St. Petersburg mayor to DeSantis: ‘We need your help’ with Red Tide

“Our city teams can only keep at this for so long,” he said during a news conference held in waterfront Crisp Park, backed by a crew scooping dead fish with pool skimmers and a fishing net off a sea wall. “We are asking the governor, please … we need your help.”

As of Tuesday morning, Kriseman said, the city had collected 477 tons of dead marine life. A day later, that total has surely risen, and the mayor estimated it is likely over 500 tons.

City council members and the city’s lobbyist have reached out to the governor’s office, Kriseman said, but the mayor’s office has not yet heard back. The Tampa Bay Times is seeking comment from DeSantis’ office. A spokeswoman did not immediately answer the phone Wednesday morning or reply to an email.

Ben Kirby, a spokesman for the mayor, said the city specifically wants help securing more shrimp boats to cast their wide nets and collect dead fish in the water before the carcasses lap against St. Petersburg’s shore.

A few such boats are already out in the water and Kriseman said they are the most effective tool for removing the rotting marine life. He described a difficult process on land, with catfish becoming tangled frequently in small nets and city workers having to use grabber tools to remove dead fish stuck in mangroves.

More than 200 St. Petersburg employees are involved in the response, officials said. That has diverted attention from other routine tasks, like mowing parks, repairing sidewalks and cleaning gutters. Kriseman said he did not know the cost to date but believes it is in the six figures.

“We’re going to have to juggle resources to cover it,” he said. “This is obviously not something we budgeted for.”

Workers have picked up a variety of dead animals, from small fish to turtles and dolphins, according to the mayor. No one knows when the Red Tide bloom will end.

“They can spend hours out here picking stuff up and then another tide comes and brings stuff in,” Kriseman said.

As the mayor wrapped up, the workers pulling fish behind him gathered around a new carcass at the seawall. It was bloated, gray and enormous.

It was a juvenile goliath grouper, a behemoth of its kind formerly targeted by anglers. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission says people have been banned from keeping such fish since 1990. The Times confirmed the fish’s species with a researcher.

The St. Petersburg crew said they have seen several dead goliath groupers this month.