SARASOTA, Fla. -- Red tide is on the move north and has made landfall off Longboat Key.
New Pass on the southern tip of Longboat Key and along most of the coastline up is laced with dead fish.
The water is a typical red tide reddish-brown color and the smell ... well, it's awful!
Dead fish are washing into Sarasota Bay through New Pass and can be seen as far east as the Ringling Causeway Bridge. The smell is moving inland too.
Sarasota County workers have been busy cleaning up the coastline.
Check out these amounts:
- Blind Pass to Manasota Beach: More than 50 bags of fish were removed
- Caspersen Beach: More than 200 bags of fish were removed.
- Siesta Key removal from Point of Rocks north: 9 tons of fish were removed.
- Turtle Beach: 1120 pounds of fish were removed.
- Lido Key: 7 tons of fish were removed.
Siesta Beach has been hit the hardest. Sarasota County reported 18 tons of dead fish picked up on Thursday from the public and private beaches.
On Friday, the smell is still strong. The water remains dark and the beach is virtually empty.
There’s been some misinformation out there about red tide. We turned to Mote scientist and red tide expert Dr. Vince Lovko to set the record straight.
Coastal pollution like fertilizer and green algae from Lake Okeechobee are the cause of Red Tide. True or false?
Lovko: “That would be false! Florida red tide initiates offshore despite land-derived nutrients. What happens in Lake Okeechobee, Caloosahatchee, St. Lucie River is a sign of bacterial blooms, which are a different group of organisms. What we have killing fish along Florida’s coastline is Florida’s red tide which is caused by Karenia Brevis. Once it gets close to shore, it could utilize nutrients in the water. If the levels are sufficient nutrients coming through the water like those off the Caloosahatchee, but they are not the cause.”
Red tide happens only off Florida’s coast, particularly the west coast. True or false?
Lovko: “That is true and false. Red tide is a term used for a larger phenomenon called harmful algae blooms that occur worldwide in different species of organisms of phytoplankton and microalgae. Here in Florida, we have Karenia Brevis; it is unique to the Gulf of Mexico and as you know most extensive blooms are in Florida’s West Coast.”
You can’t eat any seafood during a red tide bloom, but if you cook it that destroys the toxins. True or false?
Lovko: “Both true and false to that. The toxins is not destroyed by cooking, so that’s false. As far as eating seafood, it depends on the seafood. Generally, seafood in a restaurant or seafood market is considered safe because there are lots of regulations to protect that seafood and the consumer. If fishing for yourself for shellfish, make sure it’s open and declared safe. As far as fin fish goes, if it looks healthy, fileting it should be OK. If you're outside the area of the red tide the fish should be fine.”
How far north will the red tide bloom move? Manatee County? Pinellas County?
Lovko says it’s hard to predict but that's the goal. He says that’s why more research is needed, more data has to be collected, but that costs money which is competitive to get and there's not enough to go around.
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