Thursday, September 15, 2005
ENN: Environmental News Network
Red Tide Blamed for Fish Kills in Florida
September 14, 2005 - By Associated Press
http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=8782
NAPLES, Fla. - A tenacious red tide bloom that has lingered in the Gulf of
Mexico off Tampa Bay all year now is being blamed for recent fish kills 100
miles off southwest Florida, state biologists said.
Tests of samples taken Monday confirmed the presence of the toxic algae that
can be deadly to fish, said Jeremy Lake, spokesman for the Florida Marine
Research Institute in St. Petersburg.
Strong westerly breezes are aggravating the problem by washing the dead fish
ashore and causing some respiratory problems for people, he said.
"The red tide is there, but in low concentrations," Lake said.
Crews in both counties have been cleaning up hundreds of dead fish every day
from the beaches since last week, officials said. In some places, fish were
washing up as fast as workers could remove them.
The massive red tide bloom that has plagued coastal waters this year from
Honeymoon Island north of Clearwater to south of Sarasota has been extra
toxic and deadly to sea life, scientists say, the worst in more than 30
years.
Fish, sand dollars, sponges, crabs, coral and other undersea life suffocated
as the red tide -- this strain is called Karenia brevis -- choked off the
oxygen in the water. Bottlenose dolphins, sea turtles, manatees and birds
that swim through it, inhale the nerve-impairing toxins in the surf spray or
eat contaminated fish also have perished.
Divers and fishermen have reported a 2,000-square-mile "dead zone" void of
undersea life off Pinellas County, where the worst of the red tide is
concentrated.
// posted by Linda Weissinger Lupowitz @ 2:22 PM 
