Rotten Fish Bodies From Red Tide Foul Bay, City Cleans Up

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — A rotted body of a flounder that weighed about 250 pounds washed ashore as a seemingly infinite amount of fish carcasses since they died from red tide. The foul mess was picked up Friday morning by a grapple truck as St. Pete city crews work to clean up the stinky mess.

Red tide occurs when colonies of algae—simple plants that live in the sea and freshwater—grow out of control while producing toxic or harmful effects on people, fish, shellfish, marine mammals, and birds, according to the U.S. National Ocean Service.

Hundreds of dead fish, eels, stingrays and horseshoe crabs covered the shoreline of Flora Wylie Park, 1400 N. Shore Drive NE, in St. Petersburg Wednesday after Tropical Storm Elsa brought them closer to land. Workers used nets and grabber sticks to pick up fish carcasses in the area Friday morning as they stood knee deep in the water near the shoreline. The grapple loader picked up much of what had been covering the shoreline, and causing a massive stench for residents.

After the carcasses were removed, live maggots were seen squirming on the sand. Groups of dead fish were seen floating toward the shoreline even after the cleanup.

"We're going to be sending out four boats, and have two or three guys per boat with trash cans and nets circling around scooping fish, and anything that is floating toward shore that we can't reach from land," Shawn Penniman, a foreperson with urban forestry and stormwater, said.

Everything crews pick up from just off the shore to the nearest buoys to Flora Park will be taken to an incinerator. The cleanup for all St. Petersburg areas affected by decaying fish and the red tide isn't expected to be complete any time soon.

"I wish we could tell you that we're going to have it wrapped up here as soon as possible," Amber Boulding, emergency manager for the city of St. Petersburg, said at a news conference Friday. "We'll keep working to do that, but unfortunately with red tide, we're at the mercy of the tides, the mercy of the wind, and really just where those things are, and it's really tough to mitigate red tide."

Fifteen tons of fish have been picked out of the water in the past 10 days, according to Boulding. Nine of those tons have been taken to the incinerator in the last 24 hours.

"We're out there all day, every day," Boulding said. "I can't stress enough how much the city is working to get this under control. Frustration with red tide, we scrape the beaches, we get it cleaned up. As soon as those tides change, we have fish right back in. So we're working as fast as we can."

The current red tide is causing more trouble than the last red tide in 2018 did, Boulding said. More than 120 city staff workers have been pulled away from their normal day jobs to help clean the waters and mangroves. When a crew is finished cleaning in one area, they move to another area and start the cleanup process. The city is working with contractors to bring in additional help for cleanup efforts.

Following the press conference, St. Petersburg Police Marine Patrol Officer Bradley Bryan took a group of reporters out to the shorelines. Patches of dead fish floated in several areas of the water between the Vinoy and the St. Pete Pier.

When the group reached the other side of the Pier, they continued to see rotting bodies of sting ray and fish. A city crew in a boat cleaned up dead fish.

Carcasses of fish lined seawalls near homes in the Coquina Key area. The glaring sun highlighted silver on the dead bodies of bait fish, redfish and snook that floated in from the bay. Bryan, who spends long days on water patrols, said he normally envies people getting to jump in the water and cool off, but not anymore.

To report piles of dead fish to the city, visit seeclickstpete or call the Mayor's Action Center at 772-893-7111 to report them.