Precautions urged, especially in regard to potential for respiratory and skin irritation
Just before 6 p.m. on Wednesday Nov. 13, the Florida Department of Health in Sarasota County (DOH-Sarasota) issued a health alert regarding the presence of red tide near the Ringling Causeway/Bird Key Park beach, North Lido Beach, Lido Casino Beach, Siesta Key Beach, Turtle Beach, Nokomis Beach, North Jetty Beach, Venice Beach, Service Club Beach, Venice Fishing Pier, Brohard Park Beach, and Manasota Key Beach.
This action came in response to water samples collected on Nov. 12, the department pointed out in a news release. The public should exercise caution in and around these areas, the release said.
Residents and visitors are advised to take the following precautions if they do go near the affected areas, the advisory continued:
- Look for informational signage, which is posted at most public beaches, and/or check the current water quality status at Protecting Florida Together.
- “Do not wade or swim in or around red tide. Red tide can cause skin irritation, rashes, and burning/sore eyes.
- “Wash your skin and clothing with soap and fresh water if you have had recent contact with red tide, especially if your skin is easily irritated.
- “Remain cautious and stay away” from affected locations, “especially if you have chronic respiratory conditions.”
- Residents living in beach areas are advised to close their windows and run their air conditioners. “Make sure the air conditioner filter is maintained according to manufacturer’s specifications,” the news release cautioned.
- Do not harvest or eat molluscan shellfish or distressed or dead fish from the affected locations. “If caught alive and healthy, finfish are safe to eat as long as they are filleted, and the guts are discarded,” the advisory added. “Rinse fillets with tap or bottled water.”
- Red tide can cause illness and deaths of animals, including pets, the advisory pointed out. Keep animals out of the water and away from dead marine life. If a pet swims in water with red tide, the pet should be washed with soap and water as soon as possible, the advisory urged.
“Red tide is caused by high concentrations of a toxin-producing dinoflagellate called Karenia brevis (K. brevis), a type of microscopic algae found in the Gulf of Mexico,” DOH-Sarasota explained. Red tide typically does form naturally offshore, especially in late summer and early fall, the department added. Winds and currents carry it into coastal waters, DOH-Sarasota noted.
“At high enough concentrations,” DOH-Sarasota pointed out, “K. brevis can discolor water and give it a red or brown hue.”
To learn more about the appearance of red tide, the advisory said, visit Protecting Florida Together.
“K. brevis produces potent neurotoxins (brevotoxins)” that can be harmful to humans, pets and marine life, the release further explained. “Wind and wave action can break open K. brevis cells and release toxins into the air. This is why you should monitor conditions and use caution when visiting affected water bodies,” the news release added. People can experience varying degrees ofe eye, skin and respiratory irritation from red tide, it said.
Because bloom concentrations of red tide have been observed off Florida’s coast over the past several weeks, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) began issuing twice-a-week updates on Oct. 30.
Even before that, in the aftermath of the recent hurricanes that have struck Southwest Florida — and the likelihood that millions of gallons of polluted stormwater runoff resulted from those events — David Tomasko, executive director of the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program, had warned that red tide once again could affect the Sarasota County coastline.
The latest FWC data
In its midweek red tide update on Nov. 13, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) reported that, over the previous seven days, Karenia brevis had been detected “in 55 samples collected from Southwest Florida. Bloom concentrations (>100,000 cells/liter) were observed in five samples”: four from Sarasota County and one from Manatee County.
“Over the past week,” that update continued, satellite imagery provided by the University of South Florida (USF) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) continued to show Karenia brevis in an offshore patch more than 100 miles long, stretching from Pinellas to Collier counties, along with “a few isolated patches further north, off of Pasco County and the Big Bend region.”
The Nov. 13 report added, “We are participating in an ongoing, multi-day survey that is conducting offshore and coastal sampling along Southwest Florida.”
FWC further noted that, in Southwest Florida over the seven days prior to Nov. 13, Karenia brevis was observed at background to medium concentrations in Sarasota and Manatee counties, background to low concentrations in Pinellas County, low concentrations in Hillsborough County, very low concentrations in Charlotte and Lee counties, and very low concentrations offshore of Collier County.
The only Southwest Florida fish kills suspected to be related to red tide were reported from Pinellas and Charlotte counties, FWC added.
However, respiratory irritation suspected to be related to red tide was reported in Sarasota County during the seven days leading up to Nov. 13.
For forecasts that use FWC and its partners’ data, the public may visit the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Gulf of Mexico Harmful Algal Blooms Forecast
The next red tide status report will be issued on Nov. 15. “Please check our daily sampling map, which can be accessed via the online status report on our Red Tide Current Status page,” FWC encourages the public.