Weekly water samples are collected March - November by six Coast Guard Auxilliary (CGA) flotillas in the Big Bend and Panhandle. These samples are examined under a microscope by Dr. Mike Sullivan. The samples collected by the CGA greatly enhance the sampling frequency and the amount of area covered. Samples are collected by the following flotillas:

• St. Marks
• Shell Point
• St. Georges Island
• Panama City
• Destin
• Pensacola
• Hernando Beach



Anna Del Bello of the Destin Coast Guard Auxiliary (Flotilla 14) pouring surface water into a sample bottle for monitoring of red tide in north Florida waters. Sample collected 1 May 2007.



Anne Del Bello and Ed Collins of the Destin Coast Guard Auxiliary (Flotilla 14) have just collected a bottom sample for red tide monitoring in north Florida waters using the Beta Bottle sampling apparatus shown between them. Sample collected 1 May 2007.



Robert Davidson and Paul Pelletier, CGAux Flotilla 15-8, Hernando Beach.





The Hernando Beach Coast Guard Auxiliary is now assisting with the red tide monitoring. One north Florida red tide mechanism has red tide carried northward by a seasonal current. In that case, CGA water samples collected at Hernando Beach, the southernmost CGA involved in our project, would be the first to indicate a coming red tide bloom.