Beach Archive

The Healthy Gulf press conference conducted last week at the Milton Marina, where stakeholders’ worry about shellfish harvesting closures appeared palpable.

Christian Wagley of Healthy Gulf, community businesses and stakeholders expressed grave concerns about the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ planned closure of thousands of acres of area waters to shellfish harvesting because of continuous high fecal bacterial counts.

The Navarre Beach Lifeguards are used to giving their best on the Emerald Coast, but for several days in mid-August, they had the chance to tackle the sand and water of the west coast at the USLA Nationals.

The USLA Nationals is a national lifeguard competition. The annual event is put on by the United States Lifesaving Association, a nonprofit organization of beach lifeguards and open water rescuers.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is closing the recreational harvest of red grouper in state waters of the Gulf of Mexico on Aug. 30 for the remainder of the 2022 fishing season. Harvest will reopen on Jan. 1, 2023.  

According to FWC, this closure is consistent with the closure in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service. The recreational red grouper fishery was closed in federal waters because landings information indicates that the 2022 recreational quota is projected to be met on Aug. 29, 2022.

From July 24 to July 30, UF/IFAS Florida Sea Grant Extension in Santa Rosa and Escambia counties had volunteers search for scallops in the waters around Pensacola Bay, Big Lagoon, and the Santa Rosa Sound.

There were approximately 40 volunteers.

Manna Fish Farms, Inc. is proposing to build and operate a fish farm 23 miles off the coast of Pensacola Beach.

The 390 acre site is in approximately 160 ft. of water and within the United States exclusive economic zone.

When you drive down the Navarre Beach Causeway, do you ever think about what you are driving on and what supports it?

Seawalls that surround the causeway help deter erosion and washouts, but they are in trouble.

A new study is underway of the greater amberjack species, and it could result in $250 for anglers.

Sean Powers of the University of South Alabama is leading a team of researchers in a nearly $12 million study to estimate the number of greater amberjack in the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic.