Florida’s coastal waters are showing almost no signs of red tide activity, save for a lone detection on the Atlantic side of the state. In its latest weekly update, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) reported that the red tide organism, Karenia brevis, was found at minimum “background concentrations” in exactly one sample collected from Nassau County along the East Coast.

Monitoring Red Tide

Meanwhile, tests across the rest of the state came back entirely negative. Over the past seven days, the organism was not observed anywhere in Southwest or Northwest Florida. To monitor these sprawling coastal spaces, scientists are relying on satellite imagery from the University of South Florida (USF) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA NCCOS) to watch both offshore and nearshore trends.

So far, the single East Coast finding has not caused any disruption to local wildlife or coastal communities. The FWC stated that “no fish kills suspected to be related to red tide were reported to FWC’s Fish Kill Hotline or other partners over the past week.” Respiratory irritation, a common side effect for humans near active blooms, was also completely absent throughout the state.

Over the next few days, water currents are expected to behave unpredictably along part of the Gulf Coast. A short-term, 3.5-day forecast put together by the USF-FWC Collaboration for Prediction of Red Tides expects “variable movement of surface and subsurface waters” from Pinellas down to northern Monroe counties.

Original reporting: Tampa Free Press — read the source article.