Seagrass

Miami-Dade County has quietly submitted plans for a new marina at the Seaquarium site on Virginia Key that could bring a fleet of new luxury boats to the shallow bay.

Four South Florida men have been convicted in the 2021 assassination plot targeting Haitian President Jovenel Moïse. But there are lingering questions over what really happened in the months leading up to the killing.

Seagrasses are not only good for the water quality of our bays, but they are also home to as many as 75% of both recreationally and commercially important species of fish.

Water district officials are doing surveys of seagrasses around the Tampa Bay area this week. And the results are mostly good.

One of the reasons for the decrease in seagrass in Old Tampa Bay is an excess of nutrients in the water — a buildup that work on the Courtney Campbell Causeway might alleviate.

Rampant pollution caused manatees to starve. Florida waters are getting worse.

A new study shows while it's growing in one part of Tampa Bay, it's decreasing in another section.

Key West commissioners postponed renewing a contract with the Colllege of the Florida Keys that linked cruise ships to increased turbidity in the island's shallow port.

The study looked at damaging turbidity, which can harm coral and seagrass, and found levels connected to cruise ships equal to hurricanes.

Scientists worry that the arrival of the weedier seagrass from the Indian Ocean could outcompete local grasses that fight hurricane storm surges, trap carbon, feed turtles and manatees and supply major seafood and fishing industries.

Hanisak, director of education and the marine ecosystems health program at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, died May 7.

"If we don't manage them properly, then those seagrasses will be less resilient, and we could potentially degrade a very, very valuable habitat," said Tom Frazer of USF.