Office of Resilience and Coastal Protection
Waters that Work, Play and Live
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection's Office of Resilience and Coastal Protection manages more than 5.3 million acres of submerged lands and coastal uplands in Florida.
Much of Florida's distinctive character lies in the beauty of its coastline. The best of our coastal landscapes as well as several inland waters is set aside for protection as aquatic preserves. Florida's natural beauty is a major attraction for both tourists and residents. Ironically, these coastal and inland resources that draw people to Florida are potentially endangered by the increased population pressures. Aquatic preserves protect Florida's living waters to ensure they will always be home for bird rookeries and fish nurseries, freshwater springs and salt marshes, and seagrass meadows and mangrove forests.
These aquatic preserves — located throughout Florida — offer a window into the state's natural and cultural heritage. Local leaders long recognized and worked to protect these critically important and ecologically sensitive areas and in 1975, with growing appreciation for their environmental diversity and alluring beauty, Florida enacted the Aquatic Preserve Act. This Act brought together existing and future aquatic preserves under one management program to ensure "their aesthetic, biological and scientific values may endure for the enjoyment of future generations."
Charlotte Harbor Aquatic Preserve (CHAP) staff recently made it over the halfway mark for sea grass fixed monitored sites. With more than 30 of the 50 transects monitored, the crew is making great headway this monitoring season.
More than 12,000 baby sea turtles emerged from Rookery Bay beaches this year thanks to the dedicated work of Rookery Bay’s sea turtle team and support from the Friends of Rookery Bay’s Adopt a Sea Turtle Nest program. The proceeds from 96 adopted nests were able to fund three sea turtle interns to monitor Cape Romano, Sea Oat Island, Cannon Island and the Ten Thousand Islands for sea
Joe and Trisha spent a day on the lower Silver River and at the confluence with the Oklawaha River, scouting for invasive plecos and assessing a large fallen tree that is diverting water flow and creating a tussock. The male plecos should be wrapping up their burrow-building season for the year. After three hours of searching, only six plecos were removed, which is encouraging news.