State officials are looking for a few good ideas to battle the problems with red tide. And they are willing to lend money for the best idea or plan.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission along with Solutions to Avoid Red Tide, or START, are ready to distribute up 850-thousand dollars in grants to find good ideas in fighting red tide. Leigh Zimmerman is the outreach coordinator for START, and she says there are people out there who don’t have the support of a large agency or company but they may have a great idea.

“The people who are helping to run this start program are really hoping that people see this as a good opportunity and will hopefully get a really great range of idea…so fingers crossed.”

Red Tide causes respiratory problems in humans, kills fish and marine mammals and makes beaches unpleasant places to be. The deadline to submit a proposal for the grant is May 15th. Zimmerman says the grant is not for recovery efforts or compensation. Visit www.start1.com for more information.