Red tide moving up Florida's west coast
Pastor Dale Morgan
Red tide moving up Florida's west coast *
The Associated Press
Friday, August 04, 2006 7:05 p.m. ET
ENGLEWOOD, Fla. (AP) -- A persistent red tide bloom that has been
killing fish off Fort Myers since July has spread north to Charlotte and
Sarasota counties, officials said.
Swaths of dead fish stretched along the high-tide line on some beaches
in those counties Thursday as officials issued advisories warning of red
tide's first major return to the area this year.
Water samples taken earlier this week showed concentrations of the
microscopic algae high enough to kill fish and cause breathing problems
in people at many beaches.
Red tide is notorious for ruining beach days, not only because it
litters shorelines with rotting sea life, but because it also makes even
healthy people cough.
Last year's red tide outbreak killed tons of fish and marine mammals,
which then decayed and created oxygen-starved dead zones off the beaches
of Florida's west coast.
Cindy Heil, red tide scientist with the state's Fish and Wildlife
Research Institute, said experts can't say how long the current bloom
will last, where it will go or whether it will get worse.
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Information from: Sarasota Herald-Tribune, http://www.herald-trib.com