How Tampa Bay could become a 'dead zone' for marine plants and animals

Red tide tracking data shows high levels across Tampa Bay

Aaron Mesmer reports

TAMPA, Fla. - If the red tide that's plaguing Tampa Bay and causing massive fish kills does not clear up soon, experts fear Tampa Bay could become what's known as a dead zone.

That's what happens when there is so little oxygen in the water, nothing can survive.

Ray Perkins, co-owner of the fertilizer additive company Eco World Research and Development Group, believes that's happening as we speak.

Tracking red tide: With algae blooms, not all Bay Area beaches are alike

"I'm starting to see a lot of grouper, Goliath grouper, coming up, a lot of the bottom fish," said Perkins. "I'm looking at the nutrient levels that have not stabilized. I'm looking at, the oxygen levels not stabilized. So there are a lot of telltale signs that we're headed towards limited...dead zones."

MORE: Red tide could worsen as algae feeds on nutrients released by decaying fish, scientists say

Charter captains hired for dead fish removal

Charter boat captains have shifted their gears. They usually make their money by taking people out to enjoy the bay. Now they are making their living by cleaning carcasses out of the water.

Perkins has 25 years of expertise in studying how phosphate, fertilizer and soil nutrients impact algae blooms, like the one causing the fish kill in Tampa Bay.

Perkins believes the wastewater leak at the old Piney Point phosphate plant, which sits on the edge of the bay, exacerbated the situation.

Perkins likened it to how a fire can spread.

"It's like having a small fire at a campfire and then throwing an accelerant on it and putting it in the forest. The nutrient levels have become so high that it's feeding this and just put it on steroids," he said.

Breakthrough discovery: Mote researchers may have found method to kill red tide with clay

Researchers hope clay could kill red tide

For the past two years, researchers with Mote Marine, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and other organizations have been working to develop ways to fight red tide and on Friday, they may have witnessed the breakthrough they hoped for. It involves clay being sprayed into the water.

Perkins thinks if the algae bloom doesn't clear up soon and the dead sea animals are not cleared out, part of the bay could have a dead zone by October.

"When you get no life, it's a longer process of coming back," he warned.