May 28, 2019 — Red tide algae can take a toll on the future of the stone crab industry, Mote Marine Laboratory researchers discovered.
Intense concentrations of the toxic red algae potentially can wipe out a generation of stone crabs, Mote scientists reported this week.
The loss could be cataclysmic to Florida’s seafood industry. The health of stone crabs is commercially valuable to the health of Florida’s economy.
More than 105 million pounds of stone crabs were harvested between 1996-2016 and is ranked fifth by the National Marine Fisheries Service among the commercially harvested Florida seafood. Pink shrimp ranks number one. Nationwide, Florida’s seafood industry ranked 11th in the United States, producing more than 87 million pounds of seafood harvested in 2016 and with a dockside value of $237 million, Marine Fisheries reported.
Mote scientists are trying to help figure out why the stone crab catch in Southwest Florida has seen a 25 percent decrease since 2000, and trying to determine the influence of red tide could be a key.
High concentrations of Florida red tide — Karenia brevis — caused 100 percent mortality in stone crab larvae in a four-day study, Mote reported in a press release. Medium concentrations had a 30 percent mortality rate, and many of the surviving larvae had impaired swimming behavior.