VENICE, Fla. — At first glance, it looks like a nice day at the beach, but when you look a little closer and breathe a little deeper, it's not pleasant.
"The runny nose kind of a burning but the cough that persistent hack, you couldn’t get rid of it," said Bob Whited, who is visiting Venice from Ohio with his wife, Kim.
FWC said that red tide is showing up in Manatee and Sarasota counties, and on Venice Beach, dead fish are scattered along the coastline.
"Looking at the dead fish and the poor birds, it's sad," said Kim Whited.
MOTE scientists said red tide is normal for this area this time of year. They said they've been tracking this particular bloom that showed up about a month ago in the gulf.
"So it's not unusual to see red tide right now. What is a little unusual is to have it right after Hurricane Ian," said Cynthia Heil, director of the MOTE Red Tide Institute.
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Heil said the high winds from Ian are responsible for churning the water and pushing the red tide algae toward Venice, but how it impacted the intensity of red tide is still being studied.
"Hurricane Ian was unprecedented on the effects of the coastal environment, and that’s one of the things we’re looking at, all the nutrients and pesticides that were put into the water, what the impacts are," said Heil.
Heil said most blooms last from two to seven months, and it's hard to say how long this bloom will stick around.
But Bob and Kim said they’re not letting it ruin their time in Florida.
"We're making the best of it and we’re not letting it stop us because we just found out there’s snow up there," said Kim.
