CLEARWATER BEACH, Fla. (WFLA) — Red tide is impacting beaches across Tampa Bay from Sarasota to Pinellas County, just as spring break is set to begin.
On Friday, there was a high risk of respiratory irritation from red tide in Pinellas County.
Red tide at Clearwater Beach isn’t as bad as it was a few days ago. The city has posted signs at the beach warning of a heath alert.
“The first few days we were down here, we were coughing a little bit and the itchy throat,” said Cheryl Hones, who is visiting from Toronto.
Cheryl and Peter Hones were feeling less of the effects of red tide on Friday.
“We would rather have that than the snow, so it’s its great being down here,” she said. “The beaches are nice and clean and we love the sand down here to.”
FWC’s map shows a medium to high concentration of red tide at Clearwater Beach.
“We’ve been looking here and Clearwater Saturday we had an influx of red tide, and some discomfort with respiratory, and some fish that were washing up on the beach but since then we haven’t seen many,” said Lt. Meg Hasty with Clearwater Police.
Lt. Hasty with said the city has been proactive clearing dead fish from beaches daily.
“Parks and rec are picking up may be 100 fish per day, which I know that’s not the case elsewhere so we’ve been really lucky,” said Lt. Hasty.
This compared to the more than 7,000 pounds of dead fish collected further south in Manatee County earlier this week.
“The current and the tides have been working in our favor and pushing the Fishkill out,” she said.
The City of Clearwater said it has picked up more than three tons of fish.
