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Traces of red tide found offshore of Anna Maria Island, state officials say
As if weary residents of Manatee County didn’t have enough going on in the middle of a pandemic, protests, politics and hurricane season preparations, traces of red tide have been detected offshore of Anna Maria Island.
According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s weekly report, Karenia brevis, the organism responsible for red tide, was discovered in one sample in “very low” amounts.
A “very low” sample contains anywhere between 1,000 and 10,000 samples of the organism.
Manatee County is the only spot along the west coast of Florida reporting the presence of red tide at this time, according to the FWC.
It is not enough of a significant event at this time to cause respiratory concerns or fish kills, but it’s presence will be monitored.
FWC will continue sampling and provide the next update on Friday.
Though not proven to be related specifically, the report comes on the heels of NOAA scientists predicting last week that this year’s “dead zone,” in the Gulf of Mexico will be “larger than average.”
A dead zone is an area of low to no oxygen that can kill fish and other marine life and could be as large as 6,700 square miles. The average size of the yearly dead zone is about 5,387 square miles.
The dead zone is caused by average rainfalls throughout the Midwest and subsequent drainage into the Gulf of Mexico at the mouth of the Mississippi River.
On Thursday, Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Longboat Key, announced that Mote Marine Laboratory, which recently launched the Red Tide Institute in the wake of the horrific red tide event in 2018, will receive an additional $300,000 in red tide funding.
The grant was secured from the NOAA to improve red tide detection.
Buchanan hasn’t forgotten about the red tide scourge.
“We need to be doing everything possible to fight red tide and protect Southwest Florida’s environment,” Buchanan wrote in a Tweet.
Buchanan later told the Bradenton Herald, “This funding announcement is great news for our community. Mote Marine works tirelessly to counter red tide and improve Florida’s water quality.”
Following the 2018 red tide event that devastated the area, Buchanan secured $8 million for red tide research and backed a 2019 proposal that secured $100 million to combat harmful algae blooms.
Buchanan also secured $6.5 million to study the potential harmful effects of red tide on humans.
“We need to be doing everything possible to fight red tide and protect southwest Florida’s environment,” Buchanan said.
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