NOAA: more funding needed to better understand red tide blooms in Southwest Florida

A federal agency has set aside $600,000 to study the socioeconomic impacts of red tide blooms here, like the one that gripped Southwest Florida from the fall of 2017 until this past spring.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, is putting more than $10 million in total this fiscal year toward studying and better understanding algae blooms in places like Southwest Florida, the Great Lakes, California, Alaska and New England. 

The grant will be awarded in the coming months and is one of 12 new research projects around the country aimed at better predicting, responding to and understanding the impacts of harmful algal blooms like red tide. 

“NOAA is funding the latest scientific research to support environmental managers trying to cope with increasing and recurring toxic algae that continue to affect environmental and human health and coastal economies,” said NOAA's Steven Thur. “Improved understanding of these coastal (harmful algal bloom) threats will lead to better bloom observation and prediction, and help to mitigate effects along the U.S. coast.”

Previous coverage:

• FGCU student researchers head to sea to check the red tide-devastated zone they found last year
• FGCU student researchers head to sea to check the red tide-devastated zone they found last year

Red tide is caused by the organism Karenia brevis and is naturally occurring in the Gulf of Mexico, although many water quality scientists say nearshore blooms can be fed by nutrient pollution from agriculture and developed areas. 

A particularly nasty red tide bloom that started in October 2017 and lasted until earlier this year killed hundreds of dolphins and sea turtles, millions of pounds of fish and eels and a whale shark. 

The study will focus on the obvious losses to hoteliers and restaurants as well as more difficult aspects of economic impacts. 

"A lot of us, when we think about red tide and the economic impact, the first thing you think about is people in the tourism industry and their losses and the folks in the restaurant business who had empty tables for months," said Shelton Weeks, chair of Florida Gulf Coast University's department of economics and finance as well as an affiliate professor at the school's new Water School. "It's going to capture those costs plus it's going to include the health and human costs. If you think of the people who had respiratory illnesses, it's going to consider that. It will even look at the opportunities lost."

FGCU is not involved at this point in the project. 

Previously:

• Red tide, fish kills return to Southwest Florida
• Water quality samples taken offshore show red tide concentrations creeping up

Some factors are much more difficult to calculate, Weeks said, which is why the study is needed. 

"We don't really know the costs of people with respiratory issues who missed work but didn't go to the doctor," he said. "How do you measure that?"

Jim Beever with the Southwest Florida Regional Planning Council said the study will look at things like lost beach visits. 

"You’re looking at things which didn’t happen because the red tide was occurring," Beever said. "People couldn’t go to the beach safely, which reduces the economic activity of going to the beach — which is one of the most lucrative activities in Florida."

The bloom shut down coastal economies tied to tourism, fishing (commercial and recreational), real estate and restaurants. 

"People weren’t fishing, so there were losses from commercial fishing not occurring and people not chartering guides to go out fishing and party boats and all of that," Beever said. "Realtors and people in the real estate industry were saying people were looking to move to this area and deciding not to because of the red tide. People were trying to sell houses that didn’t sell."

More:Algae task force fine tunes recommendations to help heal Florida's ailing waterways

Beever said news of red tide impacted other areas of Florida because national perception seemed to be that all of the state was inflicted. 

"The news of a red tide, the way they put it in national media, often leads to other parts of the state being impacted even though those areas aren’t being impacted," Beever said. "(Like the 2010 BP oil spill) we had economic impacts even though no oil ended up on our shores."

Connect with this reporter: @ChadGillisNP on Twitter.