After a brief reprieve, red tide has made a comeback around Anna Maria Island
After a brief reprieve, red tide algae is back at bloom level around Anna Maria Island this week, according to the latest water samples from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Strong but patchy red tide blooms impacted Manatee County waters through the spring and summer before dissipating in recent weeks. On Sept. 8, a red tide update from FWC showed that no significant levels of the algae were detected in Manatee waters for the first time since April.
But red tides, which are constantly on the move with winds and currents, are not predictable in the long term. The algae blooms can drift up and down the coast or sit just offshore and then be pushed back toward land when conditions are favorable.
Samples collected in Bradenton Beach and Anna Maria on Tuesday contained “medium” levels of Karenia brevis, the organism that causes red tide. At cell counts of medium or higher, scientists consider red tide to be at bloom strength, where it is often accompanied by respiratory irritation and fish kills.
In a video posted Wednesday, Suncoast Waterkeeper member Justin Moore noted red tide’s presence in waters off of Anna Maria Island.
“We’re right here, mid-key in Anna Maria and the water is like orange juice,” Moore, a fishing captain, says in the video. “There is a pretty bad bloom of red tide out here.”
Moore noted that the patches of red tide were first visible around Longboat Pass and stretched for four or five miles to the north.
No recent water samples were collected around the middle of AMI in Holmes Beach. But on Wednesday, Mote Marine Laboratory’s live beach conditions tracker recorded “intense” respiratory irritation there. At Manatee Public Beach, an onshore breeze carried the characteristic scent of red tide, and beachgoers were few. The red tide appeared to be making some people cough. And a sprinkling of dead fish dotted the shoreline and the water.
Fish kills have not yet been reported elsewhere around the island this week.
Meanwhile, K. brevis levels decreased this week around Longboat Key, and the algae remained at low or insignificant levels down Sarasota County’s coastline to Venice and Englewood. But two samples collected at about 5 and 12 miles off of Venice Beach on Tuesday showed that the algae is still at bloom strength out in the Gulf of Mexico.
Varying levels of red tide algae also continue to impact Pinellas County’s Gulf coast and beaches. But Tampa Bay, which was earlier this year decimated by an intense red tide that killed massive amounts of marine life, remains clear of the algae for now.
Respiratory irritation remains a possibility for Manatee, Sarasota and Pinellas counties’ coastlines based upon algae levels observed this week, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
FWC is expected to issue its next red tide update on Friday.