Beach Conditions Report updated to include oil spill information

Mote Marine Laboratory’s Beach Conditions Report now includes up-to-date information about impacts from the oil spill created when the Deepwater Horizon oil rig sank April 22 in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Beach Conditions Report now contains a category called “Gulf oil spill impact” with possible responses of “none,” “in the water” or “on the beach.”

The report, available at mote.org/beaches, is updated at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. daily and covers 33 beaches along Florida’s Gulf coast from the Panhandle south to Collier County.

The Beach Conditions Report was created in 2006 to provide current information about red-tide impacts on local beaches. It also contains information such as whether dead fish are present and respiratory irritation has been reported among beachgoers, water color and wind direction, whether and where red-drift algae are present, and reports on rip currents at beaches with lifeguards present.

Mote is currently seeking funding that will allow the Beach Conditions Report to remain in effect after June, when the grants that currently support it are scheduled to end.

Contact Robin Hartill at [email protected].