ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (CN) — A salty, rotten stench of death hung in the air as Don Bennett walked along a seawall in downtown St. Petersburg on Florida’s Gulf Coast. The 63-year-old smoked a cigarette and gazed out on Tampa Bay where tons of dead fish — literally thousands upon thousands of pounds of carcasses — bobbed in the water.
“I’ve never seen it like this,” said Bennett, who has lived in St. Petersburg since 1983. “Nothing like this.”
Bennett was one of only a handful of people at this ordinarily bustling waterfront park. No joggers, no yoga classes, no Midwest tourists snapping photos of the city’s newly built $80 million pier.
For two weeks, the toxic algae bloom known as red tide has persisted in the waters of Tampa Bay, resulting in massive fish kills that wash up on beaches, parks and waterfront homes.
City crews have collected more than 500 tons of dead sea life so far, St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman said at a Wednesday morning press conference. The effort requires more than 200 employees from all city departments, the mayor said, diverting resources from other city business.
“Our city teams can only keep at this for so long,” Kriseman said before pleading directly to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. “We are asking the governor... please, we need your help.”
Citing cleanup costs in the “six digits,” city officials want state funds to pay for shrimp boats to net dead fish before they wash up on shore.
Kriseman said he has reached out to the governor’s office to no avail.
“This isn't about politics,” Kriseman, a Democrat, said. “I know the governor has had a lot to juggle lately. But we need his office to be paying attention to this. Send resources down here.”
He also called for DeSantis, a Republican, to declare a state of emergency, like former Governor Rick Scott did during the last major red tide bloom in 2018.
A state of emergency is not needed yet, said Jared Williams, deputy communications director for the governor’s office, in an e-mail to Courthouse News. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection already has earmarked funding for red tide efforts, he noted, including a $902,500 grant to Pinellas County, where St. Petersburg is located, announced yesterday during a roundtable with officials from DEP and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
“Mayor Kriseman is either unaware of what is actually going on in his own backyard or is deliberately lying and using red tide as an attempt to score cheap political points,” Williams said.
Red tide, caused by microscopic algae called Karenia brevis, is a naturally occurring phenomenon in Florida’s waters. But warming temperatures and nutrient pollution from runoffs can worsen an existing bloom and give water a reddish hue. The organisms produce toxic chemicals that, in high concentrations, can kill all manner of sea life, from fish to manatees.
Besides the environmental impacts, red tide can also irritate people’s respiratory system, causing coughs, sneezing and an itchy throat. Those with severe or chronic respiratory conditions, like emphysema or asthma, should avoid red tide areas, according to the Sarasota-based Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium.
Those worries did not stop Travis Hawks and Alexandria Blaha from having a picnic at waterfront Vinoy Park to celebrate their dog’s birthday.
“I wasn’t expecting this,” said Hawks, lamenting all the dead fish spoiling the view. “This is one of the reasons people live in St. Pete. It’s paradise.”
Added Blaha, “We were hoping to see some dolphins today. But that’s not going to happen and probably not anytime soon.”
The current red tide crisis is the area’s worst since a protracted bloom in 2017 and 2018 devastated Tampa Bay’s tourism industry.
The direct cause of the current bloom is unclear, although environmental groups claim the recent near-collapse of a wastewater reservoir in a nearby county could have contributed to outbreaks along the Gulf Coast this summer.
In April, state officials discovered breaches in the berm walls of a 77-acre pond on an abandoned phosphate mine and fertilizer plant called Piney Point in Manatee County. To stave off a potentially catastrophic collapse of the pond’s walls that would have inundated the adjacent neighborhood, engineers pumped out hundreds of millions of gallons of wastewater into Tampa Bay.
At the other end of the park, a rotund, bearded man wearing rubber boots, commented on the odor emanating from a large mass of dead mullet, grouper and bait fish lapping the seawall.
“It’s heartbreaking,” said Steve, a Tampa Bay fisherman for over 40 years. “We can’t catch no more fish, because they’re all dead.”
Steve, who would not give his last name for fear of not procuring a future contract to clean up the dead fish, said he knows of 20 other fishermen in St. Petersburg and another dozen in Tampa who want to clear the bay.
“We’re waiting on the state to give us the funds,” he said. “The state created the problem — now fix it.”
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