KEY WEST, Fla. – There was heartbreak at the Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium in Sarasota after the first rescued smalltooth sawfish from the Florida Keys had to be humanely euthanized on Thursday.
“When we lose an animal like this, it’s gut-wrenching,” said Michael Crosby, president and chief executive officer of Mote. “Unfortunately, the cardiac system was incredibly distressed and it was clear that this animal was on a path to passing.”
The ailing sawfish was rescued as part of an unprecedented effort launched by NOAA last month, together with partners like Mote and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to try to save sawfish seen in distress. It comes in the wake of a devastating year for the critically endangered species.
There have been at least 179 sightings of sawfish beaching themselves and acting erratically, with reports from Key West to as north as the St. Lucie River.
It’s been a shocking sight for witnesses like Eric Hubert and Alycia Zemanek, who saw their first dead sawfish while kayaking in a remote area of Sugarloaf Key on April 18.
“So I just got closer and then I realized oh my God, this is this is a sawfish,” Zemanek explained.
Just over a week later, the pair was in the same area when they saw a second sawfish. But this time, it was still alive. “He still was moving a little and his saw was coming out in and out of the water from time to time,” Zemanek said. “And I called right away FWC on the spot.”
When Hubert came back to the area on May 2 he found that second sawfish dead, with the current having pushed it within feet of the first sawfish.
Since January, 47 deaths have been documented by FWC, with the latest one happening on Sunday at Smathers Beach in Key West.
“There are many, many, many more sawfish that died, that will never be recovered,” explained Crosby. “So the number I’m sure is much higher.”
Since November, over 50 other marine species have also been impacted. It’s been mostly nearshore fish that have been seen spinning and acting strangely, but that list now includes stone crabs and spiny lobsters.
Even a bird, a cormorant was filmed swimming in circles in the waters of Key West two weeks ago near Ft. Zachary. And it’s still not clear what’s causing this.
“We’ve identified a number of different toxins that are produced by benthic algae, we still have a lot more work to do to determine if that’s the only cause,” explained Alison Robertson, Associate Professor of Marine Sciences at the University of South Alabama.
The toxicology expert is one of the lead scientists on the case. To date, FWC has sent 12 sawfish tissue samples as well as sawfish blood samples to the University of South Alabama for toxin analyses. That includes samples from before the event was first recorded.
Since February, unusually high levels of gambierdiscus, a toxic microalgae, have been detected in the waters of the Lower Keys.
“Our current hypotheses or theories are that the combined effects of these toxins that are present are causing the effects that we’re seeing in fish and that the fish are being exposed through waterborne exposure across the gills,” said Robertson. “But we have a lot of experimental work to do.”
Brian Lapointe, Lower Keys Resident and Research Professor at FAU’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, is also on the case. Last month, Local 10 Environmental Advocate and Anchor Louis Aguirre joined Lapointe on Pine Channel. Together they sampled the water and the proliferation of microalgae that Lapointe has been documenting in the area since the late 1980′s.
“It’s everywhere here, and that’s what gambierdiscus can live on,” said Lapointe. “That’s the host organism in these waters.”
The results of his samples are in. He shared them with residents at a town hall in Key West on Tuesday. Lapointe found that nitrogen levels are through the roof, more than double what they should be.
“That nitrogen at a very high nitrogen and phosphorus ratio, we know that this can trigger toxin production in several of the different benthic dinoflagellates that we know are growing here, abundantly in the lower Florida Keys,” he said.
Lapointe has been tracking the decline of water quality in the Lower Keys over the last few decades and blames nutrient runoff from densely populated land north of the Kissimmee Basin for polluting the watershed that flows into Florida Bay.
“Our research is pointing to population growth and human waste as the fastest growing source of nitrogen that is driving the increasing harmful algal blooms that we’re seeing all around Florida,” he explained.
“I see a substantial amount of algae out there,” reflected Gregg Furstenwerth, a Little Torch Key native and industrial diver. He has been chronicling this bizarre event since it began, carrying the emotional toll of a disrupted paradise. “I think that it’s a very serious problem that we’re going to have to deal with here shortly, the nitrification of our environment has been happening relentlessly.”
“I don’t recognize the ecosystem out there,” he said. “Most of the corals that I saw when I was a kid are gone.”
And one by one, the fish keep disappearing too.
Crosby says his team has learned a lot and is now better able to respond to the next sawfish to be rescued, emphasizing that early intervention is crucial to success. The public is a key part of that, officials urge that if you see a distressed or dead fish, immediately contact FWC.
Local 10 reached out to FWC for an update on their investigation and received the following statement:
“The FWC and our partners continue to investigate the potential role of Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) and associated algal toxins in this event. Known HABs, including several benthic dinoflagellates including Gambierdiscus have been identified in benthic and water samples. Gambierdiscus is a focus because benthic and water sampling indicated elevated levels of these species based on comparisons with prior monitoring values in Monroe County (FWC and Florida Gulf Coast University sampling). While the focus is on benthic HABs, including epiphytes such as Gambierdiscus, we continue to look for other HABs in incoming samples as well. You can find more information on our website, including up-to-date mortality and sampling numbers, which we update every Wednesday.
Led by NOAA, our biologists and partners attempted an unprecedented step to rescue and rehabilitate an adult smalltooth sawfish in the Keys in April. This had never been attempted before, but this unusual mortality event made it necessary. Unfortunately, the rescued smalltooth sawfish did not make it and had to be humanely euthanized. We’re hopeful that the necropsy results will bring us one step closer to understanding the cause of this event.”
Gil McRae, Director of FWC’s Fish and Wildlife Research Institute
HOW YOU CAN HELP
Report sightings of healthy, sick, injured or dead sawfish to FWC’s Sawfish Hotline. Include date, time and location of the encounter, estimated length, water depth and any other relevant details.
- 1-844-4SAWFISH (1-844-472-9347)
Report sightings of abnormal fish behavior, fish disease, or fish kills to FWC’s Fish Kill Hotline.
- Submit a fish kill report
- Call 800-636-0511