Red Tide Status Update: 11/22/24

Over the past week, red tide was detected in 65 samples collected from Florida’s Gulf Coast. Bloom concentrations (>100,000 cells/liter) were observed in 14 samples: two offshore of Pinellas County, two from and offshore of Hillsborough County, two from Manatee County, and eight from Sarasota County.

This bloom continues to be dynamic. Chlorophyll satellite imagery (NOAA, USF) from 11/21 shows patchy, low levels of chlorophyll, coincident with records of red tide and other phytoplankton taxa, distributed along much of the coast from Pasco to Lee counties.

Additional details are provided below.

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

Fish kills suspected to be related to red tide were reported to FWC’s Fish Kill Hotline and other partners over the past week for Southwest Florida (along Manatee and Sarasota counties).

Respiratory Irritation suspected to be related to red tide was reported over the past week in Southwest Florida (Sarasota County). For forecasts that use FWC and partner data, please visit the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Gulf of Mexico Harmful Algal Blooms Forecast.

Forecasts by the USF-FWC Collaboration for Prediction of Red Tides for Pinellas County to northern Monroe County predict net south to southeastern movement of surface and subsurface waters in most areas over the next 3.5 days.

Due to the upcoming holiday the next status report will be issued on Tuesday, November 26^th. Please check our daily sampling map, which can be accessed via the online status report on our Red Tide Current Status page. For more information on algal blooms and water quality, please visit Protecting Florida Together.

This information, including maps and reports with additional details, is also available on the FWRI Red Tide website. The website also provides links to additional information related to the topic of Florida red tide including satellite imagery, experimental red tide forecasts, shellfish harvesting areas, the FWC Fish Kill Hotline, the Florida Poison Information Center (to report human health effects related to exposure to red tide), and other wildlife related hotlines.

To learn more about various organisms that have been known to cause algal blooms in Florida waters, see the FWRI Red Tide Flickr page. Archived status maps can also be found on Flickr.       

The FWRI HAB group in conjunction with Mote Marine Laboratory now have a facebook page.  Please like our page and learn interesting facts concerning red tide and other harmful algal blooms in Florida.