Gulf of Mexico

Many parts of the Florida coast remain not surveyed, with existing nautical charts relying on outdated and low-resolution data.

The Rice's whale is one of the Gulf of Mexico’s largest and most mysterious animals, and is found nowhere else on Earth. NOAA Fisheries is set to publish a new critical habitat designation for the species.

Gulf sturgeon face increasing human-made challenges. Pollution has expanded in the Suwannee River and climate change is contributing to swings between high and low water levels. Florida’s prehistoric fish are surviving as they have for eons, scientists say. But they’re not invincible.

This year's zone is over 6,700 square miles. The average over the past five years is about 4,300.

With this year’s Atlantic hurricane season expected to be yet another stampede, Florida and other states around the Gulf of Mexico should keep an eye out for an under appreciated ingredient in the Gulf that can quickly turn storms into lethal monsters: hot ocean eddies.

Hurricanes and red tides could become more powerful as the Gulf of Mexico heats to record levels. But budget cuts are threatening a system that monitors conditions there — including programs based in St. Petersburg and Sarasota.

"If we don't manage them properly, then those seagrasses will be less resilient, and we could potentially degrade a very, very valuable habitat," said Tom Frazer of USF.

NOAA denied a request to implement a “vessel slowdown zone” in waters 100 meters to 400 meters deep from Pensacola to south of Tampa to protect the species.

After a record hot summer, warmer waters in the Gulf of Mexico fueled the intensity of Hurricane Idalia.

Human activity that adds nutrients, like nitrogen and phosphorus, tends to speed up the growth of algae and diminish the availability of dissolved oxygen.

The hypoxic zone — an area of low to no oxygen — in the Gulf of Mexico is about 3,058 square miles. The "dead zone" can kill fish and marine life.

A Jacksonville acquaintance had learned that a huge federal project was approved to build a barge canal across the peninsula. Did Marjorie Harris Carr know? Carr, taking that 1962 call at her home in Micanopy, admitted that she didn’t, but promised the woman that she would investigate. That call became her calling.