Blue-green algae has been clogging up the waterways in Manatee County, FL. Common this time of year, especially in fresh and brackish waters, blooms can produce red tide like illnesses.
Evelyn Gaiser, Endowed George Barley Eminent Scholars Chair and member of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ blue-green algae task force, told the Bradenton Herald that scientists are still working to understand blue-green algae.
“Sampling continues. It’s Florida. It’s warm and if there’s nutrients in the water, it’s going to bloom and the size of the bloom will depend how much nutrients there are.”
Evelyn Gaiser
Experts were anticipating heavy nutrient and pollutant runoff during the summer thanks to spring floods. In Manatee County, they are focusing efforts on managing their storm water flow and street sweeping procedures to hopefully limit the size of blooms.
This article first appeared in the Bradenton Herald on June 24, 2019.
