A bloom of the red tide organism, Karenia brevis, persists on the Florida Gulf Coast. Patchy bloom conditions also persist in Tampa Bay but have improved relative to last week and we are continuing enhanced monitoring in this and surrounding areas.
Over the past week, K. brevis was detected in 126 samples. Bloom concentrations (>100,000 cells/liter) were observed in 69 samples: 10 from Pasco County, 29 from Pinellas County, four from Hillsborough County, four from Manatee County, and 22 from Sarasota County. Additional details are provided below.
- In Southwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at low to high concentrations in and offshore of Pinellas County, background to medium concentrations in Hillsborough County, background to high concentrations in Manatee County, very low to high concentrations in Sarasota County, background to very low concentrations in Charlotte County, and background to low concentrations in Lee County.
- In Northwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at very low to high concentrations in and offshore of Pasco County.
- Along the Florida East Coast over the past week, K. brevis was not observed.
On Florida’s Gulf coast, fish kills suspected to be related to red tide were reported in Hernando, Pinellas, Hillsborough, Manatee, Sarasota, 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, Hillsborough, Manatee, 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 southern movement of coastal surface waters and net southeastern transport of subsurface waters in most 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/).
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