Fish Kills

A month-long string of fish kills are affecting shallow waters that run the length of the island chain, from Key Largo to Key West. Researchers blame soaring sea surface temperatures off the southern coast of Florida that have at at time approached 100 degrees and are running some seven degrees above normal.

Soaring numbers can have dire consequences for state waterways battling algae blooms, coral bleaching and fish kills. It also may add powerful fuel to tropical systems that pass through coastal waters during hurricane season.

New research finds that human pollution influences the severity of red tides more directly than scientists previously understood. The connection sheds light on the need for better water-quality monitoring statewide — and ultimately, to reduce the nutrient pollution flowing into Florida’s waterways.

After decades of pollution suffocated Tampa Bay and killed half its seagrass and much of its marine life, unprecedented political cooperation and hundreds of science-guided projects brought the estuary back to life. Tampa Bay became a symbol for the success of the Clean Water Act of 1972, but seagrasses and fish have begun to die again.

So far, 250 dead fish have been confirmed in the Tuttle Basin at the bay's north end, where poor circulation means water gets flushed less often.

Whether or not researchers discover brevetoxins in the pesky flies, the results are expected to be scientifically relevant.

A weekly report from the state showed high concentrations of red tide offshore in Pasco County and along the coast of Madeira Beach in Pinellas and near several beaches in Sarasota, including Venice Beach and Manasota Beach.

As red tide continues to plague Florida’s west coast, it also seems to continue expanding north.

Marchers blamed the state's response to the spill of 200 million gallons of contaminated water from the former Piney Point phosphate plant for what’s happening now in Tampa Bay.

The beaches along Pinellas County should be mostly clear this weekend, officials reported, but a health alert was issued for Picnic Island and Davis Islands in Hillsborough.

State wildlife officials say in their mid-week report that toxic red tide blooms, which originally started in Southwest Florida, continue to spread north.

The Department of Health in Pinellas County sent out the alert on Friday as a red tide bloom that has been found in Tampa Bay and along the county's beaches spread north to Sand Key.