Celebrating Choctawhatchee Bay – National Estuaries Week
September 17-24, 2016 was the nation’s 28th time to celebrate America’s coasts and estuaries during National Estuaries Week. This week helps us to remember to appreciate the challenges these coastal ecosystems face, along with their beauty and utility. Estuaries,...
The Autumn Journey of Red Drum
Cool mornings this week reminded everyone fall is just around the corner. This subtle change in temperature inspires many of us to behave differently. It’s actually enjoyable to be outside again. Now, it’s easier to relax and drink a morning cup of pumpkin spice...
Biking to a Healthier Community
If you told me earlier this summer that I would “accidentally” bike 18 miles one afternoon, I’d have laughed. I’ve always loved biking, but rarely have time for long distance rides. As part of the mobile workshops for an Extension professional development meeting in...
Let’s Go Camping!
This past week I was camping at a state park near Gainesville. Working on a variety of computer related items while sitting in my chair, I was acutely attuned to the sounds of life around me. A small “pat-pat-pat” could be heard in the leaf litter around the tent. ...
The International Coastal Clean Up is Coming in September – how are we doing with marine debris in our area?
People have been trying to do something about marine debris, and solid waste in general, since we saw the commercial of the crying Indian in the early ‘70’s. Have we made any improvement? Yes… but there are still problems to deal with. Literally millions of...
An Early Study Shows the Invasion of the Asian Tiger Shrimp Could Have an Impact on Native Shrimp
The Asian Tiger Shrimp (Penaeus monodon) have been reported across the northern Gulf of Mexico for several years now but unlike Cogon grass, Chinese tallow, and Lionfish they have not really made the press. We know they are there, but captures in shrimp trawls seem...
September is Microplastics Awareness Month
Going along with the International Coastal Clean Up, UF/IFAS Extension will be promoting September as Microplastics Awareness month. If you have not heard, microplastics are small pieces of plastic < 5mm in diameter. Some are fragments from larger pieces of plastic...
It’s Sea Turtle Hatching Time… what you can do to help them
It is August, we are just off another successful Sea Turtle Baby Shower event in the Pensacola area, and we are in peak season for sea turtle hatching. Those little guys have a tough road to follow trying to emerge from their nest to reach the open waters of the Gulf...
The Return of the Bay Scallop to Pensacola Bay?
MAN do folks in the Florida panhandle like scallops. I recently visited boat ramps at Steinhatchee and Keaton Beach (in the Big Bend) and the parking lots were full of trucks and boat trailers belonging to people combing the grassbeds of the Gulf searching for this...
Bay County Deploys First Super Reefs in Panama City Beach
Earlier this year, Bay County completed an artificial reef project in Gulf waters approximately 3 nautical miles (nm) south of the Panama City Beach Pier (Pier Park) and 11 nm west of St Andrew Bay Pass in Small Area Artificial Reef Site D. On May 14, five Super Reefs...