Red tide has made its way to Pinellas County beaches. County workers say they've cleaned up hundreds of thousands of dead fish from St. Petersburg Beach all the way to Clearwater Beach.
“It smelled bad,” said Wolfgang Schulze, who is visiting from Chile with his wife.
The high tide washed up pin fish, puffer fish and eels. They’re scattered along the beach on Treasure Island.
The latest report from FWC shows moderate levels of red tide offshore in Pinellas, but it’s enough to keep many off the beach and off the boardwalk at John’s Pass.
Markie Zelazo works at Kilwins ice cream shop on the boardwalk. She says businesses has been “slow, very slow.”
“We’re starting to close early every night now, one hour early. People are not coming in,” says Zelazo.
Kilwins ice cream shop employees say lately they can’t even keep their door open because they will start coughing and have watery eyes.
They worry fewer customers may mean less pay for them, too.
“I’m worrying about my job, my hours. Personally how much I’ll be making is affected directly by how many people come here,” says Zelazo.
The red tide is blooming in September, one of the slowest months for retailers.
“It’s an odd time. Everyone is back in school and we don’t get our snowbirds yet. Red tide is only going to make it worse,” says Brianna Kennedy, manager at Cool Style a clothing store.
Schulze says they’ll check beach conditions before heading out again this week.
He says, “If it smells like today and see so many dead fish on the beach, probably go to another place.”
For weeks, red tide lingered south of Pinellas in Manatee and Sarasota counties.
“We thought maybe we lucked out, but it just came right to us," said Zelazo.
The county is using some of the $1.3 million grant given to them by the state to pay a contractor to help clean up the beaches. County crews are also walking along the beaches three to four times a day to check on conditions and clean up any dead fish by hand.
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