WINK News: Red tide’s impact goes beyond SWFL beaches

March 14, 2023
Winknews.com
By: Elizabeth Biro
Mar. 14th, 2023

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Red Tide is an ongoing problem Southwest Florida is experiencing and struggling with in the wake of Hurricane Ian.

While Red Tide does bring a lousy stench and dead fish along, the problem is bigger than merely that.

Captain Ozzie Fischer is a second-generation boat captain and has been showing people the way of the water for 27 years.

“By age 10, I pretty much knew I wanted to be a charter captain,” Fischer said.

“But the whole rest of my life, I’m 51, I lived on Sanibel Captiva,” Fischer said.

As he’s watched Southwest Florida grow he’s also watched the water change and decline.

“You don’t see near the things you you saw when I was a kid, the wildlife,” Fischer said. “It’s not just affect the fishing, it affects everything in southwest Florida from real estate to restaurants. It’s our whole livelihood.”