A brutal strain of algae has a deadly impact on coastal creatures.
Mitch Stacy the Associated Press

September 4, 2005

CLEARWATER BEACH -- The pair of 200-pound loggerhead sea turtles lay
motionless in side-by-side plastic tanks, wet towels draped over their
shells and eyelids stitched shut to help eye lesions heal.

A battery of volunteers helped veterinarians at the Clearwater Marine
Aquarium try to keep the suffering creatures wet and alive after their
nervous systems were crippled, likely by the particularly brutal strain of
Red Tide lingering in the Gulf of Mexico this summer. One would die within
days.

The surviving loggerhead and 11 other turtles were still in the marine
world's version of an intensive care unit this week in a yard at the back of
the aquarium.

"They're all pretty much like this," said Terrie Weeks, one of the
coordinators of the public aquarium's turtle-rescue efforts. "They're not
able to lift their heads or swim."

Most anybody who's spent time at southwest Florida beaches knows about Red
Tide, a nasty but not uncommon offshore algae bloom that in humans irritates
the throat and makes it hard to breathe, and leaves stinky dead fish
littering the sand after every high tide.

But the massive Red Tide bloom that has plagued coastal waters this year
from Honeymoon Island north of Clearwater to south of Sarasota has been
extra toxic and deadly to sea life, scientists say -- the worst in more than
30 years.

Fish, sand dollars, sponges, crabs, coral and other undersea life suffocated
as the Red Tide -- this strain is called Karenia brevis -- choked off the
oxygen in the water. Bottlenose dolphins, sea turtles, manatees and birds
that swim through it, inhale the nerve-impairing toxins in the surf spray or
eat contaminated fish also have perished.

The casualties, according to the state Fish and Wildlife Research Institute,
have included at least 94 endangered or threatened sea turtles and 57
endangered manatees.

Divers and fishermen have reported a 2,000-square-mile "dead zone" void of
undersea life off Pinellas County, where the worst of the Red Tide is
concentrated.

"We've essentially had a large, toxic bloom out there for several months,
and it's working its way through the ecosystem, we believe," said Cindy
Heil, senior research scientist with the Fish and Wildlife Research
Institute.

Heil said Red Tide is a nearly annual occurrence in southwest Florida, but
it usually happens in the fall. The severity and longevity of this year's
episode is unusual, she said, but not unprecedented in Florida. The bloom
showed up in January, and its intensity and size have fluctuated through the
spring and summer.

It's hard to predict where it will go or how much longer it will last.

"It's a dynamic system," said Rich Pierce, a senior scientist at Mote Marine
Laboratory in Sarasota. "It moves with the currents, it concentrates in some
areas and dissipates in others. It's hard to make a definitive statement
about how much is there from one day to the next."

One of the elements this summer has been a strong "thermocline," a layer of
water where the temperature changes quickly from cold down deep to warmer
near the surface. The thermocline traps the toxic algae bloom near the
bottom and kills fish, then the bacteria breaking down the dead fish saps
the water of oxygen.

Oxygen is starting to return to some areas of the dead zone, but a full
recovery could take years, scientists say. Bad news for people such as Ben
Dauterman, who runs Tanks-A-Lot Dive Charters in Clearwater Beach.

His business has taken a hit because he can't take divers out to reefs and
the other usual undersea destinations. It's not safe to dive in the Red
Tide, and there are no fish to see. Other merchants who depend on people
visiting the beach are concerned, too.

Video taken recently by divers shows devastation off Pinellas, said
Dauterman, 60, who's spent four decades on the water here.

"I've never seen anything close," he said. "This is like somebody dropping a
bomb out here. It's like Hiroshima or something. There's nothing left
alive."

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