Harmless drift algae piling up on Fort Myers Beach, Bunche Beach, none in Collier

Red drift algae is blanketing some beaches and sparing others as it creeps along the Southwest Florida coast. 

This algae, however, should not be confused with red tide or blue-green algae. 

A nontoxic variety that actually creates wildlife habitat once its on beaches, red drift algae is really seaweed that broke loose from the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico and washed ashore. 

"The odor would be the only thing," said Rick Bartleson, a water quality scientist with the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation. "Some types have really fine branches and they’re really soft, so if it’s a huge quantity of the fine branches it can rot instead of dry out and that causes some big stinks." 

The smell on Fort Myers Beach was noticeable Thursday.

Beachgoers stumbled around and over clumps of algae that littered parts of the beach. 

The piles roll up on beaches and collect shells, sticks, coconut husks, lost sunglasses and Miller Lite caps. 

"I found some sponges and broken sand dollars," Olivia Parmley said. "But I'm from Colorado, so this does not bother me at all. I like beaches that are natural and not all manicured. This is how it's supposed to be." 

Work crews Thursday were busy cleaning up lines of seaweed on parts of Fort Myers Beach, hauling away truckloads of the stringy sea debris. 

Mike Parsons, a marine sciences professor at Florida Gulf Coast University, said detaching from the bottom or other hard surfaces can simply be a life stage for drift algae. 

"We (can get) green seaweed, brown seaweed, red seaweed," Parsons said. "Usually it's part of the natural process. Some will keep growing as they drift around and others will die."

Parsons said Fort Myers Beach tends to be at the center of red drift algae outbreaks because of ocean currents, not bad water. 

"It really has nothing to do with Fort Myers Beach or water quality there," Parsons said. "It's just how the current flows. But this is the most we've seen in a couple of years."

This area seems to have been hit the hardest as drift algae could be seen from Bowditch Point Park at the north tip of the island south to San Carlos Pass, where the island ends. 

But less drift algae could be found on Bonita Beach, and it seems Naples has avoided the algae altogether. 

"Thank God we’re not getting it on Naples beaches," said Roger Jacobsen, harbor master for the City of Naples. "I’ve seen nothing. Zero. I was hoping that the cold spell that came down with the rain would help keep it offshore, and maybe that’s what happened." 

Bartleson said the drift algae broke lose from the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico after a recent cold front came through the region. 

The outbreak comes in the wake of a red tide/blue-green algae bloom combo last year that rocked Lee County especially hard.

Red tide and dying fish and marine organisms caused low oxygen levels at the bottom of the Gulf. 

The low oxygen levels killed drift algae grazers like sea snails, sea cucumbers and other organisms," Bartleson said. 

With fewer critters nibbling on the seaweed, it was able to grow almost uninhibited. 

This happens rather frequently in Southwest Florida and is nothing to be alarmed about, he said. 

"It doesn’t have to be red tide that causes this," Bartleson said. "It just happens to be it this time. You just have to have an algae bloom that takes up all the oxygen from the lower layer (of the Gulf)." 

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