Red Tide still showing up along Northwest Florida coast

(Having trouble viewing this email? View it as a Web page.) Blooms of the Florida red tide organism, Karenia brevis, are present in, along, and offshore of Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, Bay, and Gulf counties in Northwest Florida and in, along, and offshore of Pinellas, Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte, and Lee counties in Southwest Florida. Due to sampling gaps, no results are available for Santa Rosa and Walton counties.  However, a bloom is present in these regions, as evidenced by discolored water, fish kills, and respiratory irritation. No satellite images were available this week due to cloud cover. Karenia brevis was detected in background concentrations in one sample collected alongshore of Escambia County and one sample collected offshore of Pasco County; low to medium concentrations in 4 samples collected in and alongshore of Okaloosa County; very low to high concentrations in 12 samples collected in and alongshore of Bay County; and background to medium concentrations in 2 samples collected inshore of Gulf County.Karenia brevis was not detected in, along, or offshore of Franklin, Dixie, or Hernando counties. No samples were analyzed this week from Santa Rosa, Walton, Wakulla, Jefferson, Taylor, or Citrus counties. FWC continues to receive widespread reports of extensive fish kills. To date, 77 reports from Northwest Florida have been recorded from numerous locations including Navarre, Okaloosa, and Santa Rosa beaches, Destin Harbor, Destin Marina, Destin Pass, West Bay, St. Andrew Bay, Pratt Bayou, Shalimar Yacht Basin, Rosemary and Panama City beaches, East Bay River, Eastern Lake, Fort Walton Beach, Pensacola Bay, Powell Lake, Pensacola Beach, and Navarre Beach Pier. Respiratory irritation has also been reported in the majority of these locations and is possible throughout the area where red tide is present. Karenia brevis was detected in background to very low concentrations in 2 samples collected in and alongshore of Pinellas County; background to low concentrations in 25 samples collected in and alongshore of Manatee, Charlotte, and Lee counties; and background to high concentrations in 24 samples collected in and alongshore of Sarasota County.  One sample collected alongshore of Collier County also contained background concentrations of K. brevis.  Karenia brevis was not detected in a sample collected alongshore of Monroe County. No samples were collected in Hillsborough County this week. Respiratory irritation and fish kills were reported from some beaches in Southwest Florida this week.  Forecasts by the USF-FWC Collaboration for Prediction of Red Tides show little net movement of bloom patches over the next three days. 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 come like our page and learn interesting facts concerning red tide and other harmful algal blooms in Florida.

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