http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/index.php?smp=&lang=engWater samples gathered from Cocoa Beach and portions of the Mosquito Lagoon to St. Johns County in recent days contained low concentrations of the red tide organism, Karenia brevis, but amounts high enough to scratch at throats. “We’re sneezing and sniffling and coughing a lot,” said Rusty Brooks, who was surveying beach erosion today at Hightower Park in Satellite Beach. Many people on the beach for the launch of a Delta 4 rocket Saturday night reported respiratory discomfort likely caused by the organism. Red tide can cause temporary eye, nose and throat irritations similar to a cold. It also can cause fish to die. No fish kills were reported Monday from northeast Florida. Respiratory irritation can occur at red tide levels of 1,000 cells per liter or greater. On Nov. 7, tests showed red tide at 1,000 cells or less at sampling sites west of the Port Canaveral Locks and in the Mosquito Lagoon at Haulover Canal. But a day earlier, Cocoa Beach had red tide concentrations from 1,000 to 5,000 cells, a level considered very low but high enough to cause respiratory irritation. Red tide has been lingering at low levels off east Central Florida for several weeks, killing fish in Flagler and surrounding counties. Patches of the algae bloom are now found from the Panhandle to Alabama. Overall red tide concentrations appear to be declining in Brevard, however, and other East Florida testing sites, state officials said Friday. More water tests are pending this week. The state typically closes shellfish areas when the concentration of red tide reaches 5,000 cells per liter. More than one million cells causes fish kills, and the water sometimes turns dark red, green or brown. As of Friday, several areas of the South Banana River, Indian River Lagoon and Mosquito Lagoon were closed to shellfish harvesting.
The red tide organism, Karenia brevis, produces a neurotoxin that can cause shellfish poisoning. In the lagoon, it also is a threat to fish, dolphin and manatees. Beachgoers and beachside homeowners have complained in recent days of coughing and irritated throats after being by the ocean. “Yeah, we got some calls from there,” said Sergio Sarmiento, a poison specialist at Marine and Freshwater Toxins Hotline at the Florida Poison Information Center in Miami. “If they have asthma and they are exposed to it, the symptoms can persists. Even healthy individuals, they can have persistent symptoms.” He said people with chronic respiratory problems or compromised immune systems should stay indoors and avoid swimming in the ocean during red tide. Winds and currents are the main culprit that brings red tide Brevard’s way. A federal study released this month also linked the phenomenon to excess nutrients from farms and development along the Mississippi River that may trigger red tide blooms along the continental shelf of the Gulf of Mexico. Currents can loop the blooms around Florida to Brevard, as happened in early November 2002, when a red tide lasted through the New Year. Red tides in East Florida are less common than they are in the Gulf of Mexico, but still a natural occurrence, especially in October and November. They typically get carried here by the Gulf Stream. Most red tides in eastern Florida last from two to six weeks.)
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it's the middle of Nov.
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