Red tide returns to local beaches

SARASOTA — Patrons at Sarasota and Manatee County public beaches navigated pockets of red tide to spend Sunday at the beach.

Tia Armstrong was surf side at Lido Beach with her family under a large sun shelter placed high on the beach to avoid the rising tide around 2:30 p.m. She said they've been making plans based on the red tide status reports at visitbeaches.org and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's red tide website.

Read more: Complete coverage of red tide in Southwest Florida

They chose to avoid the beach all summer and fall because of red tide and went camping instead at Alexander Sprints in Altoona and Lithia Springs in Hillsborough County — both have natural freshwater springs for swimming.

Armstrong decided westerly winds that impacted the area Friday and Saturday would be gone by Sunday and planned to take visiting family to the beach. Red tide felt over the weekend was not accompanied by large fish die-offs seen last summer and fall.

The red tide has persisted in Sarasota-Manatee for 16 months, since October of 2017.

FWC lab tests on Wednesday determined that the red tide organism, Karenia brevis, was not present in Manatee County, although a Herald-Tribune reporter at the beach Saturday saw visitors covering their faces and coughing. Very low to high levels of red tide were observed at Lido and Siesta Beachs and low levels near Turtle Beach, where beachgoers were also hacking.

Mote Marine Laboratory reported medium concentrations near its dock at New Pass in Sarasota Bay, and very low levels were found at Venice Jetty and Brohard (Dog) Beach.

The Florida Department of Health in Sarasota County reported red tide effects at all 16 public beaches in Sarasota County. Lido Beach, near the pavilion, and Siesta Key showed high cell counts over 1,000 milliliters. All other sites were under 89.

FWC did not report fish kills this week.

Seawater at Sarasota and Manatee County beaches looked like a greenish-brown porridge, but thanks to easterly winds, respiratory irritation was low.

Armstrong says she has signed petitions urging Congress to help combat red tide.

"We live here year-round and this (visiting the beach) is what we do on weekends," she said. "We couldn't go to the beaches — all the dead animals — it's not fun. ... They need to make changes."

A cold snap coming in the middle of the week could help snap red tide.

SNN-TV meteorologist Dan Henry says lows in the 40s on Wednesday and Thursday could be some of the coolest days of winter.

"That could help lower the Gulf temperature," Henry said. There is a 30 percent chance of rain on Wednesday, and unlike the previous two low-pressure systems, heavy rain is not anticipated.

A state agency, the FWC says it will continue to monitor harmful algal blooms using data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association deemed "necessary to protect life and property." NOAA issues twice-weekly reports for red tide blooms in the Gulf and East Coast of Florida and provides three to four-day forecasts for respiratory irritation.

However, the University of South Florida, which operates The Collaboration for Predictions of Red Tides with the FWC Research Institute, says they are missing critical data needed to build forecasts because of missing deployments of nutrient sensors and deep-sea drone gliders, possibly because of furloughs caused by the government shutdown.

The nutrient sensors are normally affixed to existing buoys used to detect winds and currents.

Bob Weisberg, USF professor of oceanography, said that gliders and nutrient sensors help researchers understand where red tide originates and how it is transported to shore.

"To date, the study of red tide in Florida has suffered from what I liken to the movie, 'The Usual Suspects,'" Weisberg said. "We all gravitate to satellite color imagery because these look good (when there are no clouds), and we all like to lament the runoff of nutrients from land — the usual suspects. But if we really want to improve our understanding of this phenomenon and possibly find ways for mitigation, then we must learn how the phenomenon really works. For this, we require observations in the region of initiation and along the pathway to the nearshore."

Red tide experts at Mote Marine Laboratory have also reported difficulty accessing satellite information.

Red tide never left& increased in intensity again on the SRQ coast this wk. Last wk,Coastal cell counts depleted,but reports of respiratory irritation persisted. I needed satellite imagery 2 tell me how far offshore the bloom was. Due to the shut down, no images from Dec 21- 2day https://t.co/ppY1q6tuSx

— Dr. Tracy Fanara (@inspectorplanet) January 4, 2019

FWC spokeswoman Katie Purcell said USF researchers and other groups could be affected by different issues related to the government shutdown. But FWC continues to collect water samples and receive information from NOAA.

#Redtide update: Lido Beach has low red tide levels but good onshore conditions. Winds blowing out to sea and pea soup water.pic.twitter.com/LVAB9rYFUF

— Carlos R. Munoz (@ReadCarlos)January 6, 2019

Red tide update: Effects at Siesta Beach very minimal#redtidehttps://t.co/0RybOGNClU

— Carlos R. Munoz (@ReadCarlos)January 6, 2019

#Redtide update: Siesta Beach in Sarasota County has minimal red tide effects. There is no coughing, sea temperatures were 70°, and an easterly offshore is lightly blowing. Overall, I would recommend Siesta Beach for recreational activities today.pic.twitter.com/GJGRygIXUa

— Carlos R. Munoz (@ReadCarlos)January 6, 2019