Tampa Bay Area, Florida Gulf Red Tide Status Update

A bloom of the red tide organism, Karenia brevis, persists on the Florida Gulf Coast and in Tampa Bay. Over the past week, K. brevis was detected

A bloom of the red tide organism, Karenia brevis, persists on the Florida Gulf Coast and in Tampa Bay.

Over the past week, K. brevis was detected in 132 samples. Bloom concentrations (>100,000 cells/liter) were observed in 86 samples: five from Pasco County, 28 from Pinellas County, 24 from Hillsborough County, 8 from Manatee County, and 21 from Sarasota County.

K. brevis was not observed in samples collected from or offshore of Charlotte, Collier, or Monroe counties. Additional details are provided below.

In Southwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at background to high concentrations in and offshore of Pinellas County, very low to high concentrations in and offshore of Hillsborough County, background to high concentrations in Manatee County, very low to high concentrations in Sarasota County, and background to low concentrations in Lee County.
In Northwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at background to medium concentrations in and offshore of Pasco County.
Along the Florida East Coast over the past week, K. brevis was not observed.

On Florida’s Gulf coast, fish kills suspected to be related to red tide were reported in Pasco, Pinellas, Hillsborough, Manatee, Sarasota, and Lee counties over the past week. For more details, please visit: https://myfwc.com/research/saltwater/health/fish-kills-hotline/.

Respiratory irritation was reported over the past week in Southwest Florida in Pinellas, Manatee, Sarasota, and Lee counties. For current information, please visit: https://visitbeaches.org/.

Forecasts by the USF-FWC Collaboration for Prediction of Red Tides for Pinellas to northern Monroe counties predict northwestern movement of surface waters along the coast and minimal net transport of subsurface waters in most areas over the next four days.

FWC-FWRI is working closely with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) and other partners on the Piney Point response effort.

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