Red Tide Absent; Beachgoers Enjoy Breathing Easy

SARASOTA - For almost six months, beachgoers from Boca Grande to Tampa have luxuriated in the absence of red tide, the toxic bloom that killed fish and ruined beach days for several months last year and the year before.

Only once in more than two decades has Southwest Florida seen a yearlong stretch without red tide. That was 1994, and scientists do not expect to match the record this year.

But for now, people are crowding the beaches, dining outside and generally enjoying freedom from the stench of rotting fish.

'People definitely love it, the fact that it's not here,' said Kim Rasmussen, general manager of Sharky's on the Pier at Venice Beach.

In addition to killing fish, red tide toxins can make healthy people cough and can cause breathing problems for asthmatics.

For the Longboat Key Club, the absence of red tide means more customers, said Mary Kay Ryan, director of marketing and communications for the resort. Compared with last summer, when red tide appeared up and down the Gulf coast, occupancy at the resort was up 8.5 percent this July and 10 percent so far in August.

'We sort of have a joke among our association and our managers: We don't even say the word,' Ryan said.

While the waters have been clear this year, fears that red tide will return any day are grounded, said Cindy Heil, a leading red tide scientist for the research arm of the state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Although red tide has lately become more common in the summer, blooms historically tend to begin in September, when winds start to increase and churn the Gulf's waters.

More than 45 percent of all red tide blooms recorded between 1879 and 1997 started in September, according to Heil's research.

On top of that foreboding statistic, there are other signs that Southwest Florida is not out of the woods yet.

Massive blooms of another algae, called trichodesmium, have been appearing off the coast from Naples to Tampa all summer. Right now, a bloom is lingering west of Gasparilla Pass, near Boca Grande. It is not toxic to fish or people, but it does signal what might be coming.

'Based on the historic record and based on what we know about trichodesmium, we do expect a red tide bloom this fall,' Heil said.

Richard Pierce, a senior scientist at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, agreed with Heil's prediction, saying there is strong evidence of a relationship between red tide and the other algae. Records from a 35-year study showed that every year there was a trichodesmium bloom off Cedar Key, a red tide bloom followed or coincided with it, Heil said.

Scientists are closely studying the relationship between red tide and trichodesmium in hopes of being able to predict when red tide blooms will form in the future.

Trichodesmium converts nitrogen gas from the atmosphere into another form of nitrogen that red tide likes.

Similar to plants, algae feed off nitrogen and phosphorus, main components in fertilizer. Some of those nutrients naturally occur in the environment, but they also are found in stormwater runoff, seepage from leaky septic systems and in sewer outfalls.

Drawing on the research of some scientists, several environmental groups say nutrient pollution has made red tide blooms more frequent and more severe in recent years.

The only summer since 2001 that was completely free of red tide was 2004, according to red tide maps archived by the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The agency sends research vessels out at least twice each week to sample coastal waters for red tide.

Stuart DeCew, a regional representative for the Sierra Club, said the lack of rain washing pollutants into the Gulf this year has a lot to do with the absence of red tide this summer.

'The strong correlation between rainfall and red tide blooms are fairly clear,' DeCew said.

Pierce said the lack of red tide probably has something to do with the low rainfall.

'What we don't have the answer to yet is whether that's tied to coastal pollution,' Pierce said. He said rain is accompanied by changes in the atmosphere that can affect what happens in the water.

Regardless, he said, coastal pollution should be reduced because it causes other harmful algae blooms.

Meanwhile, he said, 'We're very happy not to have had red tide.'