Residents are complaining about burning eyes and breathing problems. Dead fish have washed up on beaches. A beachside festival has been canceled, even though it wasn't scheduled for another month.
Florida's southwest coast is experiencing a flare-up of the toxic red tide algae setting off concerns that it could continue to stick around for a while. The current bloom started in October.
The annual BeachFest in Indian Rocks Beach, Florida, sponsored by a homeowners' association, was canceled after it determined, with help from the city and the Pinellas County Health Department, that red tide likely would continue through the middle of next month when the festival was scheduled.
'Red Tide is currently present on the beach and is forecasted to remain in the area in the weeks to come,' the Indian Rocks Beach Homeowners Association said in a letter to the public.
'It is unfortunate that it had to be canceled but it is the best decision in the interest of public health.'
Nearly two tons of debris, mainly dead fish, were cleared from Pinellas County beaches and brought to the landfill, county spokesperson Tony Fabrizio told the Tampa Bay Times.
About 1,000 pounds of fish have been cleared from beaches in St. Pete Beach since the start of the month, Mandy Edmunds, a parks supervisor with the city, told the newspaper.
'I cannot say when it's going to go away,' Bob Weisberg, the former director of the University of South Florida's Ocean Circulation Lab, told the Tampa Bay Times. 'It could very well be that this thing may linger.'
Red tide, a toxic algae bloom that occurs naturally in the Gulf of Mexico, is worsened by the presence of nutrients such as nitrogen in the water.
Red tides have been appearing along Florida's Gulf Coast as far back as the 1840s, state officials say but scientists still find it hard to predict when they will appear.
No comments:
Post a Comment