Recently seen around St. Pete: A squad of 20-somethings took turns pushing pucks down a shuffleboard court, giving each other congratulatory fist bumps and dipping into their cooler to fish out another can of White Claw.

Two bills — HB 401 and SB 680 — are currently moving through the Florida legislature to ban all fin sales.

A potent neurotoxin that has long been associated with mass die-offs of marine mammals during harmful algal blooms has been detected in bottlenose dolphins from the Indian River Lagoon estuary.

Money to fill the job is expected in the city’s 2021 budget, although details of the post’s duties and power aren’t settled. The post has become more common in state and local government in recent years.

In several new studies, researchers explore the importance of learning and knowledge in environmental decision-making and the different ways in which scientific knowledge can become more relevant and useful for societies.

Scientists have long predicted in the past that climate change produce adverse effects such as the loss of sea ice, accelerated sea level rise and longer, more intense heat waves.

MADEIRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Dave Campo has been catching sharks since he was 12 years old. He spends his nights bobbing on the Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic Ocean, waiting patiently in the dark for his catch and hauling the 80 to 300-pound fish on board his boat, the Miss Maggie, with his crew.

As federal help came in following Hurricane Matthew to restore part of the coastline, St. Johns County dedicated staff to watching over new beach projects full time.

‘Think you know Daytona Beach?’ In a workshop session, board members of the Halifax Area Advertising Authority considered the fate of Wide. Open. Fun. tourism campaign and the agency behind it.

Studies of the health hazards of toxic algae blooms have focused largely on the danger of direct contact with contaminated water in lakes, rivers and the ocean. Now a new study shows that even airborne exposure to the bacteria from a toxic bloom could also pose a risk.

A 12-foot, 4-inch adult male Great White shark that weighs 1,000 pounds, was tracked swimming off of Canaveral National Seashore in Florida on Tuesday, February 18, 2020.

The Florida Legislature is expected to act soon on whether to overturn a controversial 2018 law that prohibits the public from setting foot on the dry sand of beaches that abut private property in Walton County in the Panhandle.

The days are numbered for the crossover at Jekyll Island’s Corsair Beach Park.

In this episode, host Kristin Hayes talks with Julia Nesheiwat, a former professor and State Department official who is currently serving as Florida’s first chief resilience officer. Nesheiwat elaborates on the unique challenges Florida faces, as a sprawling, populous state with many coastal communities potentially imperiled by climate change. Discussing the diverse responsibilities of her role, Nesheiwat explains how she works alongside leaders from government, academia, and the private sector to devise proactive solutions to climate challenges and encourage collaboration across the whole state.

The Vilano Beach renourishment has been greenlighted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which hopes for construction to start this fall.

The destructive power of a hurricane appears to do plenty of good for mangroves in the Florida Everglades.

Florida Rep. Chris Sprowls, a Republican, declared it so in September 2019 at a speech designating him the next speaker of the House: “We need to stop being afraid of words like ‘climate change’ and ‘sea level rise.’” And Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has used the term repeatedly since his campaign for the job in 2018, even saying it three times in a news release that announced a new statewide job, chief resilience officer, tasked with preparing Florida for sea level rise.

Each week, News 3 is taking the time to break down the local impacts of news coming from the nation’s capital.

The Miami project is one of six grant winners located within an opportunity zone

Ever-increasing numbers of South Carolinians are at risk for flooding impacts. S.C. conservationists were encouraged when Gov. Henry McMaster created the Floodwater Commission to identify solutions for our flooding problems.

Who is responsible for killing the dolphins? That’s what authorities in Florida in the United States want to know, as they pursue new cases of intentional shootings while adding some important advice for everyone on how to avoid putting the dolphins at risk.

Florida has experienced numerous harmful algal blooms in recent years, including blue-green algae and their toxins in 2016 and 2018. Despite their intensity and frequency, there is scant data on human exposure to these blooms and concentrations of the toxins they produce in tissues of exposed individuals. The most common routes of human exposure to these toxins include direct contact, ingestion and inhalation. Little is known about airborne exposure to these toxins in recreationally and occupationally exposed humans.

The U.S. East and Gulf Coasts differ in how ocean and atmospheric circulation and sea level interact to produce storm surges, and both regions will experience greater storm surges as global warming progresses, according to new research from a University of Arizona-led team.

