'Red tide' off Florida's southwest coast creates stench, kills w

SIESTA BEACH, FL (WWSB/RNN) - An unpleasant phenomenon called red tide is killing sea life on the coast of southwest Florida and making it hard to breathe for some.

"We've never seen anything like this like I've been in Sarasota, I'm 22 and I was born and raised here," Morgan Shine, a Sarasota resident, told WWSB.  "There's been red tide and you see dead fish, but nothing where it's like many beaches and it's literally all along both sides, it's insane."

Thousands of fish have died in Sarasota County, and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has received several reports in the area of fill kills and people with respiratory irritation. 

Andy Hale, who was visiting Siesta Key from Chicago, said he's frequented the area for 50 years and was shocked by what he saw.

"Sometimes as vacationers we think of the inconvenience, but I'm looking at the marine life aspect of it and just seeing all fish and all the different types, it's sad," Hale said.

Siesta Beach remained pretty empty for the most part on Wednesday, and nobody was in the water. Some who braved the beach had to see for themselves how bad it is.

"It's actually a lot worse than I could've ever thought. I remember when I was younger, the red tide but it was never like this," said Emalee Sands, a Sarasota resident.

On Monday night, the area from Venice to Port Charlotte had an overpowering stench of dead fish, and it wasn't just if you were outside or even close to the beach at all.

"Red tide symptoms - that you would experience like we are right now on the beach - coughing, sneezing, itchy throat... and it was just crazy that we were lying in bed just trying to go to sleep and we couldn't breathe," said Kristen Goddard, who lives in Port Charlotte.

Port Charlotte is about 100 miles south of Tampa on an inland waterway. Experts said high winds from storms brought the toxins inland.

"I'm exactly 9.9 miles from Venice Beach, and about the same distance from Englewood and Manasota Beach. Never in a million years did I think this smell from red tide, which we do experience on a daily basis now, would come this far up… almost 10 miles from a beach," said Kris Marra, who lives in Venice.

Red tides or harmful algal blooms occur nearly every year when higher-than-normal concentrations of the microscopic Karenia brevis bloom 10 to 40 miles offshore, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said. The red tide organisms can be carried to shore by winds and currents.

Though not all algal blooms are harmful, the red tide off the coast of Florida is harming people and wildlife.

Toxins from the microscopic organisms cause fish to die, and wave action can release toxins into the air, causing respiratory irritation and, for those with health conditions such as asthma and emphysema, serious illness, the state experts said. It also makes local shellfish unsafe to eat.

On Florida's southwest coast, at least 90 sea turtles have stranded and 10 Goliath grouper have floated to the surface, the Miami Herald reported. And a manatee was found dead Tuesday on a Cape Coral boat ramp near where people were meeting to discuss the red tide, Hundreds of sea birds also have died.

Earlier this month, a whale shark was found dead on Sanibel Island with signs of algal contamination.

Some, including Sanibel Mayor Kevin Ruane, blamed the algal bloom on a combination of coastal pollution and water releases from Lake Okeechobee contaminated with urban and agricultural runoff, the Miami Herald reported.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers flushes water from Okeechobee on both coasts to keep pressure off an aging dike that was built nearly 100 years ago, the Associated Press reported.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission claims that there is no direct link between the kind of algae that causes the red tide and water pollution.

Red tides occur in nearly every coastal state, and they may be becoming more frequent, the National Ocean Service said. 

Last week, several people on the Atlantic coast were hospitalized for symptoms believes to be associated with blue-green algae, TCPalm reported.

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