FWC RED TIDE REPORT (JULY 2, 2021)
VIEW MAP OF FLORIDA COUNTIES BY CLICKING ON "READ MORE" BELOW.
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 83 samples. Bloom concentrations (>100,000 cells/liter) were observed in 34 samples: six from Pasco County, ten from Pinellas County, 13 from Hillsborough County, two from Manatee County, and three from Sarasota County. Additional details are provided below.
In Southwest Florida over the past week, brevis was observed at background to high concentrations in and offshore of Pinellas County, background to high concentrations in Hillsborough County, background to medium concentrations in Manatee County, background to medium concentrations in Sarasota County, low concentrations in Charlotte County, and background concentrations in Lee County.
In Northwest Florida over the past week, brevis was observed at medium to high concentrations in and offshore of Pasco County.
Along the Florida East Coast over the past week, brevis was observed at background concentrations in Palm Beach County, and in very low concentrations in Broward and Miami-Dade counties.
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 eastern movement of surface waters and net southern 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 9th. 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.
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