Lessening the Hazards of Florida Red Tides: A Common Sense Approach

Abstract

In the Gulf of Mexico, especially along the southwest Florida coast, blooms of the dinoflagellate Karenia brevis are a coastal natural hazard. The organism produces a potent class of toxins, known as brevetoxins, which are released following cell lysis into ocean or estuarine waters or, upon aerosolization, into the atmosphere. When exposed to sufficient levels of brevetoxins, humans may suffer from respiratory, gastrointestinal, or neurological illnesses. The hazard has been exacerbated by the geometric growth of human populations, including both residents and tourists, along Florida's southwest coast. Impacts to marine organisms or ecosystems also may occur, such as fish kills or deaths of protected mammals, turtles, or birds. Since the occurrence of a severe Karenia brevis bloom off the southwest Florida coast three-quarters of a century ago, there has been an ongoing debate about the best way for humans to mitigate the impacts of this hazard. Because of the importance of tourism to coastal Florida, there are incentives for businesses and governments alike to obfuscate descriptions of these blooms, leading to the social amplification of risk. We argue that policies to improve the public's ability to understand the physical attributes of blooms, specifically risk communication policies, are to be preferred over physical, chemical, or biological controls. In particular, we argue that responses to this type of hazard must emphasize maintaining the continuity of programs of scientific research, environmental monitoring, public education, and notification. We propose a common-sense approach to risk communication, comprising a simplification of the public provision of existing sources of information to be made available on a mobile website.

Florida’s Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) Problem: Escalating Risks to Human, Environmental and Economic Health With Climate Change

“…This can be a significant risk for sectors such as Florida's tourism industry, which relies upon images of pristine beaches to draw people globally and are heavily impacted by public perception (Kuhar et al, 2009;Cahyanto and Liu-Lastres, 2020). This social amplification of risk, which may potentially be intensified by the media (Li et al, 2015), is an extensive problem with Florida red tide specifically (Hoagland et al, 2020).…”

Ocean Acidification and Human Health

“…Poisoning from seafood, particularly shellfish, is a key pathway by which conditions in the oceans can negatively affect human health [39,99,100]. Shellfish can be harmful where they contain natural toxins that induce paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP), neurotoxic shellfish poisoning (NSP), amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP), or diarrheic shellfish poisoning (DSP).…”

“…Ocean acidification can modify the abundance and chemical composition of harmful algal blooms in such a way that shellfish toxicity increases and, therefore, human health is negatively affected. Toxins, and algae which produce them, that have been found to be affected by ocean acidification include paralytic shellfish toxins (Alexandrium tamarenese) [39] and neurologic shellfish toxins, specifically brevetoxins (Karenia brevis) [99]. In both cases, ocean acidification has been found to lead to an increased algal growth rate [39,99], a change which could accelerate the production of toxic algae.…”

“…Toxins, and algae which produce them, that have been found to be affected by ocean acidification include paralytic shellfish toxins (Alexandrium tamarenese) [39] and neurologic shellfish toxins, specifically brevetoxins (Karenia brevis) [99]. In both cases, ocean acidification has been found to lead to an increased algal growth rate [39,99], a change which could accelerate the production of toxic algae. Moreover, the toxicity of the blooms is likely to increase, although the way in which this could occur is likely to vary by HAB organism and toxin.…”

“…For example, in A. tamarenese, the total cellular toxicity per cell is anticipated to increase due to an increase in cellular concentration of the more toxic derivatives, overwhelming the reduced toxins per cell [39]. In contrast, the higher growth rate of K. brevis would drive a higher total toxin production, despite the total brevetoxin production and profile remaining unchanged [99].…”