Current Conditions
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 at background to very low concentrations in Pinellas County, background concentrations in Manatee County, background to high concentrations in Sarasota County, medium to high concentrations in Charlotte County, background to high concentrations in and/or offshore of Lee County, and very low to high concentrations in Collier County. Bloom concentrations (>100,000 K. brevis cells per liter) persist in Sarasota, Charlotte, Lee, and Collier counties. These included coastal sites in Sarasota County, coastal, inlet, and estuarine sites in Charlotte, Lee, and Collier Counties, as well as a sample collected 18 miles offshore of Lee County. High concentrations (>1 million cells per liter) were observed in 47 samples from these counties.
In Northwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at background concentrations in one sample each from Escambia and Bay counties.
Along the Florida East Coast over the past week, K. brevis was not observed.
In Southwest Florida over the past week, fish kill reports were received for Sarasota, Charlotte, Lee, and Collier counties
Respiratory irritation was reported over the past week in Southwest Florida in Sarasota, Lee, and Collier counties.
Report courtesy of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
