Florida Gov. Rick Scott issued an executive order Monday declaring a state of emergency for seven counties dealing with an unusually lengthy red tide algae bloom that has killed thousands of marine animals, his office said.
The executive order gives more state funding to local governments and research agencies in the seven southwestern Florida counties.The emergency was declared for Hillsborough, Collier, Lee, Charlotte, Sarasota, Manatee and Pinellas counties.
Scott also directed an additional $900,000 in grants for hard-hit Lee County, where red tide warning signs currently dot more than 170 beach access points, his office says.
Southwest Florida’s red tide blooms are fast-growing colonies of an algae, Karenia Brevis, that often turns the water red.
The algae release toxins when they die, and in high concentrations can be deadly to fish and marine mammals. The current bloom has killed fish, sea turtles, manatees and a whale shark, littering some beaches with carcasses. The algae can cause coughs and other respiratory distress in humans as breezes blow toxins inland. People have reported respiratory irritation in several counties, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said.
People also can become ill if they eat shellfish loaded with the toxins.
“People should not swim in the water, eat seafood from it or breath the air near it,” University of Miami marine biology and ecology professor Larry Brand said this month.
