NEWS RELEASES
The Red Tide Persists in Southwest Florida
Editor's Note: This news item was retrieved and first published through The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation's website.
The red tide organism has been a nuisance persisting in waters mainly along the Southwest Florida coast. Over the past week, there have been several observations of the harmful threat. Bloom concentrations were detected in Charlotte County only, where “medium” K. brevis, or red tide, concentrations were observed. Lesser concentrations occurred in and/or offshore of Sarasota, Charlotte, Lee, Collier, and Monroe counties. Background concentrations of K. brevis were also detected in Northwest Florida and on the East Coast of Florida.
According to a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) press release, it's been suspected that no fish were killed as a result of the red tide reported this week. Forecasts by the USF-FWC Collaboration for Prediction of Red Tides for Pinellas to northern Monroe counties predict varying conditions over the next four days with net southwestern transport of surface waters and net southeastern movement of subsurface waters in most areas. The next status report will be issued on Friday, January 25.
Check the daily sampling map, which can be accessed via the online status report on the Red Tide Current Status page for more updates.