Red tide detected in St. Pete area beaches
The organism responsible for the toxic red tide bloom is once again present in Pinellas County.
Samples of water collected by Pinellas County and Florida Fish and Wildlife on Tuesday indicate low to medium levels of the red tide organism (Karenia brevis) in multiple St. Pete and Clearwater area beaches.
The medium concentrations were found at Indian Shores, Redington Shores, Redington Beach, Madeira Beach and St. Pete Beach. Low concentrations were found at Treasure Island and Fort De Soto Park.
The detection of red tide follows recent reports of dead fish and mild irritation.
Red tide is typically a naturally occurring harmful algae bloom. In recent years, it has been catastrophic for the tourism and hospitality sector, especially for waterfront hotels and restaurants.
FWC also found low to medium concentrations in Hillsborough County, background (miniscule) to medium concentrations were found in Manatee County, and background concentrations were found in Sarasota County.
The red tide organism was not detected in Northwest Florida nor the state’s east coast.
Ryan patrick
June 18, 2021at4:10 pm
We are here currently and there are 100s of 1000s of dead fish all along the beaches in sand key, clearwater, honeymoon island and the causeway leading to it. They’re out here with bucket loaders and crews picking up dead fish from the beach. Which beach did you go to because we’d love to swim while we are here and not have dead fish bumping up against us? Most of the fish we saw were small but there were some 3-5 foot fish dead on the beach too with no visible damage to indicate a seabird or raptor ate them.
H
June 17, 2021at4:06 pm
Glad to hear that. Going there in a couple days and hope it’s cleared up or, at least, not gotten any worse.
Steven Davis
June 15, 2021at7:22 pm
The photo of dead fish shown here is from previous red tide. We spent 6 days on St Pete beach and did not see one dead fish.
Joan Leane
June 9, 2021at10:22 pm
Saw this before so awful 😢