Red Tide Status Update for February 26, 2021

Current Conditions
The red tide organism, Karenia brevis, persists in Southwest Florida. Over the past week, K. breviswas detected in 28 samples. Bloom concentrations (>100,000 cells/liter) were observed in four samples collected from Lee County. Satellite imagery (2/25; NOAA, USF) indicates that chlorophyll patches persist along and offshore of Lee, Collier, and Monroe counties.

• In Southwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was observed at background concentrations in Sarasota County, very low concentrations in Charlotte County, background to medium concentrations in and/or offshore of Lee County, and background to very low concentrations in Collier County.
• In Northwest Florida over the past week, K. brevis was not observed.
• Along the Florida East Coast over the past week, K. brevis was not observed.

A fish kill suspected to be related to red tide was reported over the past week in Lee County. For more details, please visit: https://myfwc.com/research/saltwater/health/fish-kills-hotline/.

Respiratory irritation was reported over the past week in Southwest Florida in Lee County. Additional details are provided in the Southwest Coast report and for current information, please visit: https://visitbeaches.org/.

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

The next complete status report will be issued on Friday, March 5^th. Please check our daily sampling map, which can be accessed via the online status report on our Red Tide Current Statuspage. 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.