Can citizen scientists turn the tide against America’s toxic algal blooms?

Red tides' are an annual hazard in Florida and other coastal areas but a monitoring project can help limit harm to humans

Nearly every day, Florida resident Pradeepa Siva goes paddleboarding through Doctors Pass in Naples. The thin passageway between Moorings Bay and the Gulf of Mexico is home to a couple of friendly dolphins, which Siva often sees on her outings.

But the journey is about more than exercise and wildlife sightings, because when Siva paddleboards she is also participating in a government-funded science project aimed at protecting public health. As climate change brings warming ocean waters, predictions of a dangerous phenomenon known as red tide" are on the rise.