The last sight you want to see when you visit Florida beaches is dead marine life. But, that is what is starting to happen more and more as this year’s red tide event is beginning. So far this summer, Pinellas County has collected more than 1500 tons of dead marine life found along St. Petersburg and the county’s beaches.

Although red tide is a naturally occurring event, pollution and nutrients are making the red tide worse.

Red tides frequently form off Florida’s southwest coast and can spread to the Atlantic coast and up to the Panhandle. These events have devastating impacts on Florida’s people, animals and places.

Impacts of Florida’s red tides include:

❌ Fish kills

❌ Strandings of dolphins, manatees and sea turtles

❌ Toxic waters

❌ Unusable beaches

From suffering wildlife to severely contaminated coastal air quality, we’ve got to let our state legislature know how big a problem red tide really is for our ocean and coastal communities.

We can’t sit back and watch red tides devastate Florida’s waters.

If you live in Florida, take action by asking your Florida state representatives to improve water quality so we don’t exacerbate naturally occurring red tide events.

If you don’t live in Florida, you can still help. Florida’s manatees are suffering. Did you know that more manatees have died in 2021 than in any other year in Florida’s recorded history? You can take action to help Florida’s manatees.