Red tide found off the coast of SWFL counties

Red tide has begun to appear in the Southwest Florida area from Tampa and Sarasota, with high concentrations in Charlotte County.

Lee County, per the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, has low and medium concentrations.

The Florida Department of Health in Collier County released a statement urging visitors to exercise caution when visiting Barefoot Beach and Marco Island, as a recent water sample indicated the presence of ride tide.

The algae bloom can cause respiratory inflammation in people and animals if exposed over a lengthy period.

Another sign of red tide is tied to smell, as the algae can reduce oxygen levels in the water, killing fish by the thousands.

Residents of Southwest Florida are well acquainted with the red nuisance, as in 2018, reports of the algae appearing ballooned.

WINK News spoke with Pete and Carol Hageman, the owners of the Beachcomber Trading Post, about their concerns about red tide.

“It had a big impact because the beach was open, so all the visitors stopped coming. The restaurants we didn’t have our restaurant at that time. Still, the San Bartiki and the lock and key and white elephant, you just couldn’t be there because of the hacking of the smell; everybody was hacking all the time,” said Pete. “You could say we still had a lot of our vacation rental people canceled because of the red tide and just the workers. You could hear people hacking away the whole the whole time. It affected everybody.”

It remains unclear if the severity will echo 2018’s outbreak; however, Southwest Florida residents are hoping for the best and expecting the worst.