May 17, 2009
To the UAE, ( a Persian Gulf country), red tide blooms are a new thing. However after just one year they already have the US and the State of Florida beat. That’s yet another country that is using various clay slurry treatments to mitigate red tide blooms.
Our only attempt in Florida (that we know of, if there are any others, please let us know), was sponsored by Mote Marine. Sadly, they insisted that polluted clay from phosphorus mines be used (phosphorus is one of the main nutrients that red tide needs to sustain a bloom). The scientist refused to participate, were fired and the Mote Marine declared that clay slurry treatments were bad for the environment (only true if you use polluted clay).
Heck, even high school kids and local inventors are beating us with red tide mitigation methods.
It is definitely time to shake up Florida’s dysfunctional scientific community. One has to wonder whats up with Mote Marine wanting to use polluted clay from Phosporus mines, does it have something to do with their funding, are they somehow connected? We asked them, but they just won’t answer.
Categories: Actions, Environmental News, News, inept government, red tide mitigation method, solutions.
Tags: mitigation, mote, solution
November 25, 2008
Plankton Parasites
The research into the little known (until reported here), area of Plankton Parasites (or parasitoids ), is paying off. In case you haven’t heard, there is a species of micro organisms that feed on specific species of plankton (K. Brevis is one of them). It seems that when several harmful algal blooms like red tide blooms occur in a series for more than a few years in a row (like the last 15 years in Florida or the last 5 in Maine) the problem may be that this parasite can’t survive something and thus can’t flourish enough to reduce the amount of K Brevis in the water.
Here’s some quotes from an article about it:
Using a new technique that allows researchers to track the parasites as they infect the plankton with fluorescent markers, Guillou and her colleagues were able to monitor both an invasive species of plankton and the parasites for three years in a coastal estuary in France. What they were able to see was the very early infection of the plankton by the parasite, and then the eventual swelling and bursting of the plankton as the parasite’s many offspring broke free — hungry to infect again.
“We hypothesize that when a bloom occurs, these parasitoids are not able to infect the invasive species,” Guillou said.
quoted news story
Categories: Actions, Education, Florida Red Tide News, News, Red Tide Information, Rumors, red tide mitigation method, solutions.
Tags: parasitoids, plankton parasites, science, solution
April 9, 2008
The Sierra Club is hosting a Red Tide Forum this Thursday, 2pm, at the Manatee Community College campus in Venice, in the Selby Room at the Professional Development Center of the campus.
Topics covered will be Red Tide, fertilizers and water resources.
Larry Brand, a professor of marine biology at the University of Miami will be the featured speaker. Larry Brand is known for his research linking human activity — fertilizer and phosphates — along Florida’s coastline to the increase in red tide and other harmful algal blooms in the Gulf of Mexico.
Categories: Actions, Education, Florida Red Tide News, Red Tide Information.
January 27, 2008
This is yet another response to those who say there is no way known to stop a red tide bloom. There are many, here’s one that’s been proven to work and be environmentally safe. It’s been used in Asia for decades.
Continued…
Categories: Actions, Education, Red Tide Information, Rumors, red tide mitigation method, solutions.
November 15, 2007
Is it another wink and nod recognition for my work on Florida red tide? The work that helped get the Federal grant money to study the effects of rainwater on red tide blooms, may have been why they have decided to put the new enter to develop models to forecast Florida red tides at the University of South Florida’s College of Marine Science in St. Petersburg, right down the way from my offices.
Continued…
Categories: Actions, Education, Florida Red Tide News, News, Rumors.
November 10, 2007
Hello Florida Red Tide Solution members and readers. I’ve got a question for you from a visitor to Florida about some health problems associated with red tide:
Continued…
Categories: Actions, Education, Red Tide Information.
November 10, 2007
This is a plea for doctors. I’ve received a few people asking for help. Their loved ones have been exposed to red tide and are still sick long after walking away from the red tide. If you experience treating victims of red tide could you help?
We need someone to either contact these people directly or perhaps forward us some info so we can get it to their doctors.
Thanks
Categories: Actions, News, Rumors.
November 4, 2007
One can get confused with the conflicting reports from the government and press about the red tide in Florida. some sources say it’s dissipated some say it’s still hanging on. some reports say there’s a red tide bloom on the west coast, but not the east coast. Others say the red tide bloom is on Florida’s east coast but not the west.
What the heck is one to think? Red Tide Solutions would like to help, but to tell the truth we are confused too. FWRI doesn’t publish the results of whatever red tide testing they are doing up there on there web site. I’m finding very conflicting reports in the press. My guess is that the red tide bloom is growing because of the rainwater runoff and shrinking because of the drop in water temperature.
