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Florida's Gulf Coast Battles Deadly And Smelly Red Tide (npr.org)
Greg Allen, writing for NPR: Florida this week declared a state of emergency because of a slow-moving natural disaster -- red tide. Red tide is toxic algae that have persisted off Florida's Gulf Coast for nearly a year. In recent weeks, the algae bloom has worsened, killing fish, turtles and dolphins and discouraging tourism on some of the state's most beautiful beaches.
Scores of dead fish were visible on the shore of Manatee Beach on a recent morning. There was a smell from the fish, but something more -- an acrid smell that can make you cough. Mary Vanswol, who was at the beach with her husband, James, said, "Uh, the smell is terrible. And it's affecting my lungs. I'm coughing, not so much him, but I am. It's just sad to see all the dead fish." The Vanswols live nearby and usually go swimming. But not today. After getting a look at the dead fish and the murky, slightly reddish-hued water, Mary Vanswols said they were leaving. "I wouldn't even walk along the edge of it. I just don't think it's safe," she said. Robert Weisberg, an oceanographer at the University of South Florida whose lab produces seasonal and short term forecasts of red tide, told Gizmodo a confluence of ocean circulation and environmental factors are likely responsible for initiating the bloom. Others experts are pointing to the potential role of human-driven nutrient pollution in helping to maintain it.
Scores of dead fish were visible on the shore of Manatee Beach on a recent morning. There was a smell from the fish, but something more -- an acrid smell that can make you cough. Mary Vanswol, who was at the beach with her husband, James, said, "Uh, the smell is terrible. And it's affecting my lungs. I'm coughing, not so much him, but I am. It's just sad to see all the dead fish." The Vanswols live nearby and usually go swimming. But not today. After getting a look at the dead fish and the murky, slightly reddish-hued water, Mary Vanswols said they were leaving. "I wouldn't even walk along the edge of it. I just don't think it's safe," she said. Robert Weisberg, an oceanographer at the University of South Florida whose lab produces seasonal and short term forecasts of red tide, told Gizmodo a confluence of ocean circulation and environmental factors are likely responsible for initiating the bloom. Others experts are pointing to the potential role of human-driven nutrient pollution in helping to maintain it.
they'll get plenty of federal funding. California, OTOH, better hope those wild fires burn themselves out.
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for those in Florida, this is the common name for a worldwide phenomenon known as an algal bloom when it is caused by species of dinoflagellates and other organisms.
it is not to be confused with The Red Bloom: a scourge which plagues Florida in the form of an overweight bald methamphetamine addict in a cape fashioned from a bath rug who steals urinal mints from hotel bathrooms and once consumed nearly ten kilos of frosting at a pastry factory in Tallahassee before being subdued by a combination of police dogs, tazer, and coronary artery disease.
Good people go to bed earlier.
You know what comes after a red tide? A red storm!
The Russians are coming!
#DeleteFacebook
They did say "seasonal" which means it comes and goes. But this time it has stuck around for nearly a year which made it a state emergency.
This is a worse one than usual; the locals were blaming allowing water from Lake Okeechobee to be diverted down the Caloosahatchee to prevent flooding the sugar plantations when I was visiting. I don't know if this has been scientifically confirmed, but it would make sense that it would increase the severity of an algae bloom.
Algae are plants. Fertilizer feeds plants. Allowing runoff from a lake heavily contaminated with fertilizer runoff to be dumped into the ocean has a predictable result. Science, baby!
It isn't without a shred of proof, it is a documented phenomena that fertilizer runoff worsens algae blooms. It'd be impossible for it not to occur, really... the microbes are going to eat what you give 'em. The only thing at issue is whether it exacerbated this bloom, which while I believe the evidence is currently pointed to "yes" is a harder question to answer definitively, given that they occur naturally and there were potentially other affects that may have contributed more to how bad this bloom is.
Let us offer then our hopes and prayers then that the Blue Wave will very soon do away with the Red Tide.
I have lived here (on the east coast of Florida, but with a similar problem) for all my 56 years. While we occasionally have algae blooms they're becoming more frequent, arrive earlier, and last longer. To top it off the last few years our algae blooms have been found to be toxic. I've fished and dived my entire life here in Martin County and it is getting worse each year.
The Big lake Okeechobee drains west through the Caloosahatchee canal/river to the Gulf of Mexico, and east through the St. Lucie canal/river to the Atlantic Ocean. It used to naturally flow south, to the Everglades. But farming (a lot of sugar can cultivation) south of the lake has resulted in the the water being redirected through the two canals I mentioned previously.
If the water could be sent south, where no one lives but alligators, I believe the problem would diminish.
Nothing of this magnitude (more than 150 miles of coastline affected) has happened in recent history.
