PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — The toxic bloom now stretches more than 120 miles from Collier County into Pinellas County.
A massive clean-up effort is underway in the Gulf of Mexico to keep as many fish as possible from washing onto Pinellas County beaches. Specially designed boats have already skimmed more than 17 tons of dead fish out of the warm waters of the Gulf.
“We are worried about business depending on how long it lasts, you know, if it lasts too long that’s not going to be good at all,” Joan Galluzzo said. Galluzzo works at Lori’s Soap and Sponge Market in John’s Pass Village.
“We have our steady customers we have our loyal customers,” Galluzzo said. “The snowbirds might not come right away. We are a big snowbird community. And, that would bother me if they didn’t come you know we really need them.”
Online orders for the business are up. Galluzzo showed ABC Action News reporter Michael Paluska a stack of boxes waiting to be picked up. Galluzzo said people may have canceled their vacations but are still ordering online.
“Mail lady is not going to be happy tomorrow there’s a lot of stuff here,” Galluzzo laughed. "This is a lot of deliveries. This is more than usual this is a lot of orders.”
Not every beach in Pinellas County is impacted by the red tide. So far, Madeira beach has been hit the hardest.
For a complete list of beaches impacted in Pinellas by red tide click here.
