Red tide showing improvements in North Captiva, Collier County

Only a week after thousands of dead fish were lining the shorelines of Sanibel and Captiva Red tide, things appear to be looking better.

Captiva’s Jensen’s Twin Palms manager Justin Harris says it’s been tough for businesses and hotels on Sanibel and Captiva lately with the amount of dead fish lining shorelines during the worst red tie the cities have seen in over a decade.

The red tide is making an especially hard impact on bottom-dwelling fish, blue crab, and shrimp, according to a marine science professor at Florida Gulf Coast University.

Fishermen like Robert Garrett say the fish are finally beginning to bite back, “The redfish usually come into the passes in September, they’re already starting to show up. Now I don’t know if they’ll be affected, but I don’t think they would come back if it was dirty, they’re very clean fish anyway.”

Businesses we’ve talked to here too are happy the beaches are at least clear of the dead fish, just in time for the weekend.

Experts say the fish population will get better again too. Red tide is a natural phenomenon and they say fish populations can bounce back fairly quickly.

The latest maps still show from low to high concentrations of red tide (Karenia brevis) blooms along the Sanibel and Captiva coasts with Noth Captiva having the least.

Concentrations are high along the Fort Myers Beach south down to North Naples. Most of Collier County is seeing low concentrations.