Red Tide Found in Background Levels on Many Sarasota County Beaches

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, released it's weekly "Red Tide Status Report" for the state, this past Friday, November 20th at 4:30 PM.... It revealed some very interesting things, including that "11" of our local beaches has the red tide bacteria, in "background or low levels" based on water test results.

Those beaches include::

South Lido Park

Siesta Beach

Turtle Beach

Nokomis Beach

North Jetty

Venice Beach

Manasota Beach

Here is the full FWC Report, including maps..

Current Conditions - Friday, November 20th at 4:30 PM.

The red tide organism, Karenia brevis, was observed in Southwest Florida over the past week. Additional details are provided below.

In Southwest Florida over the past week, K. breviswas observed at background to low concentrations in 11 samples in Sarasota County.

In Northwest Florida over the past week,K. breviswas not observed.
Along the Florida East Coast over the past week,K. breviswas not observed.

No fish kills suspected to be related to red tide were reported over the past week (please see https://myfwc.com/research/saltwater/health/fish-kills-hotline).

No reports of respiratory irritation suspected to be related to red tide were received over the past week.

Forecasts by the USF-FWC Collaboration for Prediction of Red Tidesfor Pinellas to northern Monroe counties predict net southwestern movement of surface waters and net southeastern transport of subsurface waters in most areas over the next four days.

A bloom of an unidentified marine/estuarine nanocyano bacterium continues within the northern part of the Indian River Lagoon (IRL) system. This bloom has been causing greenish water discoloration. Additional testing and sampling by FWRI and other partners is ongoing throughout the IRL. For more sampling results related to this bloom, please visit https://floridadep.gov/algalbloom.

Due to the holiday next week, the next complete status report will be issued onWednesday,November25th. Please check our daily sampling map, which can be accessed via the online status report on our Red Tide Current Status page. For more information on algal blooms and water quality, please visit Protecting Florida Together.

This information, including maps and reports with additional details, is also available on the FWRI Red Tide website. The website also provides links to additional information related to the topic of Florida red tide including satellite imagery, experimental red tide forecasts, shellfish harvesting areas, the FWC Fish Kill Hotline, the Florida Poison Information Center (to report human health effects related to exposure to red tide), and other wildlife related hotlines.

To learn more about various organisms that have been known to cause algal blooms in Florida waters, see the FWRI Red TideFlickr page. Archived status maps can also be found on Flickr.

The FWRI HAB group in conjunction with Mote Marine Laboratory now have a facebook page. Please like our page and learn interesting facts concerning red tide and other harmful algal blooms in Florida.

Maverick