Red tide Rick has a lot to answer for as an even more worrying threat from the deadly algae blooms has emerged that may devastate Florida’s marine environments even more than the red tide and cyanobacteria have been able to do these past couple of months.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWS) reported an outbreak of Trichodesmium, sometimes called brown tide, in the seawater off the coast of Manatee County one of the hard-hit counties on Florida west coast. Scientists believe that these particular algae are not by themselves toxic to humans and marine life. But the FWS notes that the way the brown tide “grows and feeds could also feed the red tide organism Karenia brevis.” When the brown tide collides with the deadly red tide, it could cause a “super bloom” scientists fear.
Brown tide algae form when iron-rich African dust blows across the Atlantic ocean and settles on water, making the algae unique in that it gets most of its nitrogen from the atmosphere. But in this case, the brown tide feeds off the decomposing bodies of fish. “This process is called nitrogen fixation. Because nitrogen fixation is limited by iron availability, new iron introduced into the water will stimulate Trichodesmium blooms,” says an FWC statement on Trichodesmium.
“We’ve been seeing this really bright green species called Oscillatoria, and it seems to be prevalent based on the availability of new nutrients from decomposing fish,” said Rick Bartleson, a water quality scientist for the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation.
You read that right: one type of algae, red tide, has caused massive fish kills in Southwest Florida since October, and now the dead fish are fueling a completely different species of algae.
“If it’s floating upside down it’s brown and if you flop it over its green,” Bartleson said. “We don’t know of any toxin (associated with this species).”
The brown tide is growing in between the red tide and the cyanobacteria that reached the Gulf coast when agricultural fertilizer, channeled into Lake Okeechobee from a series of canals that drain the sugar cane fields above the lake, was discharged into the Caloosahatchee River (which drains into the Gulf) and the St. Lucie River (which drains into the Atlantic) in June.
Benthic Algae Mat, Collier County, Florida. Why are these mats here? Hurricane Irma dumped large amounts of vegetation into our bays and estuaries and as it decomposes it breaks down into nutrients. On top of that, the many dead fish from the ongoing red tide is a source of nutrients. Algae love nutrients and can grow much quicker than beneficial seagrasses.The red tide bloom caused the deaths of manatees, whale sharks, sea turtles, goliath grouper, dolphin and other marine life. It is estimated that 2000 tons of marine life litter the beaches and countless more tons are decomposing in canals as well as offshore in just one county (Lee) alone.
Florida has declared a State of Emergency over this crisis, most of the funds that are to be allocated are for a PR effort to hide the reality of this ecological crisis. But the GOP is not treating it for the emergency that it is. The funding is not there for removing the bodies from these waters that will help mitigate any further damage. That needs to change quickly or we could see this bloom in Tampa and beyond.
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