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Dead Fish
Posted: 6:45 PM Oct 8, 2007
Last Updated: 6:45 PM Oct 8, 2007


Red Tide has been reported in several area locations in the past couple of weeks and the last appears to be in a portion of Grand Lagoon.

Residents in the 7000 block of South Lagoon Drive reported hundreds of dead fish floating in the water Monday afternoon.

Although it is assumed by many to be Red Tide, that determination has not yet been officially made.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is currently investigating what is causing the fish to die.

I live off of North Lagoon - and the smell and site of the Lagoon last night was just terrible! I was on the dock yesterday morning around 7am - the water was crystal clear and just beautiful - then about 8pm last night I thought my trash was smelly, so I walked my bag to the dumpster and when I opened my front door - BAM! It was an incredible stench! (Glad it wasn't my garbabe!) My eyes are still scratchy!

I have a friend that has been a boat captain here for over 20 years and he says it is the worst he has seen in a very long time!

That's too bad... but, it must be in patches this year.... we haven't noticed it at all along Front Beach and Thomas Drive.

Ick. I showed up at St Andrews about 9pm or so on Saturday Night. Wading through dead fish is an interesting experieince. They must get caught up in Grand Lagoon & St Andrews kiddy pool during tide changes. Does this affect off shore at all? What about scuba diving in the water for an hour & half or so? Has me a bit worried...

There is not enough $$$$ on the planet that would make me even consider getting in the water right now

My Navy diver friends had to skim the waters behind the Dive School yesterday so that they could perform some exercises that are taking place over there - they were only in for about 30 mintues and called it off. Everyone started getting extremely sick...

However, if you go offshore about ten miles (per my boat captain buddy) - you should be alright -

It's very nasty and we're praying for a NW wind to at least move all the dead fish out of the Lagoon. Went over the Lagoon bridge at lunch and it's like a blanket of dead fish everywhere and stinks to HIGH HEAVEN!!!

So, Bubba Bob....be SAFE! And let us know if you do happen to scuba. I'd be interested to know what you find out there.

I'm so glad there was no red tide when we were down there. At least I don't believe there was. Never saw any dead fish or smelled any stench. BTW, what exactly is red tide and it is mostly a fall event when it occurs???

Did a couple dives today. Your not joking, the lagoon smelled HORRIBLE. Just passing over the bridge was bad enough, can't imagine boating or swimming. St Andrews was nice though. Barely a hint of red tide.

Do you live down in PC, Nascar?

beachnut...Red tide is an algae bloom that depletes the oxygen in the water, thus killing sea creatures. This will explain it better.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_tide

Thanks gagirl. I had not known of it until it got mentioned this year. It's amazing how an algae bloom can deplete the oxygen in something so vast as the St. Andrews Bay and the Gulf. But sad also, it wouldn't kill the sea turtles would it???

Beachnut when we were down in PCB in May you would not wanted to see what we seen. We were on the 14th floor and I had the binoculars out looking because people were gathering. Well to make a long story short we went down and I took my digital camera and low and behold it was a dead sea turtle that floated ashore!!! It was sooo sad. I would post the pic but I have no idea how to do it on here.

So sad. Don't know whether I could stand looking at that.

we just got back yesterday and the red tide was a problem for about two days, not real bad. Some dead fish washed up on the beach and smelled bad. It made our throats tickle and we started coughing.

I started wondering if it was just in my head, but then we started noticing others coughing. Also the people sitting out on the balconies on the lower floors were coughing too. So we just stayed at the pool during that time.

We were on the 11th floor at Long Beach Resort and watched a huge blob of it come from the east, just stayed off shore and then went west and came ashore where some good waves were coming in. I wondered about the kids playing in the surf getting sick. I read that you shouldn't go into the water with any cuts or open wounds. Most kids have scrapped knees or boo boo's from falls and and of course the ever so often bike wreck. My husband comment that before it hit, Pineapple Willey's was busy, then after the dead fish washed up, there were just a few brave souls sitting in the pier area. poooooowhew!

We got home yesterday. Left a day early because the water was so yucky!
Rys

Sorry the red tide tide ruined some of the fun but hopefully you all did have some good times. We had that (red tide) once when we went to Gulf Shores years ago. Not fun at all.

My folks just came back into town from their vacation in Destin over this past weekend. They too were in for a surprise and experienced the Red Tide as well. They made a mistake of going to Pampano Joes (wonderful seafood place right off the coast) only to find out there were dead fish along with the fowl smell along the coast line also. They said everyone that was eating outside was coughing and complained of watery eyes and sneezing.

I just hope this all passes over really soon. Is this type of thing annual in Florida?