Big Red Tide Moving Towards Florida Bay

NAPLES -- "A toxic algae bloom that first reared its head in November appears to be traveling away from Lee and Collier counties and more toward the Florida Bay area. Health department and environmental science officials have been monitoring a large red tide bloom that at one point could have been as large as 400 square miles. The outbreak stayed offshore over the past six weeks and away from local coast lines.

"It didn't come onshore, but it's the luck of the draw," said Lee County Smart Growth Director Wayne Daltry. "It's still killing things, and it's a big puppy." Officials with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission in St. Petersburg have been monitoring the event as well.

Red tide is a naturally-occurring algae that's fed by nutrients. Outbreaks that reach coastal areas often cause respiratory problems in humans and can be deadly to fish and other marine animals. "Our staff is monitoring the bloom," said Allison Bozarth with the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. "It's in low-medium concentration right now, and we should be getting more samples in later this week." The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission classifies red tide as either absent, present, low, medium or high on a human and animal impact scale. Low and medium ranges are capable of causing widespread fish kills and breathing problems for beachgoers and residents living near the Gulf of Mexico.

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Some weather and water quality experts are saying red tide outbreaks could become much worse during 2005. A string of summer hurricanes churned up most of the state's waters, and pollutants and nutrients that settled on the beds of rivers, bays and creeks over the course of decades were reintroduced to coastal waterways."

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http://www.sun-herald.com/NewsArchive2/122504/tp9ch17.htm?date=122504&story=tp9ch17.htm

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7:19 And the LORD spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their pools of water, that they may become blood; and there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in wood, and in stone.

7:20 And Moses and Aaron did so, as the LORD commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that in the river were turned to blood.

7:21 And the fish that in the river died; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.