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Red Tide in Northwest Florida—1999

The presence of a red tide in northwest Florida during the fall of 1999 is summarized by date, location, cell counts, and effects.

SUMMARY OF RED TIDE IN NORTHWEST FLORIDA Fall 1999
Date (1999)	Locations Map	Cell Counts	Effects
August 5	Mexico Beach St. George Island		Reports of dead fish
August 8–13	Cape San Blas Mexico Beach	very low very low
August 17–18	Mexico Beach St. Joe Beach	low very low	Shellfish harvesting areas (SHAs) closed in St. Joseph Bay
August 21	St. Joseph Bay		Dead dolphins and sea turtles
August 23–26	St. Joe Beach Gulf to Bay counties	very low very low	Dead fish and discolored water SHAs closed in Apalachicola Bay
August 31–September 3	St. Joseph Bay St. Vincent Island	low very low	Respiratory irritation Dead fish off Bay County
September 7–10	St. Vincent Island St. Joseph Bay Panama City	medium medium to high medium to high	SHAs opened in Apalachicola Bay
September 13–18	St. Vincent Island St. Joseph Bay Panama City Offshore of Panama City	very low low to medium high low to medium
September 17–23	St. Joseph Bay Cape San Blas Choctawhatchee Bay	low low to medium low to medium
September 19–25	St. Joseph Bay St. Andrew Bay to east Choctawhatchee Bay	very low low to medium	Bloom moving to the west
September 26–October 2	St. Joseph Bay Destin area Pensacola Bay	very low very low to high very low to medium	SHAs closed Choctawhatchee Bay
October 4–8	St. Andrew Bay Choctawhatchee Bay Pensacola Bay	very low very low to low very low
October 11–14	St. Joseph Bay	very low	SHAs opened in Escambia County
October 18–22	Alabama–Florida state line	very low	Dead dolphins in Bay County
November 5	West end of Choctawhatchee Bay	low to high	SHAs closed in Choctawhatchee Bay until early January 2000
November 8	West end of Choctawhatchee Bay	medium
November 15–16	West end of Choctawhatchee Bay	low to medium
November 22–23	West end of Choctawhatchee Bay Santa Rosa Sound	medium very low
November 30–December 2	Eastern Santa Rosa Sound West end of Choctawhatchee Bay	low to medium low to medium
December 7–8	Choctawhatchee Bay	low to medium
December 13	Choctawhatchee Bay	low to medium
December 27	Mouth of Choctawhatchee Bay	low to medium

SHA = shellfish harvesting area

Key for Results:	Karenia brevis cells/liter	Possible Effects
VERY LOW	< 10,000	Continued shellfish harvesting ban and possible respiratory irritation
LOW	< 100,000	Respiratory irritation and maybe fish kills
MEDIUM	100,000 to < 1,000,000	Respiratory irritation and probable fish kills
HIGH	> 1,000,000	All of the above plus water discoloration

Northwest Florida Map



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