Red Tide Status Update for June 25, 2021

Current Conditions
A patchy bloom of the red tide organism, Karenia brevis, persists on the Florida Gulf Coast. Over the past week, K. brevis was detected in 98 samples. Bloom concentrations (>100,000 cells/liter) were observed in 37 samples: one sample from Pasco County, nine samples from Pinellas County, 18 samples from Hillsborough County, eight samples from Manatee County, and one sample from Sarasota County. Additional details are provided below.

  • In Southwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at background to high concentrations in Pinellas County, very low to high concentrations in Hillsborough County, very low to medium concentrations in or offshore of Manatee County, background to medium concentrations in Sarasota County, background to low concentrations in Lee County, and very low concentrations in Collier County.
  • In Northwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at background concentrations in Bay County, and low to medium concentrations in Pasco County.
  • Along the Florida East Coast over the past week, K. brevis was not observed.

In Northwest and Southwest Florida over the past week, fish kills suspected to be related to red tide were reported in Pasco, Pinellas, and Hillsborough counties. For more details, please visit: https://myfwc.com/research/saltwater/health/fish-kills-hotline/.

Respiratory irritation suspected to be related to red tide was reported over the past week in Southwest Florida in Pinellas and Sarasota counties. Additional details are provided in the Southwest Coast report and for current information, please visit: https://visitbeaches.org/.

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

READ MORE at myfwc.com