Toxic Red Tide Spreads Along Florida's Coast

Florida confirms toxic red tide spreading along Atlantic coast

Dozens of dead fsish littered a Palm Beach County beach Wednesday as a toxic red tide appeared to spread along Florida’s Atlantic coast.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials confirmed Wednesday that low to moderate amounts of the algae that cause red tide have now turned up off three counties along the state’s more densely populated east coast. Blooms were confirmed in Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie counties, marking the first appearance of red tide along Atlantic shores in more than a decade.

Wildlife officials are also testing Miami-Dade and Broward counties. Results for Broward were expected on Wednesday. But no mention of the county was made in an update posted online. In an email to the Herald, FWC spokeswoman Susan Neel said more results would be provided Friday.

Since the weekend, beach goers have complained about coughing, itchy eyes and other symptoms linked to red tide. Gerare Rimesso, a neurology researcher at the University of Miami, said he and his wife fled Fort Lauderdale beach after about an hour of coughing and runny noses Saturday morning.

Dead fish began washing ashore in MacArthur State Park in Palm Beach County on Wednesday where amounts of Karenia brevis, the algae that cause red tide, have been detected at amounts high enough to cause fish kills and respiratory distress. State biologists were sent to investigate the kills. County beaches have been closed since the weekend.

Scientists believe the blooms, which first appeared in the Gulf of Mexico off Sarasota nearly a year ago, got swept into the Gulf’s Loop Current, which connects to the Florida Currentand flows north along the Atlantic coast. In August and September, National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration satellites detected some evidence of the algae west of the remote Marquesas Islands near the Dry Tortugas, suggesting the algae could have flowed south of the Keys.

Scientists believe the algae that create red tides get swept into the Gulf of Mexico’s Loop Current, which connects to the Florida Current and flows north up the coast to the Gulf Stream. Source: Arthur Mariano, University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science