Red Tide Combined With Fish Kills Can Make Residents Doubly Sick

CLEARWATER, FL — Six-hundred pounds of fish. For a fisherman that would represent a bounty but for Pinellas County it's just a big, stinky mess.

The Pinellas County government and its municipalities say they've now removed more than 900 tons of dead fish and other marine life along the 40 miles of beaches and coastlines from Tierra Verde to Tarpon Springs with more dead fish clogging canals and hugging sea walls.

Over the weekend, Pinellas County's contractor, DCR Emergency Services, brought in eight fishing boats to remove dead fish and marine life from Fort De Soto, Boca Ciega Bay, the Intracoastal Waterway and sections of Tampa Bay along the city of St. Petersburg's waterfront.

On Sunday and Monday alone in Tampa Bay, Boca Ciega Bay and the Intracoastal Waterway, DCR Emergency Services collected 124 tons of dead fish.

A large-scale operation to remove fish before they enter estuaries and canals continues this week.

"Red tide is having an impact on our bay and beaches right now, but Pinellas County is working around the clock to lessen its effects on residents and visitors by removing dead fish and sharing the latest information on where the bloom is concentrated," said Pinellas Public Works Director Kelli Hammer Levy."Our beaches remain open and it's important to check the latest information on which areas are being affected as conditions change from one day to the next."

Red tide is caused by an overgrowth or accumulation of microscopic algae called Karenia brevis, a natural occurrence, which can discolor the water. Karenia brevis produces toxins that can sicken or kill fish, seabirds, turtles and marine mammals.

Officials with the Florida Fish and Conservation Commission Research Institute in St. Petersburg said Florida's west coast may be dealing with a triple whammy this year.

Karenia brevis blooms develop offshore and are brought inshore by ocean currents, usually in bottom waters.

When Tropical Storm Elsa traveled up the state's west coast July 6, producing 45 mph eastward winds accompanied by 2 to 3 feet of storm surge, it caused the red tide and the tons of fish it killed in its wake to drift from the deeper waters of the Gulf of Mexico to the shoreline.

In some parts of Tampa Bay in the past few days, the concentration of red tide has tested at 10 to 17 times the concentration considered "high," which accounts for the high fish kills.

Researchers say the breach at the old Piney Point phosphate plant in Manatee County in March that dumped millions of gallons of water contaminated with phosphate into the bay didn't cause the red tide. They say there is no direct link between nutrient pollution and the production of Karenia brevis blooms, unlike many other blooms that are caused by nutrient pollution.

However, once red tide has drifted inshore, Karenia brevis can use man-made nutrients, like commercial fertilizers made from nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, to grow and spread.

Scientists with the Tampa Bay Estuary Program said the nutrient-rich water that spilled into the bay could create conditions favorable for blooms to grow.

Researchers from the College of Marine Science at the University of South Florida have been working with the Florida's Department of Environmental Protection and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to monitor the impact of the Piney Point breach on the coastline.

In the meantime, organizations such as Red Tide Awareness, Save Florida's Beaches and Suncoast Water Keeper are rallying to fight coastal phosphate plants they say have worsened the red tide plaguing Florida's west coast and lobby for more government accountability.

Red Tide Awareness and Save Florida's Beaches activist Nicole Morris points to a gruesome collection of photos submitted by boat captains who regularly fish the bay. The photos show thousands of dead fish washed up next to a seawall, dead sharks and dolphin.

"This is why we are are going to start righting the wrongs that began long ago and still continue today," commented Morris.

Capt. Dustin Pack took a series of photos of fish kills at the mouth of the Alafia River, in the channel just south of MacDill Air Force Base and just off Bayshore Boulevard.

"There’s literally a line of dead fish from the shipping channel in the middle of the bay all the way up to Bayshore," Pack said.

Health Risks For People And Pets

For residents living along the coast, the stench from dead marine life is not only a nuisance, it could be a health hazard.

According to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, exposure to environmental odors can cause headaches, nasal congestion, eye, nose and throat irritation, sore throat, cough, chest tightness, shortness of breath, wheezing, heart palpitations, nausea, drowsiness and depression. Young children, the elderly and pregnant women are more sensitive to these effects.

Those maladies in combination with symptoms of exposure to red tide, including respiratory irritation that can become serious for people with asthma and COPD, has prompted Pinellas County to urge people to pull out their paper filter pandemic masks and use them at the beach, especially if onshore winds are blowing.

Health officials advise beach goers to:

• Check the Red Tide Respiratory Forecast tool and choose a beach with low concentrations of red tide. St. Pete/Clearwater maintains a beach status dashboard and USF has developed a red tide tracker based on researchers' analysis and predictions.
• If you have chronic respiratory problems, stick to your backyard swimming pool.
• Do not swim around dead fish.
• Do not harvest or eat molluscan shellfish and distressed or dead fish from areas affected by red tide. If fish are healthy, rinse the fillets with tap or bottled water and throw out the guts.
• Keep pets away from the water, sea foam and dead sea life.
• Residents can report fish kills to FWC through the FWC Reporter app, by calling 800-636-0511 or by submitting a report online.
• Residents who find dead fish near their boat dock can retrieve them with a skimmer and dispose of them with their regular trash or call their local municipality for additional guidance.

Residents can report fish kills to FWC through the FWC Reporter app, by calling 800-636-0511 or by submitting a report online. Residents who find dead fish near their boat dock can retrieve them with a skimmer and dispose of them with their regular trash or call their local municipality for additional guidance.

See related stories:

• High Levels Of Red Tide Detected In Hillsborough, Pasco Counties
• Rotten Fish Bodies From Red Tide Foul Bay, City Cleans Up