I know there has been a red tide on and off for the last 10 months, but things I read tonight make it sound like it could be worse than initially reported. From what I read people are getting sick, the beach has a horrible stench, and vacations are being cancelled. A doctor on the island said that anyone with respiratory issues shouldn't be near the beach. Is this true or are people just freaking out over nothing?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Ackks,

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things I read tonight make it sound like it could be worse than initially reported. From what I read people are getting sick, the beach has a horrible stench, and vacations are being cancelled. A doctor on the island said t

It is definitely the worst I've seen it in my 5 years here. Sea turtle deaths are double what they are in a typical year and fish kills are larger and more common. It's a big story down here. I don't know if it's enough to warrant canceling a vacation but it's worse than usual.

I'm supposed to be down there in a few weeks, so that's what I'm trying to figure out. I read the one local story and everything I've read since has been worse.

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STATUS REPORT #4
City of Sanibel Fish Kill Clean-up
Additional Labor & Equipment Mobilized and Deployed Today

IN A NUTSHELL - Due to the unprecedented volume of dead sea life currently washing up on the shores of Sanibel, the City continues the collection and removal that began on Saturday, July 28th. First break of day reports indicate dead sea life deposits today are greater in volume than yesterday.
http://www.mysanibel.com/Depar...-up-8-2-18-11-15-a.m.

I'm sure it's impacting Captiva, but is it being hit as hard?

It is awful here. I am on East Coast but the discharge has been bad. I’m a mile from inlet and we have dead snapper, sheepshead, etc. Bette than 20 Miles north but the drainage adds a 1.5 knot current on outbound time. Won’t let my kids paddle board or kayak.

The kill on both coasts had been unbelievable-we will be voting largely on who the hell will deliver on the promises they fix this cluster...

It wasn't until I read this that I started to consider cancelling our trip.

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Is it safe & who's monitoring it?
FORT MYERS
3 minutes

Empty beaches and parking lots: just one of the impacts red tide and algae are having on our coast.

Another, the struggle to breathe. It raises the question: is the air safe and who’s monitoring it?

Shirley Tebussek and her family just want to enjoy a relaxing day on Fort Myers Beach.

“As soon as I opened the door, I started to cough,” Tebussek said.

Tebussek blames that cough on the red tide toxins in the air here.

“I can’t take a deep, deep breath,” Tebussek said. “It’s alarming.”

And the weather plays a big role too. When the wind is blowing offshore toward the Gulf, you don’t get the toxins in the air. As soon as it switches directions and blows on onshore, that’s when people start coughing.

“Being on the beach is not a pleasant place to be right now,” said Dr. Paul Kuehner.

WINK News reached out to several agencies to see if the air quality was being tested in Southwest Florida for red tide:

The Department of Environmental Protection: no.
Florida, Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission: no.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: no.

The non-profit research facility Mote Marine Laboratory provided a statement:

If we have those toxin concentrations, we can make assumptions on occurrence of respiratory irritation when concentrations are paired with wind and currents.

If the red tide is high in the water, you can assume it’s going to be in the air and affect your breathing.

“It’s not a minor problem and it’s not going to go away,” Dr. Kuehner said.

Regarding to the air tests, Tebussek stressed their importance.

“If it’s not being done, it should be,” Tebussek said.

Tebussek added she doesn’t like being the only one on the beach.

“This is a tourist area. We’ve never parked this close to the beach,” Tebussek said. “It’s empty.”

What’s the Department of Health have to say about this?

The Department of Health told WINK News they do not do air testing either and that red tide toxins can travel as far as two miles inland. They depend on lifeguards along the coast to report issues, which they can pass on to the department.

WINK News reporter Kelsey Kushner was live on the Sanibel Causeway as concerned residents and officials feel the effects of the water quality here in Southwest Florida. Watch the full segment below:

http://www.winknews.com/2018/0...-whos-monitoring-it/

Its the worst I have ever seen it in 30 years. Manatees and humongous Goliath grouper and fish by the millions are dead on the beaches. Its nasty. And yes, I went on a mild red tide day to the beach and it did cause some respiratory distress to my wife and I (lots of coughing and wheezing). And this was a very mild day, way less than current conditions. Almost everybody I know is avoiding the beaches for the past several months.

