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Red Tide

For centuries, toxic algal blooms have plagued Florida’s shores. Now a new outbreak of the microorganism Karenia brevis — better known as Red Tide — is plaguing Tampa Bay and the gulf beaches, killing marine life and threatening the region’s tourism industry.

  1. The beach off Indian Rocks Beach is flush with visitors despite the presence of red tide on Friday, Mar 10, 2023, off Pinellas County.
  2. A record 1,101 manatees died in 2021 — the most deaths in a year since 830 manatees in 2013 — and officials have long feared that toll will grow this winter.
  3. A manatee swims at Hunter Spring Park on Kings Bay in Crystal River in 2021.
  4. Dead fish fill the end of a canal near St. Petersburg's Snell Isle Marina off Snell Island on July 16 as a Red Tide bloom persists on the Florida Gulf Coast.
  5. Two dead adult manatees recovered from Brevard County are seen emaciated prior to necropsy at the state's Marine Mammal Pathobiology Lab in March.
  6. A drone image shows part of the Piney Point complex near Bradenton in April.
  7. A man fishes Monday off the rocky shore along the Clearwater Harbor from Sand Key Park in Clearwater.
  8. An aerial drone photo of Sand Key looking north towards Indian Rocks Beach taken on Sept. 2.
  9. Dead fish lie on the sand at Indian Shores Beach in St. Petersburg on June 10. The massive fish kills have receded, but Red Tide is still floating off the Pinellas coast. Scientists say it's hard to forecast when it could return to afflict the shore.
  10. Caulin Donaldson, 25, spends time at Indian Rocks Beach on July 28 recording video for his TikTok account @TrashCaulin as he documents the Red Tide crisis and resulting fish kills that have afflicted Tampa Bay's beaches and coastline. “The mission here is to let people know this is happening,” he said.
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