Yes, the lake is diverted into the river which goes over to Sanibel. You can see the map on Wikipedia if you're curious; this is all a ways south from Sarasota. My understanding is that the link from the lake to the river was manmade. You can also easily Google articles from all the times the lake has been drained by that river, I did so before posting to check my spelling. Sanibel hadn't been hit by the red tide quite yet when I was there, but they're inundated with dead wildlife now.
They don't seem to have this problem in Chicago, although they have been known to release Green dyes into the water on St. Patrick's Day. In Chicago the problem is with live grass carp, Ctenopharyngodon idelle that were introduced into the Mississippi River and threaten the ecology of the Great Lakes.
Let your conservative, christian friends help you out.
Has anyone checked for Solar plants being used to destroy toxic waste but are actually dumping it into an underground river?
The GOP jokes just write themselves.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
About 80 percent of Florida will be below sea level by 2050.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Dammit, Trump supporters, stop bathing in the ocean!
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Maybe they should see about relocating their state farther from Alabama.
no, these have been going on since algae has existed
imagining "x or y might increase the severity" without a shred of proof is just scare mongering.
seriously, these are natural. they've been going on since algae existed...for *billions* of years!
Read this news. Want more? Here is another one for you. When you said "without a shred of proof," it demonstrates that you are ignorant because there are plenty of "shred of proof" but you aren't trying to even look for one.
if only it was a smelly green tide, then it would be a sign of the abroccolypse.
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Is this the MPAA? Is this the RIAA? Is this the DMCA? I thought it was the USA!
other things than industrial fertilizer have been doing it too, for all of history
science indeed.
Hey genius, you are the one that don't understand the issue. The problem is NOT about red tide occurrence, but it is the effect being expanded. Those links are related to explanation why, and that is related to the issue. Again, not about red tide occurrence as you attempt to mislead the whole issue.
That's only partly true. The last "red tide" of this scale happened from 2004 to 2006. However, the number of dead animals on the beaches seems to be unprecedented this time, probably because the "red tide" is accompanied by a blue-green algae bloom, which is caused by a different organism, although has the same proximate cause: too much for the algae/bacteria to eat. The governor has declared a state of emergency, so even he's taking it seriously (now). Probably at least partly because of the potential billions in lost tourism dollars, though that's really closing the barn door after the horses are out.
The link to agricultural runoff is not something that is being made up by hippy-dippy environmentalists. It's a very real, well-documented phenomenon, and has happened virtually everywhere that large-scale agricultural pollution is allowed to run unhindered into the sea.
I spent a lot of time as a kid (in the 70s & 80s) in Lee county, and "red tide" during that period usually just meant that you couldn't (safely) eat the local seafood, not that it was washing up dead on the beach.
Having said all that, Florida (at least where the people are) is one of the most heavily-modified environments in the world. There would be hardly any buildable land through most of coastal Florida if it were not for the ubiquitous drainage ditches, tunnels, canals and other ground works to keep the water out of buildings and off of roads. And even with all that you can't build a basement. The whole state is basically a sandbar, with the water table at or just barely under ground level. Why anyone wants to live there at all is beyond me.
other things than industrial fertilizer have been doing it too
Care to name the ones that are causing this particularly severe outbreak?
Only crack the nuts that crack. You don't put the ones that don't crack in the sack.
This metastudy has all the resources you might need to conclude that science has in fact been done.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p...
In our sweatshop cubicle farm it is a smelly "Red Tidal Wave"
a scientist says "signs point to yes" what that means in colloquial speech is "Hell yes". Scientists don't like speaking in definites, but voters hate it when you sound unsure. They think you're lying to them.
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You mean the governor is taking his election seriously, he wants to be a senator so he can help do to the country what he's done to Florida and its coastal waters.
Yeah of course. Since humans exhale CO2 clearly my car has no impact.
Since you stubbed your toe and thus feel pain, don't criticise me when I kick you in your balls for your stupid comment.
Of course, wildfires are natural and yet we budget to control them. See also, flooding, hurricanes, tornadoes. As with red tide, wildfires and flooding in particular are impacted by human activity so we can even budget for more than repair.
Climate change alarmists have done much disservice to the honorable cause of environmentalism.
When you shout at the top of your lungs, all day every day, "Global warming! Global cooling! Carbon! Ocean levels will rise by ten meters in a decade! The sky is falling! Reeeeeeeeeeeee!" - people start to think you're an unhinged crank.
Whereas when you say, "Hey, let's not dump industrial chemicals into the river, that might have really bad consequences" - pretty much everyone agrees.
Yes, "Red Tides" are a known recurring natural phenomena.
Yet, this "alarmist" notice is relatively warranted as the occurrence and persistence is far, far greater than has ever been recorded.
And, the toxicity of this particular strain is higher than usual.
Seems prudent to me for any intelligent species to keep both an eye on this and perhaps determine the causes and remedies.
Who's the "tard" here?
Self-importance and self-indulgence is the root of ALL evil.