Unexpected Blue-Green Algae Bloom Manifests During Winter

From skin rashes to breathing problems in humans to seizures and sudden death in dogs, blue green algae poses a threat to those who come in contact with it. Blue green algae is a type of toxic bacteria normally found in warm, stagnant water. We usually see it in southwest Florida in the summer months. However, this year is very different. Take a look at these images from Henry County taken this week. You can already see areas of blue green algae along the Caloosahatchee River. Scientists say it's blooming despite our colder than usual temperatures and a lengthy drought. WGCU's senior environmental reporter Tom Bayles, investigates how this batch of blue green algae is defying the seasonal conditions. Nearly half the length of the northernmost Caloosahatchee River is tainted with blue green algae, most likely fueled by nutrient pollution like nitrogen and phosphorus in the heavily agricultural region near LaBelle and Wilton Simpson, Florida's agriculture commissioner, this week suspended inspections that check on how well farmers are complying with best management practices. A list of environmental safeguards, such as keeping nitrogen and phosphorus and fertilizers out of nearby waters. In his emergency order, Simpson said Florida farmers have enough to handle right now dealing with the wildfire threat, exacerbated by the current drought and recent freezing temperatures. drought and recent freezing temperatures. I don't understand how cold and dry meat, on site verification and best management practices is like impractical or impossible. That's Joe Cavanaugh, director of Calusa Waterkeeper. He says the blue green algae outbreak in the dead of winter shows the northeastern part of the river, surrounded mostly by farms and ranches, is already saturated with nitrogen and phosphorus. Cavanaugh said Simpson's decision will make things worse. So it basically will impact the amount of nutrient lead water that get into the system from the agricultural industry, and then that will lead to more nutrient loading and will river. The toxic algae normally blooms in stagnant water during summer months. Matt DePaul is an environmental manager with the Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation, says warm and cold water is relative in Florida. Thus, the upper Caloosahatchee is apparently still warm enough to bloom. Despite the recent cold weather and the year long drought has quieted the normally robust flow of the river, providing the stagnant water warmed by the sun. A prime We are now joined by WGCU’s senior environmental reporter Tom Bayles. Tom, this algae bloom is ahead of schedule. It is occurring during the winter months. How unusual is this? It's very rare. It's not unprecedented, but it is rare. Blue green algae likes warm water, stagnant water, the kind of stuff you get in the summertime. It's a late summer, early fall phenomena. The fact that it's happening and in, you know, 30, 40 miles of the river is coated with blue green algae. Is is very exceptional. What has triggered this? Do you know? Well, the scientists are still working on it, but at the base of every blue green algae outbreak is nitrogen and phosphorus. And the other types of food for any kind of, algae outbreak. This area of the river is ring is, you know, both sides are agriculture and and ranching. So you're going to have a lot of the fertilizer runoff going into the river at this point. And that may be why it's, it's in the, in the, the easternmost part of the, of the river because, that's of course, not the case in downtown Fort Myers as the river goes through there. It was discovered, just before Valentine's Day, by Calusa Waterkeeper, who is a nonprofit environmental organization that takes care, of trying to get the river back to, as clean as it can possibly be. And one of their pilots found it, and it was quite, quite a shock to everybody because it just should not be there. Now, you mentioned it's about a 36 mile stretch of the river and it's Hendry County. Yes. Is there concern that this is going to travel west into Lee County toward you? I was speaking with, Matt to pull us from, the Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation, and he is an environmental expert in this stuff. And he doesn't believe it is an organized enough, amount of blue green algae to survive the, other 40 or 50 miles down the river. And even if it did, it wouldn't be a repeat of the horrible, 2018 2019 outbreak that everybody remembers because that one collided with a red tide in the Gulf. And that's what became that big boom that that was that year. And a half long harmful algae bloom. So it's, the confidence is low that it's going to go anywhere. And if it does, it will probably fall apart. But still something that we should be watchful, and very concerned about, especially with regard to humans coming in contact with it and more importantly, dogs, because a lot of us have those beautiful dogs, and it can be deadly if dogs come into contact in the water with this poisonous bacteria. Dogs do what they do and they jump in the water and they play and, they tend to drink whatever water is around. And then of course, when they're wet, they licky, they lick themselves dry. So at every if a dog gets into this type of water, it will be ingesting the toxin over and over it every step of it's if it's a little play time, the rule is to, if your dog gets into a blue green algae, water is to immediately, wash him or her with fresh water and get them to the vet, because dogs can die within hours. That's what I was reading. And it's very alarming. Very concerning. Is there any other, information you would like us to know about if a human comes in contact with this? Yes. If you come in contact with it, you know, it's it's not going to, like, do what it does to dogs, but you need to wash immediately with soap and water. You need to make sure that if you are in any doubt, you know, you go without you. Don't go in that water. Go find somewhere else to swim or hang out for the day. It is something that there's a lot of studying still being done on the human effects of the aerosol, toxin. Science doesn't know everything about blue green algae, right? Yet. So the best thing to do is just be careful and go somewhere else. Be cautious. Yes. Well, thank you for sharing this very important information for all of us. And I know you're going to keep track of this and we'll see what happens. Yeah. This is a really, unique situation. So, we here at WGCU are going to be reporting on this quite a bit. You've been covering the environment for 25, 30 years. And so you know that this is very serious. Yes. This is, I've never I've never, reported on a blue green algae bloom in the middle of the winter, especially a cold winter. I mean, it's snowed in Lehigh acres, which is very close to where this is. Just a few days ago. So, it shouldn't be happening by the the rules of of, man. But of course, nature does what nature does. Yes, it does. And we will keep watching it. Thank you. Thank you so much. Time for joining us.