⚠️RED TIDE HAS RETURNED TO SW FL⚠️
WHERE IS THIS BLOOM LOCATED?
➡️ Mainly offshore of Sanibel & Boca Grande.
➡️ Satellite images (from ESA's Sentinel-3 satellite showing the solar stimulated chlorophyll-a fluorescence) are indicating a relatively small offshore bloom. Ground truth received from FWC's water samples are reporting low to high levels of karenia brevis offshore of Charlotte & Lee Counties.
WHAT IS THE CULPRIT?
➡️ Hurricane Ian was the main catalyst. Heavy rain led to massive runoff of agricultural fertilizers. Power outages & system failures led to large amounts of sewage being dumped into local waterways. Upwelling, winds, & negative surge released nutrients that had settled to the bottom of the Bay & Gulf.
WILL THIS TURN INTO A MASSIVE BLOOM?
➡️ Late summer & fall are the most likely times to see red tide along the Florida Gulf coast. Some years the blooms can often be fairly harmless & other years can be catastrophic resulting in massive fish kills & unhealthy water along much of peninsula.
➡️ Hurricane Ian has boosted the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus on which karenia brevis (aka red tide) feeds.
➡️ So, the fuel is available for this to become a much larger & disruptive bloom. But, there are numerous factors at play. For example, rainfall runoff increases the amount of nutrient unloaded into the Gulf, but it also decreases salinity. Karenia brevis favors a more saline environment. Bottom Line: We'll have to continue to watch the Gulf & see how this plays out.
THERE'S MORE THAN RED TIDE:
➡️ There have been numerous sewage spills across Florida (mostly as a result of #Ian). At least 330,000 gallons of wastewater — enough to fill more than 13 swimming pools — were spilled into Tampa waters on September 29th. Sanford (Orlando) just had over 10,000 gallons of sewage make it into local waterways. The hurricane caused a slew of wastewater spills across Polk County. Ian caused a 7.2M-gallon sewage spill into Indian River Lagoon. Hurricane Ian forced Bradenton to release 13 million gallons of sewage into the Manatee River.
➡️ Lee County has had a record 28 cases & 6 deaths from a bacterium known as vibrio vulnificus (sometimes called a flesh eating bacteria). This is the result of open wounds coming in contact with wastewater.
➡️ The hurricane also washed gasoline, oil, battery acid, raw sewage, & just about every other liquid contaminant into the Gulf & local waterways.
➡️ Don't be surprised to hear of fish kills & infections outside of the main red tide bloom. For example, I just saw several reports of fish kill in the canals near St. Pete Beach. This likely the result of some unknown bacterium or algae.
BEST ADVICE:
➡️ Monitor social media accounts from your local officials and keep an eye out for signage warning of polluted water.
➡️ Stay tuned here for the latest on the red tide bloom in the Gulf.