Red tide brings dead fish to Pinellas County beaches

MADEIRA BEACH (FOX 13) - After ravaging beaches in Sarasota and Manatee counties all Summer, Red Tide has now made its way North to Pinellas county. 

On Saturday, county environmental officials started taking samples from several beaches to analyze them, and to get a better idea of what they're dealing with. 

Kelli Levy is the Division Director for Pinellas County Environmental Management. 

"This weekend we have been observing higher cell counts here, right at Madeira Beach. We had high concentrations at the John's Pass location that we just cleaned up today," Levy explained. 

"It's varied. That's what's very interesting. In Clearwater beach the levels were low, but in other areas just south of there it was medium."

Armed with hats and masks, city workers continued clean up efforts Sunday morning and went back to clean up the same beaches in the afternoon after more dead fish washed ashore. 

Levy says that county officials watched what happened earlier this year when the toxic algae bloom lingered in Sarasota and Manatee Counties, and began making plans right away. 

"We have a full plan from St. Pete Beach all the way north, and we were ready. Our resources are being deployed. We're harvesting off shore. We're harvesting in the intracoastal. We're cleaning up the beaches. We're keeping the public informed. We're doing more monitoring so that people have the information to make decisions."