DeSantis Giving $14 Million to Fight Red Tide

May 4, 2022 Updated 2:38 P.M. ET

CLEARWATER (FLV) – Gov. Ron DeSantis announced $14 million for next year’s budget to research and mitigate the effects of red tide on Florida communities. 

“We’re going to have the most we’ve ever had,” DeSantis said. 

That includes $4.8 million for Fish and Wildlife Research Institute to improve statewide red tide monitoring and conduct research to better track, predict, and limit the effects of red tide. 

Another $3 million would go toward developing technology to mitigate red tide in a partnership between FWC and Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium. 

“And they have a lot of things that potentially could be very effective,” DeSantis said. “Now you need to make sure if you’re going to deploy that in the actual environment that it’s not causing other problems. And so they’re looking through all of these things.”

DeSantis also mentioned $20 million available to combat harmful algal blooms and to support county governments and cleanup efforts. He said this is double the amount of dollars given the previous year for this effort. 

“What happens is if you have a bloom, you end up seeing these fish,” he said. “And then if you don’t go out and clean it out, then it just exacerbates all the problems.”