So how about it, North Florida Residents what’s the real skinny? Is there Red Tide up on the beaches, bays and in the Gulf up that way or not?
Please leave a comment below:
Categories: Actions, Rumors.
October 31, 2007
Two stories made the press recently that make it seem there’s something very wrong with Lee County’s leadership.
The first story tells us that Lee County Health Dept has declared the beaches “Clean” in the midst of a huge red tide bloom.(1). I’ll quote the entire article here because this paper likes to take down articles after a few days and only allow access to them through a paid service, which would be fine, except, it doesn’t work).
How on earth they are trying to justify area beaches clean in the middle of a red tide bloom, frankly boggles my mind. So I thought, maybe I’m wrong. So I looked it up 
and called some people that lived down there. Sure enough they said the beach was “Awful” and to be avoided. How this translates to “clean” by any stretch of the imagination is unclear. I’ve got a call in to the Lee County Health dept. for comment but as of yet haven’t heard back from them. I’ll update this article if I do.
The second disturbing piece of news (2) from Lee county is about a bridge and some fish. Last week workers used explosives to destroy two old drawbridge pilings. They anticipated a large fish kill. Using explosives in water kills all fish in the immediate area. When less only 33 small fish (not one snook, redfish or keeper sized grouper) floated to surface they were happy and called that a good thing.
This is the most uneducated statement I think I may have ever heard. What they have unintentionally done is take a sampling of the fish that live in this area. And this sampling has shown a gross lack of fish in an area where there should have been thousands of fish.
This is a bad thing, not a good thing! Fish are often the apex predator n water areas. If there wasn’t many fish that means there’s something drastically wrong with this ecosystem.
Does Lee county want there waters free of fish, like a swimming pool or something?
People of Lee county: PLEASE START STANDING UP TO YOUR GOVERNMENT AND DEMAND THAT THEY WORK FOR YOU NOT AGAINST YOU. Think about what will happen if you don’t.
After all, this is the same county government that thinks the way to relieve traffic is to charge people to use the roads so that poorest of the poor will not use them as much. (3)
Continued…
Categories: Actions, Environmental News, Florida Red Tide News, News, Rumors.
October 26, 2007
Hello! Texx Smith here. I’m the producer, designer, developer, editor and marketer for this web site Red Tide Florida.
I’m very pleased to say that several readers have made accounts and would like to write and article (post) or two for this web site. This is great for the public because the more true information the public gets about red tide, the more people will see how easy it is to control red tide. Maybe someone’s words will even inspire the next inventor to develop a cure for red tide.
Writing for Red Tide Florida is easy:
- Sign up for a free account here.
- Login
- Click the link at the top of the page that says “Write“
- Write your post, as you can see the site’s administrative back end includes a text editor for you that have many word processor type features and is easy to use.
- Try to remember to pick a category on the right if you can.
- Click the “Publish” button.
- I will approve the article within 24 hours.
That’s all there is to it!
Thanks for the help!
Texx Smith
Categories: Actions, Education, Red Tide Solutions News, Rumors.
February 20, 2007
Things are moving into full swing here at Florida Red Tide Solutions! We need lots of help, if we’re going to control red tide with in 2 years or less we need your help today!
Please take a moment to Contact Us and volunteer a few hours of your time for us.
Categories: Actions, Red Tide Solutions News.
December 11, 2006
That’s not the only environmental issue they’ve been caught directly lying about. Seems someone at the Governors mansion feels bad about what they’ve been doing and is leaking things to environmental groups and the press! More on that later but for now:
Continued…
Categories: Actions, Education, Florida Red Tide News, News, Red Tide Solutions News, Rumors, inept government.
Tags: evidence, government, lies, proof
November 6, 2006
Apparently not here in Florida but today we bring you another example of beaches being closed because of red tide. Only in this example there was an investigation as to why a beach with red tide in Australia. Of course what they call red tide in Australia is different than the Florida red tide, there’s is something called trichodesmium. It poses serious health risks evidently, and they usually . . .
Continued…
Categories: Actions, Education, Environmental News, Red Tide Information.
November 5, 2006
A local, Englewood Florida artist has turned the carcasses of fish killed by a Florida Red Tide into a sculpture. Norine Shelley is the artist from Englewood Florida that has created a sculpture made from, at least partially, the bones of fish that were washed ashore along many southwest Florida beaches after being killed a very long, intense and large red tide.
Read Quoted Southwest Florida News Story
Categories: Actions, Florida Red Tide News, News.
