Environmental concerns remain for Florida waters after months of ecological disasters. Red tide which plagued East and West Florida’s beaches and coastal waterways for the past year appears to be abating.

3/20/19 Red tide report spells out town’s financial response
YourObserver.com

3/16/19 Humans are making oceans more acidic, NOAA warns. It could make red tide even worse
Bradenton Herald

3/14/19 Miami Beach Commissioners Vote Not To Ban Sunscreen Ingredients Experts Say Harm Coral Reefs
CBS Miami

3/14/19 Miami Beach City Commission Meets To Discuss Ordinance That Would Ban Chemicals In …
CBS Miami

3/7/19 USF scientist talks about the health of the Gulf of Mexico 9 years after the BP oil disaster
WMNF

3/7/19 Florida waters remain free of red tide, except for this one county
Bradenton Herald

3/6/19 Florida considers ban on certain sunscreens to protect coral reefs
WKMG News 6 & ClickOrlando

3/6/19 One of Florida’s Worst Red Tides Finally Clears
Insurance Journal

3/6/19 Humans are making red tide blooms much worse. There’s one way to stop it, professor says
Bradenton Herald

3/6/19 Deformed fish in Florida waters stirs questions about human effects on marine life
Orlando Sentinel

3/6/19 Red tide out of sight, but not out of Florida lawmakers’ minds
Watchdog.org

3/1/19 Can devastation from red tide be mitigated? Legislators look to Mote Marine for answers
Bradenton Herald

2/22/19 Red tide is gone in Florida, state says
Sarasota Herald-Tribune

2/22/19 Toxic red tide that has devastated Florida since 2017 not detected in waters
NBCNews.com

2/18/19 7 right whale calves spotted in Florida’s Atlantic waters
KATC Lafayette News

2/18/19 GALLERY: A Guide to Whales Found in the Gulf of Mexico
The News Herald

2/17/19 FGCU student researchers head to sea to check the red tide-devastated zone they found last year
The News-Press

2/15/19 After 16 Months Of Dead Fish, Manatees And Dolphins, Florida’s Red Tide Ebbs
NPR

2/13/19 Baby boom: Five right whale calves spotted off the coast of Florida
National Fisherman

2/9/19 Hurricanes are strengthening faster in the Atlantic, and climate change is a big reason why …
Washington Post

2/9/19 There’s a whale baby boom off Florida’s east coast for ‘rarest’ of world’s largest marine mammals
Orlando Sentinel

2/7/19 Major red tide outbreak could come to Panacea
WTXL ABC 27

2/7/19 Key West City Commission Bans Certain Sunscreens to Protect Coral
CBS Miami

2/6/19 What is Stony Coral Tissue Disease?
Southern Boating

2/4/19 10000 redfish to be released in Florida after red tide killed 267 tons of marine life
AccuWeather.com

2/3/19 Red fish replenishment efforts begin in Florida coastal areas plagued by red tide
WKMG News 6 & ClickOrlando

2/2/19 A killer coral disease has reached Key West, scientists say — and it’s not stopping
Miami Herald

2/1/19 Florida’s red tide levels hit a new low, state says. You can still find it in Manatee
Bradenton Herald

2/1/19 Scientists Say Coral Disease Has Reached Reefs Off Key West
WLRN

1/29/19 Mote Marine, lawmakers say Florida needs ‘paradigm shift’ in red tide fight
Florida Politics (blog)

1/29/19 Florida red tide hurts stone crab industry
Fox News

1/26/19 Huge Sargassum Seaweed Blooms Again Threaten Florida, Caribbean and Mexico
The Weather Channel

The National Association of State Boating Law Administrators and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) encourage all boaters to take a boating safety course.

Click here for Gain an edge on the water and keep it with boating education – ‘Spring Aboard’ with FWC

Let’s hope you never find yourself in the position of having to prove your vessel seaworthy. Obviously, these “input” meetings have more to do with restricting anchoring than with derelicts. See Anchoring Legislation.

Notice of Public Meeting

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), Division of Law Enforcement, will be holding meetings to seek the input of the public in the process of rulemaking. Per direction of the Florida Legislature, FWC will be seeking public input on developing the process that law enforcement officers use to determine that a vessel has an effective means of propulsion for safe navigation. This rule will allow a law enforcement officer to conduct an evaluation of a vessels propulsion capabilities to determine whether or not the vessel is at risk of becoming derelict. This evaluation process will be part of s 327.4107, F.S., through incorporation by rule.

Please see the dates and times scheduled for these public meetings below:

March 11, 2019 Pinellas County Commission Chambers 6:00pm 8:00pm 315 Court Street, Clearwater, Florida 33756

March 12, 2019 St. Augustine City Commission Chambers 6:00pm 8:00pm 75 King Street, St. Augustine, Florida 32085

March 14, 2019 Pensacola City Council Chambers 11:00am 1:00pm 222 W. Main Street, Pensacola, Florida 32502

April 2, 2019 Bernstein Park Meeting Facility 6:00pm 8:00pm 6751 5th Street, Stock Island, Key West, Florida 33040

April 3, 2019 Murray Nelson Government Center 6:00pm 8:00pm 102050 Overseas Highway, Key Largo, Florida 33037

April 4, 2019 Palm Beach County Vista Center, Rooms E-58/E-59 6:00pm 8:00pm 2300 North Jog Road, West Palm Beach, Florida 33411