SANIBEL, Fla. — For months now, Fox 4 has been tracking the red tide from Sanibel down to Naples. And now this week, we have heard about reports of fish kills down the coastline.
Fox 4 Meteorologist Andrew Shipley spent the day on Sanibel taking water samples; to find out just how bad the red tide is on the island.
"For time of year, a Winter bloom, this kind of extreme,” said Dr. Rick Bartleson, a Research Scientist with the Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation.
When Shipley arrived on Sanibel it didn't take him long to find the effects of the red tide. While you couldn't smell it, there were dead fish along the shoreline.
SCCF Enviromental Policy Director Matt DePaolis says while the bloom has been in the Gulf of America since Milton, it's been far enough away not to have major impacts to the coast.
"Recently though, we have had that wind shift that pushed that red tide bloom back onshore," said DePaolis.
And with onshore winds, the red tide is stacking up closer to the coastline. You can see it in these flyovers, that Ralph Arwood took this week.
But how bad is the red tide bloom? Shipley went to the Sanibel Boat Ramp, Sanibel Lighthouse, and Gulfside City Beach to get samples to take to Dr. Bartleson at the SCCF Marine Lab.
Dr. Bartleson went through samples and found less than a million cells per liter, which is considered a medium concentration. That might sound bad, but it's lower than some of the samples earlier this week.
One concern DePaolis has about the bloom, is how long it has stuck around.
"Blooms that tend to linger and generally feeding that whole time, and strengthening on the nutrients that are in those waterways,” said DePaolis. “And the longer they stay in the environment, the higher up the trophic web we these blooms moving."
That's because the red tide toxins build up over time, as smaller fish are consumed by larger species.
"We are already starting to see those higher trophic level predators wash up,” said DePaolis. “We have seen reports of bonnethead sharks, of different sea birds washing up. So, I think we are seeing the beginnings of a bloom that is climbing the trophic web."
While red tide can ruin a day at the beach, it is key to remember that it depends on the wind and the orientation of the coast. It is possible to go a mile down the road, be away from the effects of the bloom.
Meteorologist Katie Walls has a full outlook of the beaches with the current red tide below.
