RESTORE Act/Gulf Restoration Updates - Bay County

The Florida Gulf Counties Consortium will hold a public review meeting on the draft State Expenditure Plan at 6:30 pm CT on January 22, 2018, in the Bay County Commission Chambers. The Plan outlines how Florida’s RESTORE Act Spill Impact Component funds will be spent. The funds are from Deepwater Horizon disaster Clean Water Act fines.

Florida’s allocation is $294 million, paid over a 15-year period. Approximately $12 million will be spent on projects in each of Florida’s 23 coastal counties. Another public review meeting will be in Tampa on January 23. Two public review webinars will also be held on Feb. 1 and 15. The comment period ends March 2, 2018. Additional information and a link to a comment form is at https://www.gulfconsortium.org/draft-state-expenditure-plan

Florida's Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund (GEBF) web page was recently updated.  Take a look to see which resources Florida's portion of the GEBF has focused on.  Includes a link to the comprehensive list of projects.

"To date, NFWF has awarded more than $110 million from the Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund for 26 restoration projects in the state of Florida. These projects were selected for funding following extensive consultation with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The projects in Florida address high-priority restoration and conservation needs. They represent important efforts to protect and enhance natural and living resources, as well as significant assessment efforts to guide management decisions that will benefit important habitats and species....

Project Highlights

Eliminating Light Pollution at Sea Turtle Nesting Beaches...

Beach Nesting Bird Stewardship...

Improving Fisheries Management...

Future Projects

NFWF is engaged in consultation with [FWCC, FDEP], FWS and NOAA to identify priority restoration and conservation projects for consideration under the GEBF.

"Findings from a new study published in PLoS One suggest additional impacts on fish communities from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon (DwH) oil spill may occur in the coming years. The study titled 'Impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill evaluated using an end-to-end ecosystem model' estimates fish populations and ecosystem health in the decades following the 2010 BP oil spill.

'Even though we are 8 years removed from the oil spill, we may have not seen the last of its effects based on the results of our model' says Cameron Ainsworth, PhD, an associate professor at the University of South Florida-College of Marine Science and lead author on the publication.

The oil spill had its most lethal effects on bottom-dwelling and reef-associated fish, and especially on juvenile fish. In some species, there is a missing generation of fish. These fish would have reached maturity and enter the fishery within the next few years, but their absence could have cascading impacts through the food web, according to the model...."