| | | Rick Bartleson, a research scientist with the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation, said water samples offshore show lethally high concentrations of algae.
“There’s no fish left. Red tide killed them all,” he said. “All of our concentrations of red tide are still high and would still kill fish if they were out there.”
[ How climate change is making red-tide algal blooms even worse]
The algae is found in marine environments for most of the year, but the past two months have produced high concentrations, said Kelly Richmond, a spokeswoman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The duration of blooms can be affected by sunlight, nutrient and salinity content, she said.
The toxins can aerosolize in the wind that drifts ashore, triggering respiratory problems or worsening conditions such as asthma. That has incited many tourists and some locals to flee.
Sea turtles have been hit hard, with more than 300 dead from the red tide in the affected counties, according to the Associated Press.
Scott’s declaration came one day after thousands of Floridians engaged in a grass-roots collective action on Florida beaches. At 10:15 a.m. Sunday they lined up at the water’s edge and held hands, an image captured by drones. They were trying to grab public attention.
“I can’t even let my cats out on the lanai,” said Amy Ernst, a Sarasota printmaker who lives near the beach. “Eyes burning, throat burning, sinus problems.”
Adrienne Miceli-Trask, 52, a salon owner who helped organized the Hands Along the Water protest in Sarasota, said: “It’s not just on the beach. It’s in our intracoastal waterway. It’s in the air. It’s toxic. Somebody’s backyard on the intracoastal is totally filled with dead fish. It’s disgusting.”
Biologists perform a necropsy on a whale shark that died in Florida waters. (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission |
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