Scott Childress, Jim Zubrick, and Mark Kramer
A History of Red Tide events on the West Coast of Florida
This collection was created during the 2017-2018 red tide event that had major ecosystem impacts on the west coast of Florida. Fish harvesters and related businesses suffered major setbacks during this time. Fishers, with a long history on the water and oftentimes second or third generation involved in the fishing business, reminisce about how the ecosystem has changed during their and their families time and the red tides they have witnessed. The collection provides information on species affected, specific areas affected, as well as discussions related to adaptation behaviors and specific business impacts.
Molly Graham
Scott Childress was born and raised in Tampa and started fishing at age fifteen, and as an adult got into recreational, then commercial spearfishing out of New Port Richey and, on occasion, Steinhatchee. His inshore fishery is Cedar Key to Tarpon Springs.
Scope and Content Note
Childress describes experiencing his first red tide event in 2004/2005 when he had trouble keeping bait alive in his boat’s live well due to patches of brown water located within 20 miles from shore. At that time he believed the red tide affected coastal areas more, as he saw dead fish on the beaches from Sarasota northward to New Port Richey and Hudson.
Regarding the 2014 red tide event, Childress states fish were being pushed southward towards the north end of the Florida Middle Grounds where the water was clear and conditions were great. There he was able to catch his yearly average of five-thousand pounds of fish in three trips, the first one being on October 1. Eventually, he and his team started seeing masses of dead fish covering the bottom, as well as fish in the process of dying, and fish swimming abnormally. They had zero visibility in the water which he described as nasty, brown and murky, and describes the negative effect it had on corals. Childress also touches on the effects on populations and food cycle between red grouper, octopus, and stone crab. He notes that red grouper did not return north of Clearwater after the red tide event, speculating the habitat was not good for them to return to, and the effects this had on the population and physical size of red grouper and gag grouper through 2019. He also theorizes on the reasons behind this event, noting the blooms have been happening for centuries but never on such a grand scale.
Lastly, Childress discusses how the red tide event affected him economically, what management can do to help them, and why such events should be declared natural disasters.
Jim Zubrick and Mark Kramer later join the interview and expand on grouper fishing, bleached coral, IFQ, and leases. They also discuss the lawsuit filed by the Fishing Rights Alliance against NMFS.
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