Red tide came up in another tread and I decided to start a new thread about it.

Florida/ gulf coast is being hit with a terrible red tide this year (actually this bloom is from last year and never ended). Many people say it is being exacerbated by nutrient rich releases to the gulf/atlantic from Lake Okeechobee (they release water out cannals when it gets too full).

It was terrible south of tampa bay but has moved north into Tampa bay and north of it (where I sail).

Last weekend I did not sail due to abundant dead fish floating in our waterways but my friends did. they said they saw moderate dead fish and felt a little respratory discomfort.

This morning I saw a post on facebook from Honeymoon island stating "we have lots of dead fish landing on our beach every high tide and need help cleaning up"...

uggggggg

My neighbor is a marine biologist and pretty much lost his cool when I said Red Tide to him. Apparently there is no such thing unless your talking about a football team.

It is algae bloom now.

He told me algae blooms are a natural process documented for thousands of years all over the planet and just need three things to occur: the right temperature, the right salinity and some wind (but not too much) to carry the algae inshore as it forms well offshore. Anything that adjusts those three conditions is considered a "contributing factor". He felt that fresh water runoff to reduce salinity was much more of a contributing factor than pesticides/fertilizers/human waste but that there was some evidence to suggest these were factors also.

The question that science is trying to solve is how much do these human factors contribute to the start, duration and intensity of an algae bloom?

Wikipedia article on Red Tide.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_tide

Brad in Jax
Stiletto 27

Yup!
I know it has been documented for over 100 years
I only last year learned of the Lake O discharges that caused/added/exacerbated the algae blooms in the rivers/coasts last year

I don't know the biology of why it is so bad - all i know is we have dead fish everywhere (and whales, dolphins, manatees, etc... and the red tide (bloom) causes respratory issues in humans and poisons sea life that eats dead marine life killed by it

Is this up in Sarasota bay proper? We are less than 1 month away from the F18 Worlds in that location, and that map doesn't look good..

samc99us

Is this up in Sarasota bay proper? We are less than 1 month away from the F18 Worlds in that location, and that map doesn't look good..

It is bad on the gulf side - I really don't know about inside Sarasota bay

North Lido (right by the inlet near the sailing squadron) has been horrible - 1,388 Cell Count /mL on monday (> 1,000 = high concentrations)

15,360 at Long Boat Key (just north of Lido)
http://sarasota.floridahe…er-quality/red-tide.html

I am pretty sure your first picture is a blue-green algae bloom which only occurs in fresh water. A few types of blue-green algae act just like the red kind causing fish kill and respiratory distress but most are completely harmless.

bradinjax

I am pretty sure your first picture is a blue-green algae bloom which only occurs in fresh water. A few types of blue-green algae act just like the red kind causing fish kill and respiratory distress but most are completely harmless.

You are correct - that is fresh water on the Caloosahatchee River - aka overflow from Lake O being pumped into the gulf / Ft Myers area



this image below is from St. Lucie River in Stuart - nutrient rich fresh water that is being pumped into the atlantic from Lake O





Edited by MN3 on Sep 20, 2018 - 12:24 PM.

For the last 20 years we used to get the blue-green algae blooms every summer here on the St Johns River in Jacksonville, FL. Gradually over a period of many years the concentrations became enough to cause fishkills and respiratory problems. At its peak it was like a thick green mat that was so dense and thick you felt like you could walk on it. If you were downwind your eyes would water, your throat was scratchy and the smell was terrible.

But, about 5-6 years ago all the FL counties that feed into the St Johns River came to an agreement to limit pesticide and fertilizer use near springs and tributaries that feed into the river.

Within 2 years there was a noticeable difference and I have not seen any algae at all in the last 2 years.

Brad in Jax
Stiletto 27



Edited by bradinjax on Sep 20, 2018 - 03:25 PM.

red tide has moved offshore with our s/e winds!



but the devastation offshore is horrific (dead from surface to floor)

we have been getting red tide in Great South Bay between Fire Island and Long Island last 3 summers! That Bay including along Jones and Long Beach and the Hamptons is over 80 miles long. It started about Memorial day when water heated up and now is gone once water cooled. In April when we moored our cats water temp 46 degrees no red tide. we just took them out , water temps in 50s range, red tide gone. Fish scientist / icthyologist for Canadian Gov't gave me same rap but i believe combo of global warming and human failure to control fertilizer runoff and other human produced / not controlled garbage.