Tide Report For 10.6.21

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 cells were detected in 122 samples over the past week. Bloom concentrations (>100,000 cells/liter) were observed in 37 samples: two from Franklin County, one from offshore of Dixie County, six from and offshore of Pasco County, 14 from and offshore of Pinellas County, three from Manatee County, 10 from Sarasota County and one from offshore of 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 24 samples), background to low concentrations in Hillsborough County (in 4 samples), background to medium concentrations in Manatee County (in 24 samples), background to high concentrations in and offshore of Sarasota County (in 27 samples), background to medium concentrations in and offshore of Charlotte County (in seven samples), and background to low concentrations in and offshore of Lee County (in 5 samples). Samples collected from or offshore of Collier and Monroe counties did not contain K. brevis.
• In Northwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at background to low concentrations in Okaloosa County (in 5 samples), low concentrations in Walton County (in two samples), background to medium concentrations in Franklin County (in three samples), very low to medium concentrations offshore of Dixie County (in three samples), background to low concentrations in and offshore of Levy County (in seven samples) and background to high concentrations in and offshore of Pasco County (in 11 samples). Samples collected from Escambia and Bay 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 on the Florida Gulf Coast in or offshore of Franklin, Dixie, Levy, Citrus, Hernando, 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 the Florida Gulf Coast in Franklin, Pinellas, Manatee and Sarasota 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 Franklin to Levy counties predict net western transport of surface waters and minimal net transport of subsurface waters over the next 3.5 days. Forecasts for Pasco to northern Monroe counties predict variable movement of surface waters and southeastern transport of subsurface waters in most areas.

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/).