MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. -- Wildlife officials in Florida confirmed a small concentration of the red tide off a boat ramp in Manatee County.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission detected a very low concentration of the red tide at Longboat Pass Boat Ramp on Monday. This report comes as residents in the Sarasota Bar are already dealing with a different type of toxic algae.
"We learned to deal with red tide and now this," Mirinda Hill said. "It's like what's going on? It seems like there's gotta be some change some something causing all this weird stuff. We've lived here 22 years and never seen anything like this."
Hill lives in Bradenton on Sarasota Bay. Cyanobacteria or blue-green algae washed ashore on Sunday. At first, Hill says she noticed large brown mats of the floating algae coming in from the bay. Then came the smell of rotten eggs.
"We are slowly losing the health of our bays," Hill said. "The view is fantastic. The birds are one of our favorite things. But, you can only stand so much yuck before you say that's it."
#BreakingNews @MyFWC confirms a very low concentration of #redtide was detected at Longboat Pass Boat Ramp Monday May 13. This as residents in Sarasota Bay are already dealing with another different toxic algae, possibly blue/green( Attached pic) @abcactionnews @GovRonDeSantis pic.twitter.com/oOHO8wbXQJ
— Michael Paluska (@MichaelPaluska) May 14, 2019
MANATEE COUNTY NEWS | The latest headlines from Manatee County
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection released the following statement on the blue-green algae found in Manatee County.
The red tide bloom started impacting Florida coasts in October 2017. The bloom dissipated in the winter of 2018-2019. The devastation spanned more than 120 miles from Pinellas County south to Collier County. The bloom caused respiratory issues for local residents and killed vast numbers of sea turtles, manatees, dolphins and fish.
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