Blue-green algae health warnings are diminishing on the Caloosahatchee
The Florida Department of Health in Lee County canceled five health warnings due to harmful algal blooms in the Caloosahatchee River.
Right after Hurricane Ian, land-based nutrients like fertilizers were washed into the Gulf of Mexico by the hurricane’s massive volume of rainwater and storm surge. The first red tides were found offshore of Sarasota County, and as the months went by, dozens of more blooms of the toxins, often airborne, were detected throughout Southwest Florida offshore seas.
The red tides dissipated as the Gulf of Mexico got warmer heading into this summer.
Then more than a dozen masses of blue-green algae — another harmful algae bloom — were discovered by testing in the Caloosahatchee River from June through August, which prompted state officials to issue health advisories from the upper Caloosahatchee River to the lower, warning of the presence of the toxic organism throughout.
Skin rashes, gastrointestinal turmoil, and respiratory distress are potential outcomes of contact with algae-filled water. Blue-green algae have also killed family pets who played in infected areas, as well as entire flocks of birds who landed in lakes covered in the slimy, green algae.
In addition to health effects, harmful algae blooms cause significant economic losses when they take hold, keeping tourists and residents alike away from saltwater beaches due to the acrid odors and dead fish lining the shore that are the hallmark of red tide, and the rotten-egg smell and slimy blue-green algae that look like bad toupees gone rotten in freshwater lakes and rivers.
Despite the five canceled health warnings issue in June and July for the waters around Jaycee Park, Overiver Drive, Whitecap Circle, Horton Park, and the end of Canal Circle along the Caloosahatchee River, several more health warnings for the floating, toxic algae remain, and not in places that can so easily be defined because many of the piles of algae float around with the winds and tides.
“It is important that the public exercise caution and good judgment,” the health department said in a press release. “Blue-green algae blooms can move around or subside and then reappear when conditions are favorable again. Residents and visitors are advised to avoid contact with the water if blooms are observed.”