How red tide is impacting estuaries in southwest Florida

SANIBEL — A red tide bloom is plaguing coastlines from Captiva to South Marco Beach, and the Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation released a report about the state of Southwest Florida shorelines.

The SCCF Caloosahatchee and Estuary conditions report uses data that was collected from Jan. 5 to 11.

Flows to the Caloosahatchee estuary have been within the optimum levels for the past 11 days, according to the report. However, a red tide bloom continues to cause multiple fisk kill events, kill and injure other wildlife, and cause respiratory issues for people.

Since Jan. 5, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Fish Kill Hotline received four reports in Lee County related to red tide.