National Seafood Month – shrimp
Shrimp… nothing says seafood along the Gulf coast like shrimp. It has been a staple part of our diet for decades; boiled, fried, steamed, stuffed, shish-kabobbed, As Forrest Gump said there are a million ways to cook shrimp and as Jack and Anne Rudloe mention their...
National Seafood Month – the state of seafood
While directing the Marine Science Academy for the Escambia County School District I had students conduct small, informal, surveys targeting the popularity of seafood with students, parents, and the community. The purpose of these surveys was to kick start a...
Those Terrific Terrapins
They are marvelous creatures and there are very few panhandle residents who know what they are. My wife and I were introduced to Diamondback Terrapins by George Heinrich in 2005. George was the president of a nonprofit, Florida Turtle Conservation Trust, and a member...
Palmetto Weevils, Arrgh!
Anyone who has had a treasured palm tree annihilated by palmetto weevils (Rhynchophorus cruentatus) knows the pain of losing a long-lived tree from the home landscape. These large, native weevils are adept at working unnoticed inside a palm to the point of terminal...
Wildlife Food Plots – Considerations for Success and Workshop on 10/8
Improving habitat can benefit the quantity and quality of wildlife on a piece of property. One common method for improving habitat is the establishment of food plots. Food plots are simply areas that are managed for the production of forages that help meet the...
Exotic Pet Amnesty Day set for Oct. 3 in Fort Walton Beach
Do you have any exotic pets you can no longer care for? Would you like the opportunity to surrender those pets without any penalties or fines? Then join the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and Gulfarium Marine Adventure Park for an Exotic Pet...
National Estuaries Week! – What We Can Do
In the last edition in this series we discussed some of the issues and problems our estuaries are facing. For the final edition for National Estuaries Week we want to leave you with some ideas on you can help improve things. The first issue we dealt with was...
National Estuaries Week! – Problems in Our Bays
I don’t want this to sound like a “Debbie Downer”… but there are problems with our estuaries and panhandle residents should be aware of them. There are things you can do to correct them – which we will discuss in the final issues of this series – but you need to...
National Estuaries Week! – Sea Level Rise and Climate Change
As we come towards the end of National Estuaries Week we will now look at some issues our estuaries are facing. Sea level rise is one that generates a variety of responses from the public. For some it is of concern, something we need to be planning for and need to...
National Estuaries Week! – Our Ports
Many may not know that one of the reasons the Spanish selected Pensacola as the site of for their first settlement in the Gulf of Mexico was the deep water port. As mentioned in the first issue in this series, the estuaries of the Gulf of Mexico are drowned river...