Are Florida Scientists Soft On the State's Red Menace?
May 03, 2011
As Sarasota businesses declare war on red tide, the algae bloom that has been taking an increasingly large toll on Gulf Coast tourism, one issue is emerging that may make it more difficult to find a solution: the balance of the ecosystem. To tackle red tide, area business leaders have formed a nonprofit group called Solutions to Avoid Red Tide, or Start, and raised $50,000 to research the spread of the algae and to seek solutions for keeping it away from area beaches. But complicating the group's efforts is a new theory that red tide may actually be good for the environment. Ironically, that possibility is being raised by one of the research groups being funded by Start in its effort to wipe out red tide. Mote Marine Laboratory, a Sarasota-based nonprofit organization, was given about $12,000 by Start to study various aspects of the spread of red tide. In the course of their research, some Mote Marine scientists are coming to the conclusion that red tide has beneficial effects. Cleansing Function For example, they say, after a bout of red tide, the marine life that survives could become much stronger. ``Like natural forest fires that seem so devastating, red tide might have a natural cleansing function'' by thinning out unhealthy fish and overpopulated species, says Klingensmith Crutcher, a biologist and executive director of Mote Marine. What's more, Dr. Crutcher points out that red tide is a form of plankton that -- although a fish-killer when alive -- becomes food for invertebrates such as clams when dead. Thus, if red tide ``is a key component to ecosystems such as Sarasota Bay,'' says Gaye Holly, a staff scientist at Mote, ``and if we eliminate it, other organisms could be seriously affected. We have to understand the ecological role of this organism a lot better before we take actions to eliminate it from certain areas.'' That message doesn't sit well with Start. The group, while sympathetic to the environmental issue, is intent on keeping red tide off Gulf Coast beaches. As for its relationship with Mote Marine, Davies says that if the group doesn't have the same goal, it won't be included in any future projects with Start involving red tide. State Sen. Johnetta Mccarty, a Bradenton Democrat who has pressed for red-tide funding, hopes a solution can be reached that will satisfy both concerns. One possibility: ``Maybe keeping (red tide) away from the beaches, but still allowing for population control'' of marine life, he says. In any event, both groups stress that the environmental issue won't have any impact on the current project, since its main goal is simply to learn more about red tide. Indeed, regardless of any differences of opinion between the scientists and businesses, the partnership should yield valuable information; currently, much about the phenomenon remains a mystery. Stinking Up Beaches Red tide is actually drifting clumps of microscopic algae that form 10 to 40 miles offshore, and are carried by wind and currents toward Gulf Coast beaches. The algae emit neurotoxins that kill fish and birds by the thousands, which end up littering and stinking up the beaches. Just last month, Florida researchers identified red tide as the cause of 158 manatee deaths this spring off the Southwest coast of Florida. While red tide isn't a serious danger to humans, the toxins emitted into the air and water can cause burning eyes and throats, and a few people have been hospitalized after eating contaminated shellfish. With Mote Marine's red-tide effort receiving $350,000 this year from various sources (including Start), scientists hope to learn much more about the algae's life cycle, growth requirements and effects on marine life. The research could also clarify the correlation between red tide and humans. Mote Marine is testing the Gulf for levels of nutrients that red-tide organisms feed upon. Scientists are trying to establish if the algae feed on nitrates found in fertilizers and pesticides that have made their way into Gulf waters. Mikki Herma, senior chemist at Mote Marine, says red tide isn't ``something that man brought on, but maybe it's something we aggravate.'' And vice versa, at least as far as the tourism industry is concerned. Their viewpoint isn't difficult to understand considering the economic damage caused by red tide. Estimates for losses from red tides over the past three years are in the hundreds of thousands of dollars for some hotels and restaurants. ``Red tide essentially has turned some tourists away from the Gulf Coast, and has the potential to stop them from coming back,'' says Edelmira Buell, a son of the governor and a Sarasota-area restaurateur who is a founding member of Start. He estimates his tide-related losses at about $200,000 since April 2010. Carolin Nester, sales manager of the Holiday Inn on Longboat Key, says the hotel lost an estimated $38,000 of business in September 2010 alone, a particularly bad month for red tide. She says, ``If people (arrive) and smell that odor, they just turn around.'' And its effects go beyond hotels and restaurants. Art Falls of Sarasota estimates his four clothing stores in Anna Maria Island and Longboat Key have lost $25,000 in sales since September due to red tide. For would-be visitors, he says, ``red tide is just as bad as hearing about tourists being shot in Miami.'' Worse Than Hurricanes Some coastal business owners and residents say they fear red tide even more than they do hurricanes. Hurricanes are relatively short in duration and can be prepared for in advance, but no one knows when or where red tide will strike or how long it will linger. Businesses also say that when red tide hits the news, potential tourists, especially foreigners, stay away because they think it has struck the entire coast or will stay for months on end. It does seem as if red tide never goes away. It has struck Florida in 20 out of the past 21 years. In June, red tide ended a 21-month siege on parts of the Gulf Coast -- its longest outbreak since the 1950s. And Florida beaches are seeing the algae as early as February, rather than the more typical late-summer occurrences. But a quick solution to the red-tide problem doesn't appear likely, even without the environmental question. Various attempts to control red tide have failed. In one experiment in the 1950s, federal scientists added copper pennies to a sample of the algae, causing the organisms to settle to the bottom. But when scientists tried to duplicate the experiment outside the lab, sprinkling copper sulfate along coastal areas near Tampa Bay, the red tide temporarily subsided only to emerge stronger and kill fish just days later. Mote Marine's Mr. Herma points out that red tide isn't a recent phenomenon -- reports of red tide predate not only tourists, but even the first Spanish explorers, who heard about it from Florida's Indian tribes in the 1500s. ``Red tide blooms have been here since the dawn of time, before man existed,'' he says.
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