⚠️(RED TIDE – MARCH 16)⚠️ Great News!! Red tide has dramatically improved over the past week.
BOTTOM LINE:
➡️ The bloom that has plagued parts of Pinellas, Manatee, & Sarasota County has mostly dissipated over the past week.
➡️ Isolated areas of slight respiratory irritation are still possible for sensitive individuals.
➡️ Karenia brevis (aka red tide) is increasing near Sanibel & Fort Myers.
LATEST WATER SAMPLES:
➡️ Pinellas County: Only very low to low levels of karenia brevis. Last week Clearwater Beach was experiencing high levels of k. brev & considerable fish kill. At the current low levels, it's possible that sensitive individuals could experience slight respiratory irritation. These levels are not high enough to kill fish. Use your own discretion, but I don't have a problem swimming in k. brev at concentrations this low. Though, as always, if you see dead fish or experience a cough, avoid the water.
➡️ Manatee & Sarasota Counties: Only background to very low concentrations of karenia brevis. Area beaches should be fine for beach going (and even swimming), though keep in mind that considerable fish kill occurred over previous weeks.
➡️ Charlotte, Lee, & Collier Counties: The latest water samples submitted to the FWC only show low levels of karenia brevis. Though, many of these samples are reaching a week old. I wouldn't be surprised if samples in the coming days show higher concentrations, especially from Sanibel down to Naples.
OUTLOOK:
➡️ I am not surprised that conditions have improved over the past week. The bloom that the Gulf Coast has been experiencing was much more narrow, & easier to dissipate, than some previous red tide events.
➡️ I think it's too early to say we're out of the woods for this spring. While, this improvement in water quality is great news, we are moving into warmer months & there are still elevated nutrients in coastal waters. Stay tuned.
RESOURCES:
➡️ FWC Red Tide: bit.ly/3JIBhfJ
➡️ Pinellas County Monitoring (I like this page because Pinellas County performs water sampling much more frequent than just the FWC): bit.ly/3Lv5DVq
➡️ Beach Conditions from MOTE (Useful page, but runs very slowly during daylight hours due to web traffic): bit.ly/3lmvnIS
➡️ GCOOS HAB Monitoring (Forecast for respiratory irritation): bit.ly/3FqYCRK