Blue-Green Algae found in North Fort Myers Canal has Homeowners Feeling Uneasy

Blue-green algae have been found in a North Fort Myers canal and people are not only seeing it but smelling it as well.

It blooms during this time of year, but one homeowner along the canal says in her 20 years here she has never seen it in her own backyard. Chelsea Jackson started to notice the algae on Saturday.

Staying in is something that’s suggested by John Cassani with Calusa Waterkeeper. It’s among many things people should do if algae is present, according to the CDC.

Cassani says the cyanobacteria can potentially produce two types of toxins. There are several factors to create the algae blooms, such as nutrients forming from stormwater runoff.

“It’s really, really warm right now and that helps to enable this kind of creature to come out and out compete for the more common ones that we see other times of the year,” Cassani said.