Windrows of rotting fish, bloated, bobbing manatee carcasses, eye-watering stench: Pinellas, Sarasota and Manatee counties’ current reality is Lee and Collier’s nightmare – one many residents lived in 2018 and hope never to repeat.
Throughout the region, agencies and nonprofits are working on short-term projects and long-term systemic fixes to keep the saltwater dinoflagellate Karenia brevis from wreaking havoc.
In Collier County, all beaches are clear, according to the county’s pollution control website: “We have not received any reports of dead fish or respiratory irritation.”
To the north in Lee, “Our water is about as good as I’ve ever seen it in mid-July. It’s clear and it looks amazing right now,” said Daniel Andrews, the charter captain-turned-water-crusader who helped found the nonprofit Captains for Clean Water.
Of course, there’s a “but.”