Red tide is back on Anna Maria Island

Red tide is back on Anna Maria Island 

According to the latest water samples from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Samples collected on Bradenton Beach and Anna Maria this week contained “medium” levels of Karenia brevis, the organism that causes red tide.

Patches of red tide were also visible around Longboat Pass and stretch for four or five miles to the north.

Fish kills have not yet been reported around the island this week.

In Sarasota County, testing shows low or insignificant levels down the coastline to Venice and Englewood.

However, two samples collected at about 5 and 12 miles off of Venice Beach, did show that the algae is still at bloom, in strength out in the Gulf of Mexico.

Below is the Full Mid-Week Report - released by FWC - Wednesday, September 22nd, 2021

Current Conditions

A patchy bloom of the red tide organism, Karenia brevis, persists along Florida’s Gulf coast, where cells were detected in 55 samples over the past week. Bloom concentrations (>100,000 cells/liter) were observed in 13 samples: one from Okaloosa County, seven from and offshore of Pinellas County, two from Manatee County, and three from offshore of Sarasota County. Additional details are provided below.

• In Southwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at background to high concentrations in and offshore of Pinellas County (in 15 samples), background concentrations offshore of Hillsborough County (in one sample), background to medium concentrations in Manatee County (in eight samples), background to medium concentrations in and offshore of Sarasota County (in 17 samples), background concentrations in and offshore of Charlotte County (in three samples), and background to low concentrations in and offshore of Lee County (in seven samples). Samples collected from or offshore of Collier and Monroe counties did not contain K. brevis.
• In Northwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at medium concentrations in Okaloosa County (in one sample), background concentrations offshore of Hernando County (in one sample) and background to very low concentrations in Pasco County (in two samples). Samples collected from or offshore of Walton, Bay, Gulf, Franklin, Wakulla, Levy, and Citrus counties did not contain K. brevis.
• Along the Florida East Coast over the past week, K. brevis was not observed.

Fish kills suspected to be related to red tide were reported on the Florida Gulf Coast in or offshore of Okaloosa, Walton, Levy, Pasco, Pinellas, 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 on the Florida Gulf Coast in Okaloosa, Walton, Pinellas, Manatee and Lee counties. For recent and current information at individual beaches, please visithttps://visitbeaches.org/and for forecasts that use FWC and partner data, please visithttps://habforecast.gcoos.org/.

Forecasts by the USF-FWC Collaboration for Prediction of Red Tides for Pinellas to northern Monroe counties predict variable transport of surface and subsurface coastal waters in most areas over the next 3.5 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, September 24th. 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.

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.