The bloom started in November? How has this not made the national news?

Why is this centered around Sanibel Island and northern Lee County?

---------------------------------------------

https://www.news-press.com/sto...rmy-corps/873952002/

The number of dead manatees and sea turtles continues to climb as red tide strangles the life out of coastal Southwest Florida waters.

Bloom conditions started in November, and 400 stranded and dead sea turtles have been pulled from Lee, Collier, Charlotte and Sarasota county waters.

Lee County leads the way with 165 stranded and dead sea turtles. Collier accounted for 97 of those turtles.

A manatee that likely died due to red tide poisoning was retrieved from the Cape Coral Yacht Club on Tuesday while hundreds of residents and visitors were expressing their anger with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at a meeting nearby.

"There was one dead female manatee," said Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokeswoman Michelle Kerr. "The cause of death is not determined yet, but it was found in a location with high concentrations of red tide. There was speculation that the manatee had a baby, a calf with her. She did not. She was actually found in a mating herd."

The FWC found the manatee, tied a rope to its tail and dragged it to the boat ramp before a truck hauling a trailer was lowered into the water to retrieve the carcass.

The red tide has been lingered along the coast since November and may persist into 2019 since it's typically broken up by cold fronts.

Dead sea life is still washing up on the shores of Southwest Florida. Two large Goliath Grouper were seen on the Sanibel Causeway on Wednesday 8/1/2018. On Tuesday, a dead manatee was found in the river and towed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to the Cape Coral Yacht Club boat ramp during a public meeting with the Army Corps of Engineers. The suspected cause of death is red tide poisoning. Andrew West/The News-Press

It's been centered mostly around Sanibel and northern Lee County waters but at times has reached from the Tampa Bay area to the Florida Keys.

Fish kills were cleaned up in Collier County on Tuesday as well.

Counts have ranged from natural background levels to 1 million cells per liter and higher.

Fish kills and breathing irritation in humans can start when counts reach 10,000 cells per liter, according to the FWC.

A report released by FWC Wednesday shows counts of 1 million cells per liter from Sarasota to Naples.

To the south, in Estero Bay, Florida Gulf Coast University marine researcher Bob Wasno lead a trip of 27 high school students and found varying conditions.

At first, he said, he was seeing baitfish and mullet — fish that had likely died days before and were being washed in with the tide.

Then he captained the boat to the south end of Lover's Key State Park.

"There’s lots of dead everything here," Wasno said. "I’m watching a sea trout die right at my feet. There’s mullet, snook, pinfish, seasnakes, small grouper, and there’s a lot of it. And it's looking very, very fresh."

Local beaches have been pretty sparse this week due largely to poor water quality conditions.

Signs at beach accesses on Fort Myers Beach advertise that the town's community pool on Oak Street has dropped its admission fee because of the toxic waters.

Dead sea life is washing up on the shores of Southwest Florida. Deaths are most likely caused from a red tide outbreak that is off the coast in the Gulf of Mexico.

"Because of the conditions at the beach, at this time the city manager and mayor and City Council chose to offer some type of water relief for our visitors and residents," said Sean DePalma, the town's parks and recreation director. "The fee is waived today and probably will be" for the rest of the week.

DePalma said the pool is seeing about 55 more visitors than on the same day last summer.

At the north end of Fort Myers Beach, at Bowditch Point Park, a German couple sat in beach chairs near a band of drift algae.

"This is the first time we've seen it like this," said Wolfgan Butenschoen, who is staying with his wife in Cape Coral for three weeks. "We read about it while we were still in Germany, about all the things on the beach. Now we're worried about the dolphins."

Butenschoen said he and his wife plan to stay for all three weeks.

"I think we are supporting the area by staying," Butenschoen said. "And we will come back."

What is it going to take to clear that out? I can't imagine how that is impacting everyone down there.

I lived on Sanibel for 35 years. A red tide lasting this long and this close to shore would keep me from vacationing there. Think front end loader scraping dead fish off the beach.
The Caloosahatchee River empties into the bay in North Ft Myers, and is used to dump excess water from Lake Okechobee. Lake O collects all the farming fertilizer run off from Big Sugar. The chemicals cause/exacerbate algae blooms that cause red tide.
Because the sugar companies are under federal regulation there are huge impediments for local government to change the water releases.

