Residents of the Florida Keys have spotted hundreds of sharks swimming along canals adjoining their properties as the fish attempt to escape a toxic red tide. Screenshot / NBC, YouTube
Residents of the Florida Keys have spotted hundreds of sharks swimming along canals adjoining their properties as the fish attempt to escape a toxic red tide. Screenshot / NBC, YouTube
Residents of the Florida Keys have spotted hundreds of sharks swimming along canals adjoining their properties as the fish attempt to escape a toxic red tide.
Bonnethead, black tip, nurse and lemon sharks have all been reported over the past month during the red tide, an overgrowth ofmicroorganisms that can turn ocean water red, deplete oxygen levels and concentrate toxins in the water.
"You saw fins at first just like popping up and then you would look down the canal and with a little bit of the sun, you just saw more and more and you were like, 'Oh, that is not good'," said John Wagman, who lives in Longboat Key on Florida's west coast.
Longboat Key is a few kilometres from a breach at the abandoned Piney Point fertiliser plant in April that pumped tens of millions of litres of toxic discharge into Tampa Bay.
Dead fish are covering the shores of Tampa due to a deadly algae bloom, known as a “red tide,” which is turning the water toxic. The devastating trail now stretches for about 100 miles off Florida’s Gulf Coast. pic.twitter.com/SA8CuZe7py
Red tide today near Venice Beach, Florida. We must care for our environment. We must do better. pic.twitter.com/UwP5JWYDYP
— Coffee On A Kayak (nee Bike)🚣🏻♀️ (@CoffeeOnAKayak) July 31, 2021
Florida's red tide remains, killing massive amounts of sea life, and keeping tourists unable to enjoy the beauty of our beaches. https://t.co/1HgLhCwvcx
— Center for Inquiry Tampa Bay (@CFI_TampaBay) August 1, 2021
Environmentalists are investigating the effect this had on red tide, which occurs naturally at this time of year, though not usually on this scale.
"You just don't normally see sharks piling up like that in these canals, they do go in there but not in the huge numbers that we're seeing reported," said Professor Mike Heithaus, a shark expert at Florida International University.
"It's not the kind of thing you would see if it wasn't a big red tide."
