Red tide bloom apparent off of Placida in Charlotte County

A red tide bloom is affecting Placida in Charlotte County.

The area has lots of dead fish and the water is dark and murky.

“We’re seeing an increase of incidence of red tide right now,” said John Cassani, Calusa Waterkeeper. “I think there are some variations of water and contrast. But putting all those possibilities aside it does look like red tide is back in the area.”

That’s exactly what Capt. Chuck Thompson doesn’t want to hear or see.

Thompson has spent his whole life out on the water.

Photos of the area, taken by the Calusa Waterkeeper, show the red tide blooms.

“We had large-scale mortality. So the point is we’re still in recovery mode from the last red tide event. It just sort of adds insult to injury to these nearshore communities. Not to mention people are being continually exposed to the airborne toxin red tide,” Cassani said.

Cassani said he believes there’s red tide along Southwest Florida’s coast line all the way from south Collier up to Charlotte County.

Thompson said in the last few days they’ve seen some large red fish floating around.

“It affects a whole lot of people, the guides, I know if affects their job,” Thompson said. “It’s not good because we had it bad; we had it really bad a few years ago.”

Thompson said he is worried Southwest Florida will see a fish kill like the one Tampa Bay saw last month.