A Red Tide bloom has moved into my fishing grounds, in the GOM north of Tampa. My fishing partner said there were thousands of dead grouper, snapper, hogfish and such floating on the surface 50 miles out this weekend.
Capt. Larry Teuton
Cracker Built Custom Boats
“Ships are the nearest things to dreams that hands have ever made.” -Robert N. Rose
Dang Larry, that’s a bummer! I’m curious as to why they get red tides, seemingly frequently? When I was there the 2 people I fished with and the tackle shop talked about red tides
14’ Skiff-“Redfish Reaper”
quote:
http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/redtide.htmlWhile many people call these blooms ‘red tides,’ scientists prefer the term harmful algal bloom. One of the best known HABs in the nation occurs nearly every summer along Florida?s Gulf Coast. This bloom, like many HABs, is caused by microscopic algae that produce toxins that kill fish and make shellfish dangerous to eat. The toxins may also make the surrounding air difficult to breathe. As the name suggests, the bloom of algae often turns the water red.
</font id=“quote”></blockquote id=“quote”>Mako 1901 Inshore-Honda 130
10% of the people catch 90% of the fish.
Wonder if they are closing the scallop season down early?
John
Pathfinder 23 HPS
I don’t think it’s close enough to shore to affect the scallops yet and it’s moving mostly south so should miss the open scallop grounds. This from a friend today…
quote:
One of the local commercial fishermen said he saw lots of dead fish 15-20 miles off Yankeetown but couldn't tell if the water was red or brown as it was early in the morning yesterday. These bloated fish could have blown away from the main part of the Red Tide itself and not be good indicators of the location. He had seen positive proof of Red Tide further NW of Yankeetown the evening before. He came in early because of the Red Tide, wanting to get his fish sold before there is a ban on fish sales. (It has happened before)This was released today but it doesn’t really update the location. It does, however, provide you with some information on Red Tide.
The largest red tide bloom recorded in Florida waters since 2006 is lingering in the Gulf of Mexico and could move south over the next few days.
Red tide, caused here by Karenia brevis, can cause fish kills, make shellfish unsafe to eat and cause respiratory issues in marine mammals, sea turtles and humans. Thousands of dead fish were reported late last week about 40 miles off Hernando County, where the bloom stretches 80 miles north to south.
“The surface bloom is pretty stationary, but the deeper water portion of the bloom is projected to move south over the next three days,” said Brandon Basino with the Florida Wildlife Research Institute. Species killed include snapper, grunts, various grouper, black sea bass, hogfish, triggerfish and crabs.
Upward of 236 manatees were killed in Lee County waters by a red tide outbreak in 2013 ? causes of death for some animals was undetermined but thought to be related to the red tide bloom.
Predicting when and if the 4,000 square mile bloom will move into Southwest Florida waters is impossible, but water qua
That’s some bad stuff, I saw the effects some years ago in Costa Rica!