Gov. Rick Scott on Monday said he’s sending more Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) officers and resources to Houston to help Houston after its soaking by Hurricane Harvey.
A large stretch of Florida’s Gulf Coast is open for recreational scalloping. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission opened an area from St. Vincent Island in Franklin County to the Pasco and Hernando County line to recreational scalloping over the weekend. A recreational salt water fishing license is required to gather bay scallops, and the limit is one pint of scallop meat per person or a half-gallon of scallop meat per boat. Scallopers can gather the mollusks by hand…
As people make plans to go to the beach for the Independence Day holiday, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is reminding the public to help protect beach-nesting shorebirds and sea turtles by giving them space and keeping personal fireworks off the beach. Please respect shorebird and sea turtle areas that are posted to protect these vulnerable species, but remember not all nests are posted. Shorebirds on Florida’s Atlantic and Gulf coasts are nesting now, with many of…
Florida animal welfare activists are calling Gov. Rick Scott to appoint a non-hunter to a vacancy on the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). On Wednesday, the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida (ARFF) ran an advertisement in the Tallahassee Democrat urging Scott to appoint either a nature photographer, a bird-watcher, or an individual with a background in wildlife conservation to the FWC. A similar ad ran in Sunday and Monday’s papers, and also run Thursday as well, the final…
Florida manatees are thriving during this warm, sunny winter. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) count found the highest number of sea cows since 1991 and the third straight year of a minimum count greater than 6,000 during its annual flyover of popular manatee spots. A team of 15 observers from 10 organizations counted 3,488 manatees on Florida’s east coast and 3,132 on the west coast of the state during the aerial survey. That top’s last year’s county…
Officials say a Florida panther has been found dead from what appears to be a fight with another panther in southwest Florida. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reports that the 4-year-old-old male cat’s body was found Saturday on private property in Hendry County. The remains will be taken to a Gainesville facility for a necropsy. This is the second Florida panther death recorded in 2017. Florida panthers once roamed the entire southeastern U.S., but only around 180 remain…
In an effort to expedite and enhance current testing and investigation into a troubling discovery of sick birds near local waterways, the city of St. Petersburg is calling in an independent ecologist to assist. Scientists with Arcadis U.S., based in Melbourne, Florida, have joined with St. Petersburg Water Resources and investigative crews from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWCC) to gather clues into what is causing the Pelicans’ sickness. “We want to have experts evaluating this,” said John…
