Red Tide Report (November 9, 2018)

(Having trouble viewing this email? View it as a Web page.) Current Conditions  Bloom concentrations of the red tide organism, Karenia brevis, persist on Florida’s Southwest and Northwest coasts. Patchiness was observed in both areas. On the East Coast, bloom concentrations of K. brevis are no longer present. Additional details are provided below. In Southwest Florida, observations of >1,000,000 K. brevis cells per liter (“high” concentrations) occurred from Pinellas to Lee counties. Relative to last week, K. brevis concentrations generally decreased in many areas of Manatee, Sarasota, and Collier counties, and increased in parts of Pinellas, Charlotte and Lee counties. In Northwest Florida, “medium” concentrations of K. breviswere observed in Santa Rosa County and in and offshore of Gulf County. On Florida’s East Coast, conditions improved in parts of Brevard and Martin counties where patchy bloom concentrations had been observed the week before.   In Southwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at background to high concentrations in Pinellas County, background to high concentrations in Manatee County, very low to high concentrations in Sarasota County, low to high concentrations in Charlotte County, background to high concentrations in Lee County, and background to very low concentrations in Collier County. In Northwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at very low to medium concentrations in or offshore of Escambia County, low to medium concentrations in Santa Rosa County, low to medium concentrations in or offshore of Okaloosa County, low to medium concentrations in Bay County, low to medium concentrations in Gulf County, background concentrations in Franklin County, and background concentrations in Pasco County.  Along the Florida East Coast over the past week, K. brevis was observed at background concentrations in Brevard County, background concentrations in and offshore of St. Lucie County, very low to low concentrations in Martin County, background to very low concentrations in Palm Beach County, and very low concentrations in Miami-Dade County. In Southwest Florida over the past week, fish kill reports were received for multiple locations in Pinellas, Manatee, and Sarasota counties. In Northwest Florida, fish kills were reported in Escambia, Okaloosa, Walton, and Bay counties. No reports of fish kills were received over the past week for the East Coast of Florida. Respiratory irritation was reported over the past week in Southwest Florida (in Pinellas, Manatee, and Sarasota counties). Respiratory irritation was also reported in Northwest Florida (in Escambia and Okaloosa counties). No reports of respiratory irritation were reported for the East Coast of Florida over the past week. Forecasts by the USF-FWC Collaboration for Prediction of Red Tides for Pinellas to northern Monroe counties predict net southern movement of surface waters and southeastern movement of subsurface waters over the next four days.Four-day forecasts for Escambia to Gulf counties predict variable movement of surface waters and net eastern transport of subsurface waters in most areas Please check our daily sampling map, which can be accessed via the online status report on ourRed Tide Current Status page. 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. To learn more about various organisms that have been known to cause algal blooms in Florida waters, see the FWRI Red Tide Flickr page. Archived status maps can also be found on Flickr.        The FWRI HAB group in conjunction with Mote Marine Laboratory now have a Facebook page.  Please like our page and learn interesting facts concerning red tide and other harmful algal blooms in Florida. Additional information regarding the current status of algal blooms in South Florida is being consolidated and posted on the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s website:https://floridadep.gov/dear/algal-bloom.

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