Residents living near the US coast are reporting burning eyes and breathing problems after a flare-up of toxic red algae known as “red tide” washed ashore. Dead fish are also littered across beaches and a festival has been cancelled after the blob of seaweed made landfall. The annual BeachFest in Indian Rocks Beach, Florida, was called off after the 5,000 mile-wide blanket of rotting seaweed swamped Florida’s southwest coast.
The festival’s organisers pulled the plug on the event after it was determined, with help from the city and the Pinellas County Health Department, that red tide would likely continue through the middle of next month when the festival was scheduled.
“Red Tide is currently present on the beach and is forecasted to remain in the area in the weeks to come,” the Indian Rocks Beach Homeowners Association, which sponsors the event, said in a letter to the public.
The organisation added: “It is unfortunate that it had to be cancelled but it is the best decision in the interest of public health.”
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Beachgoers have also complained about the algae’s impact. “It smells,” Michelle McCauley, a vacationer from Ohio, told the TV network 10 Tampa Bay this week.
“It’s fishy, but I’m holding up fine,” she said.
“The first few days we were down here, we were coughing a little bit and the itchy throat,” Cheryl Hones, a visitor from Toronto, told WFLA-TV in Tampa.
The tourist added: “We would rather have that than the snow, so it’s great being down here.”
The coastal region experienced a flare-up of the toxic red tide algae last week, setting off concerns that it could continue to stick around for a while.
The current bloom, which spans twice the length of the US and is visible from space, started in October.
Nearly two tons of debris, mainly dead fish, were cleared from beaches in Pinellas County, the most populous county in the state, and brought to the landfill.
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About 1,000 pounds (454 kilograms) of fish have been cleared from beaches since the start of the month, Mandy Edmunds, a local parks supervisor with the city has confirmed.
The toxic algae bloom, which occurs naturally in the Gulf of Mexico, is worsened by the presence of nutrients such as nitrogen in the water.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) warns the public against swimming in or around red tide waters over the possibility of skin irritation, rashes and burning eyes.
People with asthma or lung disease should avoid beaches affected by the toxic algae.
The FWC on Friday reported that it had found red tide in 157 samples along Florida’s Gulf Coast, with the strongest concentrations along Pinellas and neighbouring Sarasota county.
“Bloom concentrations (>100,000 cells/liter) were present in 79 samples from Southwest Florida: 26 in and offshore of Pinellas County, eight in Manatee County, 27 in Sarasota County, five in Charlotte County, four in Lee County, eight in Collier County, and one offshore of Monroe County. We continue to use satellite imagery (USF and NOAA NCCOS) to help track this patchy event,” the FWC shared.
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