St. Petersburg Council to DeSantis: declare an emergency at red tide

ST. PETERSBURG – City council sent its own SOS to Tallahassee when the city is drowning in Rottide-poisoned fish.

Council members voted 7-0 late Thursday evening for a resolution calling on Governor Ron DeSantis to declare a state of emergency as severe red tide blooms and an onslaught of dead marine life continue to plague the St. Petersburg coast.

They acted the day after the governor’s office rebuked Mayor Rick Kriseman when he made a similar request at a news conference on Wednesday. The mayor noted that the governor’s office was providing help in this way during the 2018 red tide eruption in Florida’s west coast. But the DeSantis office accused Kriseman of trying to “collect cheap political points,” saying the state was already working to help the city and district of Pinellas meet the growing costs of cleaning up dead fish.

“We need help from the state,” said City Council mayoral candidate Darden Rice, who proposed drafting the resolution. “I think we need to put an exclamation point here. How can we not call this an emergency? “

Connected: Red tide costs swell as St. Petersburg Mayor Governor DeSantis squares

Rice said an emergency order could help pay for the cleanup and call in the Florida Department of Health to address potential respiratory problems caused by the toxic algae. Councilor Robert Blackmon, who is also running for mayor, approved Rice’s afternoon motion but was absent when the final vote was at 10:58 p.m.

“The governor’s office and (the Department of Environmental Protection) continue to coordinate with the counties and the city to ensure their needs are met,” said governor spokesman Jared Williams. “As mentioned earlier, the funds are provided without the need for an implementing regulation and these funds can be used to meet any needs of local communities. As soon as a solution has been received, our office will examine the request. “

Removing hundreds of tons of dead fish has already cost the city at least $ 700,000, public works administrator Claude Tankersley told councilors. The labor and equipment needed to pick up dead fish carcasses will cost the city more than $ 60,000 a day as the crisis progresses, he said. Another $ 1.2 million will be spent on maintenance and repairs that will not go ahead as the city has diverted about 200 workers to clean up.

Pinellas County has now collected 791 tons of dead marine life found along St. Petersburg and the county’s beaches. More than 600 tons probably came from the shores of St. Petersburg.

On Wednesday alone, officials from St. Petersburg reported that 142 tons had been removed.

Connected: No relief from the red tide in sight as dead fish overwhelm St. PetersburgA dead Goliath grouper seen among other marine life was found in North Shore Park on Thursday. Crews in St. Petersburg are fighting to clear the waves of Rottide-poisoned fish that wash ashore from Tampa Bay. [ MARTIN FROBISHER | Times ]

Cleaning up the coast not only removes the awful smell of festering fish, said JP Brooker, director of Florida Conservation for Ocean Conservancy.

“Red Tides thrives as fish that die in the water continue to rot,” he said. Dead fish release nutrients that energize Karenia brevis, the microorganism that causes red tide.

“If we don’t use all of our people to get fish out of the water, it means the red tide is likely to last longer and get worse,” said Tankersley.

The city has tried to hire more workers through temporary employment agencies, he said, but a labor shortage has made it difficult to recruit and retain additional workers.

City guides said they need the governor to declare a state of emergency in order to gain access to more workers and equipment, which would help remove the dead fish faster – before that makes the Red Tide situation worse.

Councilor Brandi Gabbard said she contacted the governor’s office this week for help.

“It’s always about manpower, equipment and money,” said Gabbard. “We can’t just do it with money, and we can’t just do it with reimbursement. We need all hands on deck. “

Connected: Could the Tampa Bay red tide be linked to the Piney Point disaster?

Experts told the council that while red tide is difficult to predict, the poisonous algal bloom could linger in the bay.

The algal blooms have already reached concentration levels that have not been seen in Tampa Bay since 1971, said Kate Hubbard, researcher with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Brooker said the April spill of 215 million gallons of polluted sewage from the abandoned Piney Point fertilizer plant in Manatee County to the bay “is certainly a contributing factor,” along with warm water, corrosive fish and the Saharan dust plume.

“I think we’re going to have a summer full of slime,” said Brooker.

The city can help alleviate the red tide by reducing the amount of nitrogen entering the bay through continuous cleanup and potentially stricter fertilizer regulations, he said.

Connected: St. Petersburg cleans up 9 tons of dead fish in 24 hours due to Red Tide, Elsa

The city council passed a separate resolution calling on the Pinellas County Commission to extend their annual ban on nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers beyond the traditional June 1st to September 30th time window.

Gabbard moved to amend the resolution to urge the county to distribute the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s emergency funds.

“They got money that was allocated,” she said. “Now the money has to come to us.” This resolution, which was also passed 7-0, included a request that the county accelerate state funding for the city.

The county has been briefed on the city’s cleanup costs and is working on an agreement to transfer funds to St. Petersburg when they are received from the state, Tankersley said.

Council chairman Ed Montanari said the county has so far allocated $ 900,000 to St. Petersburg. He said he took an air trip through Tampa Bay on Wednesday, where tarpon, snook, Goliath groupers, dolphins and a sea turtle are among the dead.

“Once you get to Tampa Bay, the damage is enormous,” he said. “We need help.”

The Times authors, Matthew Griffin and Zachary T. Sampson, contributed to this report.

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Red Tide resources

There are several online resources that can help residents stay updated and share information about Red Tide:

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has a website that tracks where Red Tide is discovered and how high the concentrations are.

Florida Poison Control Centers have a toll-free 24/7 hotline to report illnesses including exposure to Red Tide: 1-800-222-1222

To report fish deaths in St. Petersburg, call the Mayor’s Action Center at 727-893-7111 or use the St. Petersburg seeclickfix website.

Visit St. Pete / Clearwater, the county tourism division, which operates an online beach dashboard at www.beachesupdate.com.

Pinellas County shares information with the Red Tide Respiratory Forecast Tool, which beach goers can use to search for alerts.

• • •

This will keep you safe around the water

• Beach goers should avoid swimming around dead fish.
• Individuals with chronic respiratory problems should be especially careful and “stay away” most of the time from locations with red tide bloom.
• People should not harvest or eat mollusks or distressed and dead fish from the area. Fillets of healthy fish should be rinsed with clean water and the entrails discarded.
• Pet owners should keep their animals away from the water and dead fish.
• Residents who live near the beach should close their windows and operate air conditioning systems with suitable filters.
• Visitors to the beach can wear paper masks, especially when the wind blows in.

Source: Florida Department of Health in Pinellas County

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