Bradenton.com has an article telling how robots are being used to monitor red tide. Red tide is caused by microscopic algae in the sea that bloom into huge populations and put out toxins that can kill fish and can even harm humans. Scientists don't know what causes the outbreak, but and it's very difficult to criss cross the seas to taking samples to monitor toxin levels. Sniffer drones, called Gliders by Mote Scientists have been brought it in to do the tideous job. In the future, they hope to determine what causes a red tide bloom. More information about Red Tide updates can be found here.