Drone Footage Shows Algal Bloom Off Florida Coast

Storyful
3 年前

An algae bloom has shown up along the coast of Indian Shores, Florida, days before Memorial weekend.

Michael Mccarthy of See Through Canoe recorded this drone footage on May 26 showing the discolored water and originally posted the video to YouTube.

According to local news outlets, Pinellas County Environmental Management have been monitoring the blue-green algae for the past few weeks. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission confirmed the red tide organism, Karenia brevis, had been detected in low concentrations in Southwest Florida.

In April, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection authorized the release of wastewater from Piney Point, a former fertilizer plant, in response to “a leak in a containment pond line.”

According to local news outlets, the waste from the former fertilizer plant put “a substantial amount of nitrogen in the water that could have detrimental effects on some of the region’s most sensitive and unique habitats.”

Experts from the University of South Florida College of Marine Science told the Herald-Tribute it was too early to draw a conclusion about what was causing the algae bloom, and said the initial bloom from the wastewater continues to dissipate. Credit: See Through Canoe via Storyful