A bloom of the red tide organism, Karenia brevis, persists in Southwest Florida. Additional details are provided below.
In Southwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at background to very low concentrations in Pinellas County, background concentrations in Manatee County, background to low concentrations in Sarasota County, very low to high concentrations in and/or offshore of Charlotte County, background to high concentrations in and/or offshore of Lee County, and very low to high concentrations in and/or offshore of Collier County. Bloom concentrations (>100,000 K. brevis cells per liter) persist in Charlotte, Lee, and Collier counties, and high concentrations (>1 million cells per liter) were observed in 23 samples. These included coastal, inlet, and estuarine sites in Charlotte and Lee Counties, as well as samples collected as far as 7-10 miles offshore of Lee and Collier counties.
In Northwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was not observed.
Along the Florida East Coast over the past week, K. brevis was not observed.
Respiratory irritation was reported over the past week in Southwest Florida at multiple beaches in Sarasota and Lee counties.
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 net southeastern transport of subsurface waters in most areas over the next four days.
The next status report will be issued on Friday, November 15th. Please check our daily sampling map, which can be accessed via the online status report on our Red 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.
