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St. Pete crews collect more than 6 tons of dead fish as red tide continues

The dead fish may have been brought to shore by Tropical Storm Elsa.

St. Petersburg Deputy Mayor Kanika Tomalin announced Thursday afternoon the city has collected more than 10,000 dead fish along the shoreline and waterways in the past week — that’s six tons.

“This cleanup impacts our level of service in other areas, but we recognize the importance,” Tomalin wrote in a tweet. “As fish continue to wash up, we’ll continue our efforts.”

The cleanup comes as red tide ravages areas of the Pinellas County coast — the most recent status update provided by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission showed that Pinellas County had the highest concentrations of the algae that causes red tide in the state, with high levels around St. Pete’s coastal area.

The status update also details reports of fish kills in the waterways of Pinellas, Hillsborough and Pasco counties, as well as potential respiratory irritation caused by the algae bloom in Pinellas and Sarasota counties.

It remains unclear if Tropical Storm Elsa helped or hindered this year’s red tide bloom, according to the Tampa Bay Times. But, it did seem to move dead fish closer to shorelines.