Red Tide Worsens On Florida Gulf Coast From Clearwater To Everglades City; Fish Kills In 9 Counties

[hatrack]

EDIT

In most places, with the wet season winding down and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers easing up on releasing polluted water from Lake Okeechobee, the toxic algae that had become a key election year campaign issue had dropped to relatively low levels. Fish kills were down and so were the coughing fits among beach-goers.

But in the weeks following the storm, red tide that is already considered the worst in a decade has roared back.
On Monday, state wildlife officials logged high to medium levels along beaches from Clearwater to waters off Everglades City and in the Panhandle. Fish kills were reported in nine counties from the Panhandle around the tip of the state to the Space Coast. Along the Atlantic coast, levels capable of killing fish and causing respiratory distress remained along Cocoa Beach and in Martin County, but had dropped from Friday to Monday along other stretches of the Treasure Coast.


EDIT

While hurricanes can mix up the ocean and sometimes even provide a healthy flush — following Hurricane Irma guides in the Key and Ten Thousands Islands happily reported a surge in fish — red tides require more than a one-time flush. Polluted run-off from a storm’s heavy rain or retreating storm surge also likely provide the blooms with an injection of fuel. As Michael crossed the Gulf as a fierce Category 4 storm, Shay said temperature data show heavy mixing occurred across the long steep slope of the Florida Shelf where the red tide algae, Karenia brevis, live. Water from the shelf was then pushed ashore as Michael passed to the right, he said.

Michael, Shay said, in effect did the opposite of Hurricane Irma, which occurred in September 2017 a month before Mote Marine Laboratory scientists first detected red tide off Sarasota in October, and he suspects helped trigger the current bloom: As it slid up the coast, Irma sucked water off the coast and sent algae-laden water from the bottom ashore.

EDIT

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/environment/article221148120.html

[Vogon_Glory]

1. Floridians Have Four Years To Find Out

Whether they dislike colored people more than they care about their Gulf Coast beaches and waterways. I have ZERO sympathy for any Florida Gulf Coast bigots stupid enough to vote Republican after what Rick Scott and his accomlicrs In the Florida legislature did to their water quality.

[Cetacea]

2. Why didn't they vote for Nelson?

Scott had a 22 percent approval rating not too long ago...it's something else in play, and it's most likely vote tampering.

[Vogon_Glory]

3. Vote Tampering Possibly OTOH

Possibly vote tampering, but on the other hand, these last two elections have taught me that all too many voters will vote against their own interests, even when the negative consequences are not only staring them in their faces but reeking in their nostrils.

I strongly suspect that a good chunk of DiSantis’ and Scott’s support came from right-wing Florida Gulf Coast idiots who failed to connect the dots between red tide, dead fish, reeking and contaminated beaches, shuttered businesses and ruined livelihoods and the right-wing Republican politicians they voted for because they wanted to stick it to to liberals and that colored guy Gillum.

It’s like a tamer version of those fatal selfies: Stupid Has Consequences.