HUTCHINSON ISLAND — Lifeguards at Martin County beaches are keeping an eye out for a red tide-like irritant that has affected people with respiratory problems.…
HUTCHINSON ISLAND — Lifeguards at Martin County beaches are keeping an eye out for a red tide-like irritant that has affected people with respiratory problems.
« All we know now is that there’s an unknown irritant in the water, and we’ll be addressing it if it comes our way, » Capt. Matthew Sutterfield of Martin County Ocean-Rescue said Sunday morning at Bathtub Beach.
Officials put out an advisory Saturday at Hobe Sound Beach and Bathtub Beach warning visitors with respiratory problems to avoid the beach. The beaches were open to swimming Saturday and Sunday morning.
Single red flags were flying Sunday morning on lifeguard stations along Bathtub Beach to warm swimmers of high waves being blown ashore by a strong easterly wind.
The wind and waves were also causing a fine mist over the beach, and water droplets are known to hold toxins from algae blooms.
If there are reports of people with breathing problems or other irritations, a second red flag will go up warning beachgoers that the beach is closed to swimming because of hazardous conditions.
« We’re taking this seriously, » Sutterfield said. « We’re not going to play around. »
Martin County’s guarded beaches were closed to swimming in mid-August because of blue-green algae blooms in the water.
A water sample taken at Bathtub Beach by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection showed the toxin microcystin at a level of 1.2 parts per billion. The World Health Organization considers water with up to 1 part per billion safe to drink.
More: Water at Bathtub Beach slightly toxic, DEP tests show
Later samplings found no algae.
Dan and Judi Nickols of Port St. Lucie were enjoying the sun Sunday morning at Bathtub Beach and said they didn’t notice any irritants in the air.
« It smells a little fishy, » Judi Nickols said, « but not like anything’s toxic or rotten. »
A blue-green algae warning sign still at the beach since August, however, kept Judi Nickols from swimming.
« I saw that sign and said I’m not getting in the water, » she said. « It’s a shame because this is a beautiful resource. We love to come out and take advantage of it, but we don’t want to come here and get sick. »
Red tide is extremely rare on Treasure Coasts beaches, but it has been plaguing Southwest Florida for almost a year.
Millions of pounds of fish and sea life, including hundreds of sea turtles, dozens of manatees and dolphins and even a whale shark have been collected from Lee County beaches and shorelines this summer.
A combination of rotting fish and algae blanketing the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico is creating a dead zone off Southwest Florida, scientists say.
More: Red tide causing dead zone conditions in Gulf of Mexico
Red tide is a harmful, salt-water algae bloom of a single-celled organism, Karenia brevis, that occurs naturally but explodes when fed by nutrients from farm fields, lawns, golf courses and septic systems.
On Florida’s Gulf Coast, the red tide is being fed by blue-green algae in water discharged from Lake Okeechobee into the Caloosahatchee — the same cause of the blue-green algae blooms found in the St. Lucie River this summer.
Those blooms have diminished but are not entirely gone.
More: TCPalm answers your questions about blue-green algae
For updates on conditions at Martin County beaches, call 772-320-3112.
