I have a soft spot for manatees. This article is about the impact the Red Tide has had on the manatee population in Florida. Manatees are an endangered species, and this year, the manatees really took a hit.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=manatee-death-toll-rises-in-florida
The next link is some information about the Red Tide, in case you are not familiar.
http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/redtide.html
Algal blooms are increasing along coastlines worldwide. They are typically caused by a flood of nutrients from fresh water emptied into near shore salt waters by rivers and streams after a storm. This flood of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus, etc.) promotes a boom in algae growth, which in turn burns through the oxygen in the water until the waters become eutrophicated. Between the loss of oxygen and huge clouds of algal blooms, many forms of wildlife suffer. In this case the manatees are the ones to suffer. In the Indian River Lagoon estuary, located on the east coastline of Florida, there is a new outbreak of brown algae that is causing similar problems that is also affecting the bottlenose dolphins and other organisms in the area. Until we can get the pollutants in the runoff under control, we will continue to see this problem grow.
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