Florida Sea Grant mourns the passing of LeRoy Creswell

Faculty and Staff, Featured News

LeRoy Creswell was a Florida Sea Grant extension agent in St. Lucie County from 2000 to 2011. From 2011 until his retirement in 2019, he was a regional extension program manager for Florida Sea Grant. He passed away last week after a long illness. An educator and researcher, his work focused on aquaculture, water quality, and youth and adult environmental education.   Some of his many accomplishments during his career with Florida Sea Grant included creating and managing a…

Oil shows in a small wave.

Scientists, Florida Sea Grant specialist to share decade of research, post-Gulf oil spill

Climate Change, Featured News

By: Brad Buck, 813-757-2224, bradbuck@ufl.edu, 352-875-2641 (cell)  A decade after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, a UF/IFAS Florida Sea Grant specialist will join other experts to summarize what they’ve learned about the Gulf of Mexico’s ecosystem in a virtual town hall-type meeting. Monica Wilson, who’s based in St. Petersburg, has spent considerable time during the past several…

Some climate change questions answered as hurricane season peaks, wildfires rage

Climate Change, Featured News

By: Brad Buck, 813-757-2224, bradbuck@ufl.edu, 352-875-2641 (cell)  Wildfires out west? Check. Tropical storms or hurricanes hovering – seemingly everywhere? Check. Those are just two of the potentially catastrophic events caused in part by climate change, say University of Florida experts.  “Our climate is changing and, with that, comes more extreme events,” said Ashley Smyth, an assistant professor of soil…

FFWCC awards UF/IFAS Florida Sea Grant $92K to create communication plan alerting public of expected Florida red tide events

Algae Blooms, Featured News, Healthy Oceans and Coasts, Sea Grant Spotlight

FORT PIERCE, Fla. – Harmful algal blooms (HABs) of the toxin-producing dinoflagellate Karenia brevis occur regularly within the Gulf of Mexico. Despite the frequency of these red tide events and the amount of publicly available information, there persists a gap in knowledge about the organism itself, management actions, and the real and perceived health risks to Florida’s residents and tourists.   …