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Lessons learned from east coast red tide outbreak

Posted at 8:05 PM, Nov 15, 2018
and last updated 2018-11-16 04:21:39-05

Red tide is gone at least on the east coast.

At Carlin Park in Jupiter, Jen Wilson at Duke's Lazy Loggerhead Cafe can't forget the day red tide officially showed up along our coast.

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"Some sort of chemical pollutant in the air," said Wilson. "Had no ideas for hours that that's what red tide was."

So is there a way to get a little more warning?

Research Professor at Florida Atlantic University Bill Louda says it can go back to water monitoring, though he says DEP does a good job.

He mentioned deep water monitoring.

“Doesn’t have to be very thick to make it around the coast to come here get pushed to shore and take off on its own here so possibly some kind of deeper water monitoring.”

NOAA has short-term forecasts using satellite imagery, samples, and wind conditions.

Oceanographers say they continue to look for better ways to forecast.

Louda says we should also be looking into limiting pollution into our waterways.

"Pollution that is driving these blooms. Without the food they may be there in lower quantities, but not to the extent," said Louda.