Over 100 tonnes of dead sea creatures have washed up as US state experiences worst red tide in 10 years
The New Paper 17 Aug 18:
SARASOTA, FLORIDA A state of emergency has been declared in Florida as the worst red tide in a decade blackens the ocean water, killing dolphins, sea turtles and fish at a relentless pace.
More than 100 tonnes of dead sea creatures have been shovelled up from smelly, deserted beaches in tourist areas along Florida's south-west coast as a result of the harmful algal bloom this month alone.
In the past week, 12 dolphins washed ashore dead in Sarasota County, typically the toll seen in an entire year.
"It is physically and mentally exhausting," said Ms Gretchen Lovewell, who is in charge of a skeleton crew at Mote Marine Laboratory that collects dead or distressed sea turtles and marine mammals. She and two colleagues "have been literally working around the clock".
On Sunday, Ms Lovewell recovered the remains of a dolphin. A faint number, 252, was visible on its dorsal fin.
SPECK
It was a 12-year-old male named Speck, who had been spotted more than 300 times by researchers monitoring generations of bottlenose dolphins in the Sarasota Bay.
"It was devastating," said Mr Randall Wells, director of the Chicago Zoological Society's Sarasota Dolphin Research Programme, the world's longest-running study of a wild dolphin population, under way since 1970.
"Speck is somebody we have known from the time he was born," said Mr Wells. "He was named after my dad."
Red tide is suspected as the cause of death, but researchers won't know for certain until the lab results come back.
A natural phenomenon, red tide is caused by a microscopic single-celled organism called Karenia brevis. It releases a neurotoxin that can become airborne, causing headaches, watery eyes, coughing and asthma attacks in people.
Ecologists have said the organism acts like a forest fire, clearing out weeds and allowing the landscape to start anew.
Karenia brevis is found year-round at low levels. But once it multiplies, sea turtles and manatees may inhale it, or die from eating too much neurotoxin-laced fish and sea grass.
The smell of rotting fish has choked Florida's economy, sapping millions in revenue from fishing and tourism.
"Our life is tourism here in south-west Florida," said Mr Omar Botana, owner of a boat rental firm. "It has hurt our business around 40 per cent."- AFP
