Naples spending up to $100,000 to remove fish kill from Red Tide

A fish kill is filling up the water in Southwest Florida.

As more people start to pile into the area, and beaches reopen, the fish kill will become a bigger problem.

In Naples, city council authorized the city manager to spend up to $100,000 to expedite the cleanup of dead fish within the city waterways due to Red Tide.

Now crews are in the waterways cleaning the fish kill out.

Neighbors living along Gulf Shore Boulevard North in Park Shore are used to going to the beach and eating outdoors.

But right now, that’s not really an option.

“It was hard not to notice it,” said Kurt Schellhas, of Naples. “Couple of our favorite restaurants are up in Venetian village. The south side, we love sitting out on the deck by the bay. And that’s out of the question now. I mean, that’s with all this terrible odor.”

The effort to clean up waterways in Naples began on Friday morning.

Crews started at the northernmost area in Venetian Bay and worked their way south in Moorings Bay.

“I think you have to anticipate a prolonged period of Red Tide. I mean, this is pretty abnormal at this time of the year to have that this kind of outbreak,” said Naples City Manager Jay Boodheshwar. “And as though as the weather begins to warm and we begin to get some rain, it’s probably going to be something that we’re dealing with in the upcoming months and probably into the summer.”

The money for the cleanup is appropriated for situations like this one, Boodheshwar said.

“However, there are emergency funds available through the state through DEP and we will be seeking reimbursement of the funds that we’re spending for this removal project,” he said.