Florida Keys

Nearly half of the sanctuary staff works out of the office, which was targeted for closure earlier this year. The only other sanctuary office is nearly 100 miles away in Key West.

Nearly two years after an unprecedented die-off of endangered smalltooth sawfish, scientists are still investigating conditions that caused the deaths and how to better predict and prevent future outbreaks.

One sawfish died and three were reported in distress in waters around the Florida Keys in April.

With the governor's rejection of a new management plan, some rules, including a ban on cruise ships flushing greywater near troubled reefs, won't take effect.

Both proposals are named after Lucy Fernandez, a 17-year-old killed in 2022 when a 29-foot boat she and 13 others were on hit a channel marker near Boca Chita Key.

Gov. Ron DeSantis said the plan, which took more than a decade to hammer out, failed to pave the way for artificial reefs in state waters and stripped Florida of managing its own wildlife.

This winter's deaths come nearly six months after a mysteriously ailment linked to toxic algae killed more than 50 endangered sawfish around the Florida Keys.

The Florida Department of Health in Monroe County is advising Florida Keys residents and visitors to exercise caution. The toxin is capable of producing respiratory issues.

Key deer are now facing new perils from saltwater intrusion, development and extreme weather, which could eventually force them to be moved out of the Florida Keys entirely.

North America’s only barrier reef is withering from heat and disease. Can efforts to preserve and propagate the corals at land-based facilities save them?

Rising temperatures shut down some conchs’ impulse to reproduce. So scientists are ferrying them to colonies in deeper, cooler waters.

The governor has signed bills to designate Florida A1A as “Jimmy Buffett Memorial Highway” and create a “Margaritaville” specialty license plate in memory of the late singer.