Red Tide remains on Sanibel Island
Tourist familiar with dead fish
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Tourist complain about dead fish Video by fox4now.com
video
SANIBEL- There is Red Tide along the shores in Lee and Collier Counties. Tourists now becoming familiar with the effects of the algae bloom.
Carol Twardowski is scanning the shoreline for shells, but she can't miss the dead fish.
"Alot of dead fish, all different kinds of fish, big fish, little first. They're just dead all over the place," said Twardowski.
Sanibel's been one of her vacation spots for nearly 11 years.
"We've seen the red tide before. We've seen bad weather, but we still love it."
Other tourists like one man from Germany is wondering what's going on.
"I've been here a few days and see dead fish days ago," said Carsten Schilke, tourist from Germany.
Florida Fish and Wildlife says medium to high concentrations of Red Tide are just offshore on Sanibel causing fish to lose oxygen and then die.
Richard Bartleson, a research scientist with the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation, took water samples on Friday. He calls this one of the most significant Red Tide blooms we've seen since 2006, but remember for several years we didn't even have Red Tide.
"In 2006 we did see alot of dead fish for a long period of time and also alot of invertebrates washing up along the beach for years so far it's just been a few fish on Sanibel," said Bartleson.
Florida Fish and Wildlife will have the latest Red Tide results back on Friday.
To report dead sea life call 1-800-636-0511 and for Red Tide updates call 1-866-300-9399.
Julie Salomone
Fox 4
jsalomone@fox4now.com
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