PANACEA, Fla. (WTXL) - Red tide is created by toxins released by dead algae blooms, and if coupled with wind and water currents it can lead to deaths in marine wildlife.
The Conservation of Florida along with Duke Energy and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission set out on a mission to repopulate the waters affected across five gulf counties.
That horrible outbreak last year devastated hundreds of miles of Florida's coastline. Most of that stayed to our south.
Red tide still exists in the waters off Panacea, which means at any moment, the Big Bend could see an epidemic. Luckily for businesses along this part of the coast, the algae didn't make it to that level in 2018.
Red tide is a form of algae that blooms when certain nutrients enter the water. The bloom kills numerous types of marine life.
And in Panacea, the red tide algae is currently present although it is a small amount that is not dangerous to wildlife.
Local Marine Expert and Owner of Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratories, Jack Rudlow, believes that local developments such as highway work near Panacea and a new sewage pipe in Perry could create future red tide issues.
"It over fertilizes the plankton that is in the ocean as it causes it to grow and in probably in the case of red tide, nobody can prove this one way or the other," said Rudlow. "It dominates and pushes out the organisms that might be keeping red tide in check. "
The last time our area had a red tide outbreak was in 1995 but Rudlow worries Panacea could see an outbreak in two to three years if development projects continue on their current path.
