FWC launches partnership with scientists to combat red tide
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is partnering with world-renowned red tide experts to conduct field experiments to mitigate the effects of red tide.
The partnership, which will focus on using a form of specialized clay to quell the effects of red tide, includes experts and scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Mote Marine Laboratory, University of South Florida and Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
“FWC is committed to working with worldwide experts to test cutting-edge ways to potentially treat red tide,” FWC Executive Director Eric Sutton said. “The fact that it is a natural occurrence and of such a wide scale creates an enormous challenge. However, if we do not take action to explore innovative techniques, we can never advance the discussion on the feasibility of managing red tide.”
Red tide occurs around the world and through decades of research, scientists are gaining a better understanding of the organism, but there is still much more to be learned. One of the areas of research is the potential to mitigate or manage the effects of blooms. While the use of clays to combat red tide has been a topic of discussion for many years, only recently have scientists developed a new form of specialized clay that they believe may help control red tide with fewer impacts to the ecosystem.
The experiments will be conducted in a controlled environment with the ability to be scaled up depending on the success of the methods. The field experiments using clay are in addition to the ongoing field experiment initiated by Mote Marine using ozonation, a process that uses ozone to destroy the algae and its toxins.