Third Quarterly Report FY-2014 to 2015. FWC/FWRI-Mote Cooperative Red Tide Program: Reduction of Harmful Impacts from Florida Red Tide. FWC Agreement No. 12054. Report Period: January 1, 2015 to March 31, 2015.

Abstract

This report serves to detail progress made during the third quarter of Year 3 of the FWC/FWRI-Mote Cooperative Red-Tide Program. The Florida red tide causes adverse impacts to public health, natural resources and the economy. The red tide organism (Karenia brevis) produces a potent neurotoxin, the primary cause of the harmful effects including massive fish kills, deaths of marine mammals, birds and sea turtles and die-off of benthic communities. Public health is affected through exposure to the airborne toxins and ingestion of contaminated shellfish. This project is a cooperative effort between Mote Marine Laboratory (Mote) and the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, (FWRI/FWC) to mitigate the adverse impacts caused by harmful algal blooms, specifically the Florida red tide (Karenia brevis) along the Florida Gulf coast. This continuing cooperative program between Mote and FWRI/FWC involves specific areas of red tide monitoring, research, and public education that are of critical concern to the State of Florida, in cooperation with other on-going red tide initiatives. These monitoring, mitigation and research efforts are addressed as four goals including: 1) evaluate potential control techniques, 2) mitigate red tide effects through monitoring, forecasting, and improved knowledge, 3) investigate toxin persistence in recreationally-harvested shellfish, and 4) protect public health, the economy and living natural resources through increased education and outreach. Each goal is designed to make full use of existing partnerships and accomplish specific deliverables through shared resources and expertise, while maintaining progress toward long-term goals of predictive capabilities and directed response for management of red tides and reduction of adverse impacts on public health, ecological health, and the economy. Special care is taken to avoid redundancy between collaborative studies undertaken at Mote and FWRI/FWC, or with other ongoing research. Note that deliverables associated with this report are provided via Dropbox (FWRI-Mote RT Co-op 2012-15  Products). Files within the Dropbox are categorized by Goal and Task, as appropriate. Data tables within these files are routinely updated.