Current Conditions The red tide organism, Karenia brevis, was observed at background concentrations in Southwest Florida and Northwest Florida over this past week. Additional details are provided below.
- In Southwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at background concentrations in one sample collected from Collier County.
- In Northwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at background concentrations in one sample collected from Okaloosa County.
- Along the Florida East Coast over the past week, K. brevis was not observed.
No fish kills suspected to be related to red tide were reported this week (please see https://myfwc.com/research/saltwater/health/fish-kills-hotline).
Respiratory irritation was reported over the past week in Southwest Florida in Lee County. Additional details are provided in the Southwest Coast report.
Forecasts by the USF-FWC Collaboration for Prediction of Red Tides for Pinellas to northern Monroe counties predict net western transport of surface waters in most areas and southeastern movement of subsurface waters over the next four days.
A midweek status update will be available on Wednesday, March 6th and the next complete status report will be issued on Friday, March 8th. Please check our daily sampling map, which can be accessed via the online status report on our Red Tide Current Status page.
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 Tide Flickr 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.
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