Risa Palm, Georgia State University and Toby W. Bolsen, Georgia State University

Once abundant, fish stocks for these 10 species are now depleted and might never rebound again

Anglers in the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries will be limited to landing just one striped bass a day under new rules approved this week by East Coast fishery managers.

Port Everglades has received a construction “New Start” designation in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) FY 2020 Work Plan, released today, according to a statement.

Retired Jacksonville doctor Harry Lee is donating his million-dollar collection of shells to the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida.

More needs to be done, so federal and state agencies are mobilizing.

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) – The Norfolk District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded a $23.7 million contract to a Miami-based business for beach renourishment at the NASA Wallops Island Flight Facility on Virginia’s Eastern Shore.

MADEIRA BEACH — If a hurricane hit Tampa Bay, the water would not need to go far to reach Clifford Smith’s house. His property on a barrier island, with views of the Intracoastal, is unsurprisingly in a flood zone.

Salvage workers plan to use a long cutting chain suspended from a floating crane to saw apart a large cargo ship that overturned nearly five months ago on the Georgia coast, the multiagency command overseeing the vessel’s removal said Wednesday.

The Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday signed off on a bill that will create the Florida Office of Resiliency and a nine-member task force to develop strategies to address rising sea levels fostered by climate change.

TAMPA, Fla. (February 5, 2020)- Hundreds of years ago, colossal oysters were commonplace across much of Florida's northern Gulf Coast. Today, those oysters have disappeared, leaving behind a new generation roughly a third smaller - a massive decline that continues to have both economic and environmental impacts on a region considered by many to be the last remaining unspoiled coastlines in the Gulf.

Three new North Atlantic right whale calves were reported late Monday, bringing the winter’s total to nine, two more than last year and the highest number since 2016.

I am a professional geologist who has worked on coastal zone management issues for more than 35 years. So what if I said I could construct a new inlet connecting the Indian River Lagoon to the Atlantic Ocean that would restore water quality, mitigate risk of algal blooms, red tides, storm surge and sea level rise, protect against erosion, create a world class surf break and prime fishing grounds, generate hydropower, and enhance national security at no cost to the local tax payer?

Wildlife inspectors seized 1,400 pounds of dried shark fins at a Miami port, CBS News reported. While it's not illegal to sell shark fins in the US, the shipment contained species protected in the US. Activists have lobbied Congress to ban the sale of shark fins nationwide.

Florida red tide is one of the major ecological threats facing Florida. Because of the seriousness of the threat, in mid-2019 Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the appointments of 11 expert researchers and leading scientists to a reconstituted task force within the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

It’s been some kind of couple weeks for North Atlantic right whales.

HARBOR ISLAND — This small slip of land on the eastern tip of Beaufort County is the legacy of an opportunistic time when a wave of businessmen descended on the South Carolina coast keen-eyed for fragments of paradise to package and sell off to the tennis-and-golf set.

A number of “reforms” have chipped away at South Carolina’s forward-thinking 1988 Beachfront Management Act over the past three decades. It began after Hurricane Hugo’s wrath spurred a massive wave of rebuilding — and demands to loosen the law. And in 2018, the Legislature struck at the ideological core of the act by replacing in the legal text the word “retreat” with “preservation.”

According to several recent studies the impact of hurricanes on real estate markets, especially those of Category 3 and above, last longer than previously believed. This is based on data from the National Hurricane Center, the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries (NCREIF), as well as academic research from Dr. Li Beracha, Ph.D. and Dr. Robert S. Prati, Ph.D.

It’s no secret Jacksonville is a city that is dangerously flood prone. In many areas of the historic districts, summer showers cause nuisance flooding. Even a weak hurricane can cause potentially catastrophic damage.

CAPE CANAVERAL and COCOA BEACH, Florida – Endangered right whales are migrating south along Florida’s east coast and were spotted off of Cocoa Beach and Cape Canaveral, Florida on Friday, January 31, 2020.

City-hired consultants told residents that under their new calculations, emergency roads would have to be elevated higher than the city previously called for, but residential roads could stay lower than originally planned.

Beachfront property owners, aided by high-priced lobbyists, have stripped local governments’ power to oversee your ability to enjoy the beach.

