A roundup of news items related to climate change and other environmental issues in Florida:
Hurricane Idalia shows nature may provide the best shoreline protection | NPR
CEDAR KEY, Fla. — When Hurricane Idalia slammed into Florida’s Gulf Coast in August, one of the hardest hit areas was Cedar Key.
A nearly 7-foot storm surge battered the small fishing community, flooding a third of the buildings on the island. In a new report, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says Idalia caused an estimated $3.6 billion in damage, most of it in Florida’s Big Bend region. But on Cedar Key, when the water receded, scientists found some good news amid all the damage.
Nature-based “living shoreline” projects built to protect roads, buildings and other structures were relatively undamaged.
A bill would allow protected lands to be sold for agriculture | WUSF
Florida lawmakers are considering spending more than $100 million this year to buy environmentally sensitive lands. But a Hillsborough County state senator introduced a bill that would allow the state to sell some of those lands.
Republican state Sen. Jay Collins’ bill would allow the sale of conservation lands within the Florida Wildlife Corridor. Money from the sales would go to a trust fund run by the state Department of Agriculture. The land, which could not be developed, would possibly be used for agriculture.
But not everyone is on board with the proposal.
Multiple endangered whales found dead on nation’s coasts, alarming conservation groups | USA Today
At least seven endangered whales have been found dead or seriously injured, or gone missing since mid-December, including five North Atlantic right whales on the Atlantic Coast and two fin whales on the Pacific Coast, raising concerns among whale conservation groups, federal officials, and others.
“It’s important to understand how whales are dying on both coasts, to understand risks and develop mitigation,” said Regina Asmutis-Silvia, executive director of Whale and Dolphin Conservation USA.
Two of the dead whales – a right whale that washed up on Martha’s Vineyard and a fin whale that washed up this week on the Oregon coast – were entangled in fishing gear, which federal officials, who are investigating the deaths, say is a leading cause of whale deaths.
If you have any news items of note that you think we should include in our next roundup, please email The Invading Sea Editor Nathan Crabbe at ncrabbe@fau.edu. Sign up for The Invading Sea newsletter by visiting here.
