Can you eat seafood from Red Tide? FWC weighs in

There’s nothing like sitting down to a nice, freshly caught seafood dinner, but dead fish line our beaches right now. It is not appetizing.

With Red Tide stretching up and down our coastline, where is the fresh fish you’re eating coming from and is it safe?

Fish are the ultimate victims of Red Tide. When you see them dead, rotting, and lining the sand of every Beach in southwest Florida, “I want to eat seafood” is probably not the first thing that comes to mind.

That is unless you are Jodi Valentine. “I will keep eating seafood forever. I ate seafood for dinner.”

Was Valentine’s decision a good one? WINK News set out to find out.

Reporters Claire Galt got on a boat to see where the fish were coming from and to get to the men at the source of it all, Captain Bill D’Antuono, and his seafood dealer Dilly.

D’Antuono is the captain of Naples Offshore Fishing. He catches the fish. Dilly is the man behind Dilly’s Fish Company. He buys the captain’s fish and sells them to local restaurants.

They said the fish they catch and sell come from 100 miles offshore, far from Red Tide.

“The water is crystal clear. Even right after the hurricane, we were not on maybe 120 miles out, and you could see down 80 feet. The water was crystal clear,” said Dilly.

“All these fish, we had to chase them down the spear gun, or they’re fighting on a fishing rod for their life. We know if they’re healthy or not,” D’Antuono said.

Seem fishy? It’s not, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. D’Antuono and Dilly are right. Its website says any local finfish is safe to eat as long as it’s filleted first.

Now before you get too excited, it is illegal to harvest clams, mussels, and oysters from Red Tide areas.

The bottom line is if you don’t know where your food is coming from, ask.