Environmental Updates

On any given day, Mote's 200-plus researchers are in the field collecting information or asking for public help gathering information for important marine research studies. These Environmental Updates change regularly, reflecting Florida's ever-changing environment. Mote invites you to visit regularly for new information.

• Beach Conditions Report
• Red Tide
• Sawfish Sighting
• Florida Keys Environmental Observations
• Sea Turtle Nesting
• Marine Mammal & Sea Turtle Strandings
• Weather
• Tracking Rehabilitated and Released Risso's Dolphins
  

Beach Conditions Report

The Beach Conditions Report provides several types of information about Southwest Florida beaches during red tide events: whether dead fish are present, whether there is respiratory irritation among beachgoers, what the water color is, the wind direction and what flags are currently flying at the beaches (for lifeguard-monitored beaches).

The report includes beaches in Pinellas, Manatee, Sarasota, Lee and Collier counties.

The information is provided from a number of different sources, including lifeguards, park rangers and other trained observers. They're able to report the information directly to the web from the beaches thanks to Mote’s Sarasota Operations Coastal Ocean Observation Laboratory (SO COOL), which has created software that automatically posts the updates online.

Residents and visitors without Internet access may also access the report by calling 941-BEACHES (941-388-5223).

Reports are updated at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. daily to coincide with times of the day when people are most likely to use the beach. The information is date and time stamped so the public knows how recent a report is.

The system began operating Sept. 1, 2006.

The Beach Conditions Report is implemented by Mote’s Environmental Health Program. Project partners include the Florida Department of Health, Sarasota County Lifeguard Operations and others. The information gathered for the Beach Conditions Report is also shared with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which formulates a HAB Bulletin, that predicts the movements of harmful algal blooms. The Beach Conditions Report should help enhance NOAA’s forecast ability. HAB Bulletin link.

1. Check the marine forecast, fewer red tide toxins will be in the air with offshore winds.
2. If you experience respiratory irritation, wear a mask, such as a painters mask, that covers the nose and mouth to filter out marine aerosol particles that contain the red tide toxins.
3. If you are asthmatic or have chronic lung disease, be vigilant about taking your prescribed medicines daily.
4. Always seek medical care if your symptoms worsen.
5. For your home or motel room, keep your windows closed, the A/C on, and check/change the unit's filter.

Mote Marine Laboratory's Center for Ecotoxicology studies Karenia brevis, the organism that causes red tides in Florida. See a short video about red tide on MoteTV. Click here for answers to Frequently Asked Questions about red tide.

Click here for a primer on the differences between red tide and red drift algae.

A New Red Tide Puzzle?
Last year, red tide blooms were reported in areas where they are uncommonly found. Read more.

Seafood Information
Please note that it is safe to eat shellfish that are commercially harvested and sold in fish markets, restaurants and other outlets. Florida has a well-established monitoring program for all commercial shellfish beds and these beds are closed when affected by red tide or other environmental conditions. Note: It is not advisable to harvest shellfish recreationally, unless you first check on the status of the location (open or closed) with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Click here for more information.

For recreational fishing: Fish that act as they would normally when hooked should be safe to eat as long as they are fileted first and the innards discarded.

More Information
For conditions throughout the Florida Gulf coast, with information about cell concentrations observed at specific locations and closed shellfish areas, please see the FWC web site (www.myfwc.com) and follow the link to “Red Tide Current Status.” The FWC Red Tide Status Line is now available to callers to hear a recording detailing red tide conditions throughout the state. FWC updates the recording each Friday by 5 p.m. after sampling efforts for the week have been completed and analyzed.

Red Tide Status Line: (866) 300-9399 (toll-free inside Florida only); (727) 552-2448 (outside Florida).

For information about the Human Health and Red Tide Studies funded by the National Institutes for Environmental Health Services, click here.

If you need immediate assistance regarding health related issues, please call the Marine and Freshwater Toxin hotline at 1-888-232-8635. It is staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

For more information about water conditions on Sarasota County beaches, please click on this link to the Sarasota County Healthy Beaches website.

A red tide Q&A with Mote researchers from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Info on Trichodesmium

Sawfish Sightings

Mote staff collect reports of sawfish sightings from the public. The information helps to determine the distribution and abundance of the endangered sawfish, and helps scientists examine and understand how sawfish use different habitats. People catching or sighting a sawfish are asked to contact Mote Marine Laboratory.

• Sawfish Sighting Data
• How to report a Sawfish Sighting
• Draft report of the Smalltooth Sawfish Recovery Plan
  

Florida Keys Environmental Observations

Mote's Marine Ecosystem Event Response and Assessment Program is operated in the Florida Keys through the Tropical Research Laboratory and it invites members of the public who frequent the waters of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and its surrounding areas to provide information about unusual events they witness in that ecosystem. The project is designed to help the scientific community better understand the nature and causes of marine events that adversely affect marine organisms and to assist ongoing research efforts to understand and assess new events.

There is no specialized training necessary to participate. No paperwork is required. By simply providing information about unusual events - what they were, where they were and when they were - residents can help alert scientists to potential large-scale problems before they develop. Past reports have included information about coral disease or bleaching, algal blooms or discolored water, diseased or dead animals and sick or stranded marine mammals and sea turtles.

• Recent Observations
• Online Report Form

Sea Turtle Nesting Updates

Sea turtles nest along Southwest Florida beaches from May through October. Mote's Sea Turtle Conservation and Research Program monitors 35 miles of beaches in Sarasota and Manatee counties daily to check for new nests.

• Weekly Nesting Numbers
• 2005-2007 Nesting Numbers

Marine Mammal & Sea Turtle Strandings

Mote Marine Laboratory’s Stranding Investigations Program responds 24 hours a day seven days a week to reports of sick, injured and dead marine mammals and sea turtles throughout Southwest Florida. Live animals are brought back to Mote’s Dolphin and Whale Hospital or Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Hospital for treatment and the deceased animals undergo a detailed post-mortem examination so that we may learn more about the natural history of these animals and evaluate long-term trends in mortality.

To report a stranded dolphin, whale, manatee or sea turtle, please call the Stranding Investigations Program pager at 941-988-0212.

The red tide bloom that has been documented along the Florida Gulf Coast since January 2005 is believed the culprit in the recent deaths of sea turtles and dolphins reported by Mote’s Stranding Investigations Program. Researchers will not have a final determination, however, until tissue and blood samples can be fully analyzed. Lab analysis will include tests for the presence of brevetoxin, which is a neurotoxin produced by some phytoplankton species.

There are 14 types of brevetoxin that have been isolated from Karenia brevis, the organism that causes Florida’s red tide. Efforts to determine the reasons for the deaths of these animals are being funded in part by grant money from the sale of Florida’s “Protect Wild Dolphins” and “Sea Turtle” specialty license plates and is being done in collaboration with researchers from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, National Ocean Service, Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute and the University of Illinois.