Recently, Mote Marine Laboratory learned that a five-year, $7 million grant from the National Institute for Environmental Health Science for "Red Tide" research would not be renewed. While not in and of itself a dramatic development, this is a tragedy for Southwest Florida and the people of the Florida 13th Congressional District.
Florida prides itself on being the "Sunshine State," home to some of the most beautiful beaches and best fishing in the world. This year, however, a pronounced and prolonged bout of Red Tide has driven both residents and tourists away from the beaches, and it seems like the only fish in abundance in Southwest Florida are dead. Added to the pernicious effects of the Red Tide, we now have a "Dead Zone" of 2,200 square miles lurking of our coast.
One of the jobs of a Congressional representative is to "bring home the bacon" in the form of needed grants for projects of vital interest to constituents. The Red Tide problem threatens not only the health and livelihood of local inhabitants, but also our largest industry of tourism. Jan Schneider is committed to fighting for the environmental, health and economic interests of the people of the Florida 13th by seeking to obtain funds for Mote and other local institutions, among other things to carry on their vital work in combating Red Tide.
What Is Red Tide and How Is It Related to the Dead Zone in the Gulf?
"Red Tide," also referred to as "harmful algal blooming (HAB)," occurs when phytoplankton containing reddish pigments blooms or grows very rapidly and becomes visible from the surface of the water. The blooms may be harmless or may contain toxins that can cause the death of sea creatures. In addition to killing sea life, this phenomenon can cause adverse reactions in the human body, through skin and respiratory irritation or food poisoning after seafood ingestion.
Red Tide has been around for a long time, perhaps millennia. References to algal blooming events can be found in the bible, in Chinese documents from the T'ang Dynasty and in early American Indian lore from Alaska. Florida records of Red Tide fish kills date back at least to 1844. In Southwest Florida, while the present bout seems unduly pernicious to local residents, the area has experienced longer-lasting and more extensive Red Tides on several occasions in the past. According to Mote Marine Laboratory Director Richard H. Pierce, some of the more notable episodes occurred in 1945-46, 1971-72, 1985-86 and 1994-96.
This year, Red Tide was a factor in the creation of the huge 2,200-square mile Dead Zone in the Gulf. The precise dynamics of this oceanographic phenomenon seem subject to some debate. The most common explanations of the Dead Zone seem, however, seem to involve conditions of high temperatures, stratification of the water column keeping cool bottom water from mixing with oxygenated surface water, and Red Tide producing dead marine organisms that decompose and use up oxygen along the bottom. Despite a flood of allegations, no one appears to be able to say for certain whether the dumping million of polluted gallons from the abandoned Piney Point phosphate plant, an abomination in and of itself, has contributed to the current bout of Red Tide or the Dead Zone.
What Can Be Done About Red Tide?
The question is not only what can be done about Red Tide. It is rather what can and should be done that will not cause additional and perhaps worse environmental problems.
Local scientists have been examining at least two proposed solutions:
- Mote Marine scientists have tried spraying a mixture of fine clay and water into Sarasota Bay to
see if Red Tide cells would stick to the clay and fall harmlessly to the sea floor. This clay
method has been used in Japan and Korea to fight a different type of Red Tide. Preliminary
tests in Sarasota Bay reportedly showed that the clay particles were effective in catching Red
Tide cells and lowering them to the sea floor in the absence of a strong current. More study is,
however, needed to learn what happens to Red Tide that falls to the sea floor and whether even
more sea life could be poisoned.
- Local scientists have also tried shooting tiny ozone bubbles into seawater to kill Red Tide.
This method is appealing because it not only kills Red Tide, but also destroys the toxins it
harbors. The bad news here, however, is that the ozone is toxic and kills other marine life.
The bottom line is that more study is needed to develop a cure and to make sure that it is not
worse than the problem. There is no doubt that recurrent bouts of Red Tide are of grave concern
to the health and welfare of local residents and to our tourism-dependent economy. Still,
the concern remains that we may cause a greater environmental problem by introducing artificial
substances into exceedingly complex, fragile, shallow and sunlight-dependant ecosystems.
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