IMA releases monthly report with bathing information for the month of April

Photo: Disclosure / IMA

The Environmental Institute of the State of Santa Catarina (IMA) publishes the bathing report for the month of April. According to collections carried out at the 238 points monitored by the Institute on the Santa Catarina coast, 187 are suitable for bathing, which represents 78.57%. In Florianópolis, of the 87 points analyzed, 67 are suitable for bathing, which is equivalent to 77.01%.

The IMA Bathing Monitoring Program covers 28 coastal municipalities and more than 100 beaches and/or resorts from the South to the North of Santa Catarina, comprising the cities of: Araranguá, Balneário Arroio do Silva, Balneário Gaivota, Balneário Camboriú, Balneário Barra do South, Balneário Rincão, Barra Velha, Biguaçu, Bombinhas, Florianópolis, Garopaba, Governador Celso Ramos, Imbituba, Itajaí, Itapema, Itapoá, Jaguaruna, Joinville, Laguna, Navegantes, Palhoça, Paulo Lopes, Passo de Torres, Penha, Balneário Piçarras, Porto Belo, São Francisco do Sul and São José.

Technical Note

The last bathing report released on March 27, 2024, showed that Florianópolis (Coqueiros region), points 04, 05, 06 and 07, respectively, Praia da Saudade, Praia do Meio, Praia do Itaguaçu and Praia das Palmeiras, displayed the condition of impropriety on a preventive basis, given the occurrence of algal blooms that began on February 19th as a combination of several favorable environmental factors and the presence of inocula of algal cells. Karenia spp. in the region.

On the same day, it was possible to notice the presence of dark spots on the sea in the south of Florianópolis Island, which could be the beginning of the flowering that moved into the South Bay. Inside the South Bay, the flowering found good conditions for its growth. maintenance, and prevailed for at least 30 days.

On April 20th, no sign of that remarkable flowering present in previous days was visible through satellite images. In order to confirm the real situation in the area, new collections on site were carried out by IMA on April 22, 2024 and examined in partnership with the Federal Institute of Santa Catarina (IFSC), Itajaí campus, LAQUA Laboratory.

All samples collected no longer showed cells of Karenia spp., confirming the dispersion of the bloom of this potentially toxic microalgae. Samples routinely collected by Cidasc also indicated the end of flowering in the points monitored by that body.

IMA oceanographer Carlos Eduardo Junqueira de Azevedo Tibiriça concluded that the bloom of potentially toxic microalgae, Karenia spp. which occurred since the beginning of March this year in the South Bay, between Florianópolis Island and the mainland, has dispersed. Therefore, for the bathing points highlighted above that were considered unsuitable only due to the presence of bloom, the situation can be updated to “Suitable for Bathing”, always following the recommendation to avoid bathing in any unknown spot present in the water.

Bathing Disclosure

The IMA Bathing Monitoring Program follows a advance collection schedule providing transparency and publicity to the process. This way, every citizen can monitor when collection will take place at a given point. As the analyzes are completed by the IMA laboratory, the point result is automatically updated and can be checked on the site mapand on the Praia Segura app of the Santa Catarina Military Fire Department (CBMSC).

To monitor the results of the collections, simply click on the flags at the point of interest and check the status of the beach property and the date of the last collection carried out at the location on the website map. The website also has a history menu, a search space where it is possible to access dates, times, wind conditions, tide, among other information that is recorded at the time of collection and the results of the appropriate or inappropriate condition of each sampled point.

From November to March, IMA monitors the bathing ability of Santa Catarina’s beaches weekly, and on Fridays, it publishes a release with the balance of the week. Between the months of April and October, research and dissemination are monthly.