For residents dealing with heaps of dead fish in their backyards, cleanup efforts have begun

Since it arrived on Manatee County beaches two weeks ago, red tide has been out of control. The algae bloom has killed tens of thousands of fish and is making life miserable for tourists and residents alike.

But this year, it has been so out of control that it didn’t take the noxious bloom long to drift into Sarasota Bay and start piling heaps of dead marine life in creeks and canals behind homes in multiple neighborhoods.

Residents have been left asking the obvious questions: When will this get cleaned up and who will do it?

In response, the county announced Friday it would expand cleanup efforts beyond public beaches to the canals and creeks that have started to fill with dead marine life.

“I think the county feels that it’s such a significant event that some effort needs to be made,” said Alan Lai Hipp, Manatee County Parks and Natural Resources environmental program manager. “There is certainly no way to get everything but we are going to make the effort to do the best that we can.”

The county has contracted with Aptim, an environmental consultant agency, which over the weekend surveyed the local waterways to evaluate the areas needing cleanup.

The effort was set into motion on Monday with the first boats going out around 10:30 a.m., officials said. The first load was dumped around noon.

Three small boats are scooping up the fish, which must be done by hand with nets due to the narrow and small area of the affected canals. A fourth boat acts as a runner, picking up the waste from the other three and dropping it off at the offloading area, which is near the Ramada Inn at 7150 N. Tamiami Trail.

The cleanup is contracted for seven days a week as conditions persist, government officials said.

“With the amount of stuff that we’ve seen out in the bay in the open water, it’s going to depend on wind and tide currents,” Lai Hipp said. “And I know the contractors are doing their best but there’s nothing that stops fish going back into an area, even once they’ve been through it, so it’s going to be a combination of patience and monitoring the situation as we go along. It’s very manual and time-consuming.”

The new contract is being finalized and will be presented to the board of commissioners during Tuesday’s regularly scheduled meeting at 9 a.m. County officials don’t know what this cleanup will cost but the administration will be asking the board to appropriate $500,000 from its reserves.

The county has been proactive with cleaning beaches and public parks, as they are able to use heavy machinery to scoop tons of dead fish from the shore. As of Friday, 151 tons of red-tide related waste had been removed from public beaches and parks, county officials announced.

The county also activated a red tide hotline that officials say will be staffed from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., seven days a week as conditions persist. Residents can call with questions about red tide and the cleanup operations. The number is 941-749-3547.

Lai Hipp said that he’s been with the county for 13 years and was hired just after the aggressive bout of red tide in 2005.

“This is the first time we are expanding efforts into the canals since I’ve been here,” he said. “It’s definitely a new experience. I started just after the bad red tide event in 2005 and I saw some effects offshore but nothing like this inside the bay. But systems are pretty quick to rebound so hopefully that’s the case and this will get out of here before too long.”

This story was originally published August 20, 2018 at 6:55 PM.