October 18, 2006
U.S. Rep. Connie Mack, R-Fort Myers, said Monday he’ll be proposing legislation that will concentrate red tide research — and research funding — under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Mack said NOAA, which is already conducting its own research and monitoring activities, would coordinate research and keep different groups from competing for research dollars.
Continued…
Categories: Actions, Florida Red Tide News, News.
October 10, 2006
Editors Note: As this story evolved, more and more information came to light. This story has been re-written to reflect some of that new information.
. . .Texx
Local High School beats Mote Marine and FWRI easily at developing a Florida Red Tide killer – all they did was try!
It looks as though developing something that would kill red tide blooms instantly was pretty easy after all. Venice High School is testing a patented invention of Bob Rigby’s that kills red tide! Under the watchful eyes of two professors with extensive related experience, the students at Venice High School and his students have been running several rounds of tests on it a year since 2004. The compound he has made is fairly simple. It’s main ingredient is chlorine, like in our drinking water. When applied in proper ratios preliminary testing has shown it kills the red tide algae on contact and doesn’t affect other marine life.
How many different formulas have Mote Marine and FWRI tested? Exactly zero! They’re actually being beaten by a single man and some high school kids.
Sounds like a pretty straight forward story right?
Well this is Florida, of course there has to be some drama . . .
You gotta read the rest of this Florida Red Tide story!
Continued…
Categories: Actions, Education, Florida Red Tide News, Rumors, red tide mitigation method, solutions.
Tags: cure, mitigation, Venice High School
September 28, 2006
Global warming. Red tide. Wakulla Springs pollution. What’s a person to do? As Candide found out after his discouraging adventures, sometimes all we can do is to tend our own gardens! There is something homeowners and other gardeners can do to make our world better – create a “Wakulla Springs Friendly Yard.”
Jim Stevenson, director of the Governor’s Springs Initiative Committee, asked me to come up with some ideas to encourage local folks to use less fertilizer and chemicals in their yards. He was puzzled why people seemed to be watering their lawns so much and using copious amounts of chemicals, as well.
read full story
Categories: Actions, Education.
June 27, 2006
Earnest research into red tide has been under way since 1948, when the toxin-emitting algae, now called Karenia brevis, was identified as the single-cell organism causing Gulf waters to become rusty brownish-red. Since that time, researchers and the public have looked for answers, although, until the past 15 years, there has not been much funding made available to do the work. Funding grants to study the phenomenon along the Gulf of Mexico coast were usually less than $100,000 a year. 1
The question needs to be asked of our legislature: Why aren’t you trying to stop red tide? Is it because the people who cause red tide (citrus growers and homeowners who use fertilizers on their lawns), would be offended if you ask them to stop making red tide?
Categories: Actions, Education, Red Tide Information.
June 19, 2006
There’s been a rash of stories like this out there. I thought I would share one with you. If you’ve never visited here before you may not realize that red tide research can be done by anyone. However it’s very expensive and before the results can be sited they have to be verified by some big names. Mote Marine and the Florida Wildlife commission are the only two organizations in the country that “officially” study red tide. Both refuse to study what everyone says is the cause of red tides un-naturally frequent blooms and the un-natural extension of these blooms.
That cause would be polluted run-off from rivers and bays. The pollutants of most concern are fertilizers and some say auto exhaust. The evidence abounds. Red Tide is an algae, algae is a plant and fertilizers make plants grow longer and more – duh! Red tide, black tide and other blooms spontaneous occur near the inlets of these polluted sources and when they get into our heavily polluted bays it takes a long time for them to disappear.
But as long as they refuse to study it they can say “There is no evidence that polluted runoff causes red tide.”
Well little independent experiments all over Florida are popping up to prove them wrong again and again.
This one is from Lee County, Sanibel Island specifically. Recently Sanibel has been collecting soil samples testing high in phosphorous and nitrogen, city leaders are talking about watching what products are used on lawns. There is evidently some kind of ordinance on the way. This may be the first of its type in the country.
Categories: Actions, Education, Florida Red Tide News, News, Red Tide Information.
March 25, 2006
Want to learn about the very latest Red Tide Research from Mote Marine? Well members, prospective members and anyone just plain curious, you’re in luck!
Floridians are invited to hear an update on Red Tide Research from Mote Marine. Dr. Barbara Kirkpatrick, manager for the environmental health studies program at Mote Marine will be giving the presentation on the latest Red Tide Research Findings, new methods of red tide detection, studies of ways to mitigate and control blooms, human health studies, and more. (Read their news release)
If you like to go it’s free and open to all but they say that space is limited, so it will be first come – first served seating. Call 388-4441, ext. 691 for more Info.
Categories: Actions, Education.
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