How will Florida be impacted by climate change—not in 100 years, but in 20? The questions are addressed in the Florida Climate Outlook: a comprehensive, visual report on the near-term physical and economic impacts of climate change and climate policy in Florida.

Midtown Beach and the surrounding shore will be replenished with sand starting sometime in February

Southern researchers with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission have spotted two more North Atlantic right whale calves.

As part of ongoing efforts to address conflicts between double-crested cormorants and wild and stocked fisheries, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is asking for public input on future management options.

Conservation groups filed a petition today asking the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to adopt regulations that would protect diamondback terrapins from drowning in blue crab pots. These imperiled turtles are suffering population declines.

Despite scientific evidence that rising sea levels due to climate change are a threat to property and lives, science plays second fiddle to politics in public attitudes about climate change and mitigation policies among coastal area residents most likely to be affected, according to urban geographer Risa Palm and political scientist Toby Bolsen of Georgia State University.

Not that there’s much skill this early, but ‘normal’ looks likely

The first meeting of resiliency committee comes with stark predictions about sea-level rise and Jacksonville's vulnerabilities

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ request to boost fines on environmental lawbreakers drew support Monday in its first legislative appearance.

From Florida to West Virginia, cities and states are behind in meeting the challenge of climate change head on.

Here’s good news: The state of Florida is no longer in the climate-change denier club.

Sand is a precious commodity on the Gulf of Mexico’s Manasota Key. Just ask beachfront homeowners.

Environmentalists say Florida faces a water quality crisis. But lawmakers are watering down rules to tackle fertilizer runoff.

Residents are upset and alarmed over new high-occupancy construction built, operated and marketed for short-term tourist rentals in residential neighborhoods.

The discovery of a legendary wreck raises questions about who should control sunken riches

The scum of blue-green algae was so thick and invasive in Florida two years ago that it suffocated fish by the thousands. Birds dropped dead. And people stayed out of the water.

The photographer's series ‘Flood Zone’ provides an eerie glimpse into the future of America's sinking southern states.

After years of mostly ignoring climate change, Florida lawmakers waded deeper into the matter on Tuesday , advancing a proposal that would create a statewide Office of Resiliency and establish a task force to begin looking into how best to protect the state’s 1350 miles (2,173 kilometers) of coastline from rising oceans.

According to the Mangrove Act, for every illegally altered mangrove tree, Volusia County can impose up to $250 in fines.

In 1970, Georgia’s governor Lester Maddox had a plan for the barrier islands that comprise our coast.

Florida’s water needs this decade will grow by 20 percent and remediation of drinking water infrastructure will cost $18 billion, making water resources a top legislative priority for the Florida League of Cities, an advocacy organization representing more than 400 cities and towns.

Florida has reached a deal with a real estate company to acquire 20,000 acres of the Everglades that is slated for oil production in order to protect the wetlands, Florida’s governor announced Wednesday.

When coastal communities start losing their battles with sea level rise, king tides and storm surges, one of the first signs of retreat will be the relocation of their water supplies even further inland to escape saltwater intrusion. An emerging motivation for Florida cities and counties is fear of losing their municipal bond credit ratings and tax bases.

The Coastal Resources Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources invites the public to attend a presentation on coastal resiliency at noon Jan. 28.

Space Coast voters agreed to tax themselves to clean up the Indian River Lagoon.

Dredging to deepen the shipping channel to the Port of Savannah has resumed after an 18-month pause, Col. Daniel Hibner of the Army Corps of Engineers recently announced as the second half of the $973 million expansion has started to get under way.

The 2020 Marco Speaker Series presented by the Audubon of the Western Everglades (AWE) was held at Mackle Park on Wednesday, January 8th, 2020. It was led by biologist Ryan Young on Florida’s Mangroves and their Importance in the Environment.

The project's consultant writes the homeowners wanted to create a more natural shape to the dune to stabilize the sand.

The idea is to build a buffer between the condos and the rising seas.

Increasing sea rise is going to water down the value of some of the most coveted and expensive real estate in Florida, and insurance rates will go up too.

Anthropogenic climate change and its associated rise in sea levels could prove a significant threat to some of the world’s iconic coastal space launch sites, including Florida’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC).

One treehouse built in Holmes Beach in 2011 without a permit has led to four pending lawsuits spanning seven years.

One treehouse built in Holmes Beach in 2011 without a permit has led to four pending lawsuits spanning seven years.