Do you remember how you first learned about red tide? If you’re like many Floridians, it may have been through messaging or outreach by environmental educators — a group that ranges from park rangers and tour guides to schoolteachers and scientists.
Information shared by educators on red tide can include where the harmful algae is currently located, the effects it can have on humans, and the science behind the formation of beachside blooms.
Although reports from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission are showing only background levels of karenia brevis, the organism that forms red tide blooms, in the waters of Southwest Florida, the harmful algae is still on the minds of local environmental educators.
“While we don't necessarily always have a program or a class that's focusing on red tide, we always have to be mindful and aware of it, because we're going out and exploring in nature, and so we need to know ourselves how to pay attention to it and understand it,” said Shannon Rivard, Youth Education Director for the Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation.
She said that the hands-on tours she leads for locals and tourists on Lee County’s barrier islands can be derailed by harmful algal blooms — and that the people she teaches aren’t always aware of exactly what’s going on.
“Locally, a lot of people recognize the name and the term, and they know at a basic level that it affects water quality [and] affects humans and kills fish. But beyond that, the science behind it are, are more of the mechanics of how it moves, where it goes, and what it directly affects people probably know less about.”
She adds that it’s a different story for those who live outside of Florida:
“Visitors to our island and tourists definitely don't (know), and are often, like confused as to why they're experiencing that on the beach, or what's happening or why they're seeing dead animals.”
While education on the basics of red tide can be crucial in keeping beachgoers safe, deeper education on the issue can clear up myths and clarify recent scientific developments for a broader audience.
Gerald Thompson is an environmental educator with the Conservancy of Southwest Florida. He said that it’s a common misconception that humans are responsible for red tide.
“A pretty common assumption is that pollution causes a red tide bloom. And, you know, there's a grain of truth in that red tide is natural, humans definitely don't cause it to happen, but our activities that are happening on land do exacerbate it and can make it bloom more intensely over a wider area.”
Dr. David Tomasko is the executive director of the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program. He said that while the red tide phenomenon isn’t entirely caused by humans, recent studies have strongly connected human activities with worsened red tide.
“It's only been within the last five years or so where the science has been able to clearly link that there's a relationship between discharges coming out of [the] Caloosahatchee River and the worsening of red tides, not causing red ties, but causing them to be worse. So only in about five years or so have we as scientists been able to say, Nope, here's the paper that shows the relationship. Here's another one, here's another one.”
Tomasko believes that environmental education can be a valuable tool in advocating for change. He says that a large portion of his job is focused around outreach to citizens.
“The public's knowledge of this is really essential, because the public are the ones that can then tell their elected officials, 'Hey, you need to do something to get like these discharges under control' and things like that, because the biggest single thing we can do to lessen the impact of red tide is to complete the big projects that are needed for Everglades restoration.”
Rivard says that after 2018’s historic yearlong red tide bloom, more people started to tune in to water quality issues and looking for more information, including at the SCCF.
“People were upset and confused and maybe even outraged, just seeing the amount of sea life that was affected and washing up. The intensity in the scale, I think that it kind of sparked a movement — to really understand more and learn more and do what they can to help.”
Thompson says that while the enormity of the issue can be difficult to grapple with, individual actions do have the power to impact water quality issues — even on a small scale.
“If you try and change everything about your life, that's really overwhelming and hard to do for a lot of people, so pick like, three impactful, practical things that you can do that you really care about. And so it could be reducing your carbon emissions. It could be putting a solar roof. It could be planting native plants. It could be going to your national parks and supporting their business, their funding, their research.”
WGCU is your trusted source for news and information in Southwest Florida. We are a nonprofit public service, and your support is more critical than ever. Keep public media strong and donate now. Thank you.