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Originally posted by sunburn:
I lived on Sanibel for 35 years. A red tide lasting this long and this close to shore would keep me from vacationing there. Think front end loader scraping dead fish off the beach.
The Caloosahatchee River empties into the bay in North Ft Myers, and is used to dump excess water from Lake Okechobee. Lake O collects all the farming fertilizer run off from Big Sugar. The chemicals cause/exacerbate algae blooms that cause red tide.
Because the sugar companies are under federal regulation there are huge impediments for local government to change the water releases.

So what ended the one in 06 that lasted a year and a half? I just spoke with the resort and they told me people were swimming a week and a half ago without a problem. They told me things could be fine in a few weeks when I'm down there. They are obviously trying to downplay things.

Its true, Lake Okeechobee has dykes that are only so high. The lake can only take on so much water. When it rains a lot, they have to release water. They release it east and west through the waterways. And it does damage to the local eco-systems.

The locals are all pissed off and keep yelling at the army core of engineers as if they can wave a magic wand and stop releasing water from the lake. Well, they cant. The last time the dykes were breached, in a hurricane, in the 1920's, thousands of people drowned. If the dykes were to breach today, hundreds of thousands of people would drown and die. The population around the lake is enormous today compared to the 1920's.

The army core of engineers has a plan to raise the dykes so that the lake can hold more water, but of course the lake is enormous and the cost is in the billions and billions of dollars to complete, and it would probably take ten or more years to complete a project that size.

I guess the biggest thing I'm curious about now is if what the resort told me is true. They said while it has been going on sporadically for 10 months it isn't always toxic and could be back to normal in a few weeks. I don't see how that could be the case, but the guy said things are getting better from a few days ago.

The resort wants your money. which resort?

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Originally posted by Ackks:
I guess the biggest thing I'm curious about now is if what the resort told me is true. They said while it has been going on sporadically for 10 months it isn't always toxic and could be back to normal in a few weeks. I don't see how that could be the case, but the guy said things are getting better from a few days ago.

I agree they are likely trying to downplay it in order to keep from losing revenue. Buuuuut, there’s also a bit of truth to what they told you. I lived in Cocoa Beach for a while, and on and off between the years 200&-2010, the red tide came and went and was pretty bad for a while. There were days you could go swimming and it was fine and there days we couldn’t drive down A1A, it was so bad. Step out of your car and immediately your lungs are on fire and you can’t breathe, everything smells like death. That stuff is horrible, and it’s hard to predict how bad it’s actually going to be on a given day. But when it’s THAT bad, it’s miserable.

I spoke to the doctor's office listed in the story above and they told me things could be better in a few weeks as well, but they obviously could be worse as well with August being such a rainy month. We are going to wait and see, but with airfare already booked we are looking for alternatives as well.

Could anyone suggest a condo resort on the beach in Clearwater? Any other areas we should consider?

I live nearby (Cape Coral) and you can smell it in the air. It is really bad.

the companies and lobbyists involved with big sugar make the tobacco companies look like rookies.
Refined sugar kills a lot more people than tobacco does as well...

I was in Fort Myers in late July. At the retirement home complex I visited, with the Caloosahatchee river bay as the primary water surrounding the "island," I found no red tide. I did not feel any respiratory distress while I jogged around the 1.5 mile loop of the island several times. This complex is within sight of the bridge to Sanibel.

My sister, who lives there, claimed that her family was in distress due to the airborne emissions from the algae. They live inland at least ten miles from the water.

Has the entire SW been impacted this way in the past during a red tide or is this an abnormality? I know Sanibel will be messed up for a while, but if things are likely to improve north of Fort Myers in a few weeks we may be able to use our airline tickets.

We'd need some help though because we aren't familiar with any of the resorts. Our first pick would be Venice because it doesn't have shells, but the kids could at least hunt for shark teeth. Does anyone know of a good resort on the beach with a kitchen, pool, and multiple bedrooms? We'd like to be in that area, but we'll look at anything all the way up to Clearwater.

See: https://www.google.com/search?...ap&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

Clearwater is as far south as I would go. Friends on Sanibel told me last night that a line of vacationers were at several rental agencies screaming for a refund....