Ankersen’s Passion for Coastal Conservation Makes Him a Champion

Congratulations to UF Emeritus Professor Tom Ankersen on winning the 2022 Nature Coast Champion Award from the IFAS Nature Coast Biological Station (NCBS) in December. The award recognizes his extensive work in supporting the conservation, restoration and management, protection of coastal and aquatic resources in Florida’s Nature Coast, an area that encompasses eight counties bordering […]

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POLICY BRIEF: Oyster Governance in Florida: A Rich History with Lessons for Future Management

STATE POLICY BRIEF  OYSTER GOVERNANCE IN FLORIDA: A RICH HISTORY WITH LESSONS FOR FUTURE MANAGEMENT  Project Team Chad Palmer, Ph.D. Candidate, School of Natural Resources and the Environment, UF Cole Thomas, J.D. (2022), UF Levin College of Law Meredith Burgess, J.D. Candidate (2023), UF Levin College of Law Jamie Castille, M.S., Wildlife Ecology and Conservation […]

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Coastal Policy Lab students develop science-to-policy tools for restoration aquaculture and governance of wild oyster fisheries

The CCS Coastal Policy Lab focused the Spring semester on the development of science-to-policy tools to advance the development of restoration aquaculture to enhance water quality in Florida and on governance issues associated with Florida’s wild oyster fishery.

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A Missing Entity? Florida’s Statewide Flooding and Sea Level Rise Resilience Plan Legislation and Independent Special Districts

Adding Independent Special Districts to the list of entities eligible to participate in the Statewide Flooding and Sea Level Rise Resilience planning and implementation processes should be afforded further consideration given their self-governing authority over critical assets, their ability to operationalize resiliency projects and their capacity to leverage state and other grant funds provided through their own revenue generation.

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Coastal Policy Update: 2022 Marine and Coastal Related Legislation and Appropriations Recap with Commentary

Coastal policy received a significant amount of attention in the Florida legislature this year, with several bills and budget items making their way to the Governor’s desk and others dying in committees. This update describes bills and projects of particular relevance to the CCS community and provides some context.

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ADVISORY BOARD SPOTLIGHT: Jen Lomberk, Esq.

Jen Lomberk, an attorney specializing in environmental law and policy, recently joined the CCS Advisory Board. Lomberk has worked on projects spanning a broad spectrum of environmental issues ranging from stormwater regulation in the state of Florida to national park management in The Bahamas to the innovative use of conservation easements to protect sea turtle […]

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Changing the Channel: Navigating Toward Self-Mitigation

As part of the Fall 2021 Coastal Policy Lab, a partnership between Florida Sea Grant, the University of Florida Conservation Clinic at the Levin College of Law and the CCS in the College of Engineering, faculty and students investigated the potential to mitigate the impacts of repetitive maintenance dredging by using more efficient channel designs.

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State Policy Brief: Marine Aquatic Resource Mitigation Banking in Florida

Bills to authorize mitigation banking for seagrass and other marine resources on sovereign submerged lands (SSL) have been introduced in the Florida House of Representatives and Florida Senate for consideration in the 2022 legislative session.

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Coastal Policy Lab wraps up the semester with presentations in Sanibel Island

The inaugural semester of the CCS Coastal Policy Lab came to close in early December with a field trip to Sanibel Island to present the results of the students’ interdisciplinary projects. The Coastal Policy Lab (CPL) is a student-centered experiential learning collaboration between the University of Florida Colleges of Law and Engineering, and Florida Sea […]

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State Policy Update: Rule Development in the DEP office of Resilience and Coastal Protection

Rule Development in the DEP Office of Resilience and Coastal Protection, by Matthew DePaolis, Coastal Policy Analyst Fellow, Center for Coastal Solutions / UF Law Conservation Clinic & Florida Sea Grant Legal Program

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CCS and SCCF Partner on New Coastal Policy Lab Course

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The Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation has a new article out on the inaugural Coastal Policy Lab course. Full text is provided below and and you can find the original SCCF article here. As part of SCCF’s new memorandum of understanding with the University of Florida (UF) Center for Coastal Solutions, an inaugural fall semester course called […]

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State Policy Brief: Amendments to Florida’s Boating Laws, 2021

This analysis briefly describes the amendments to boating law introduced by the bills SB 1946 and 1086 and provides some context. By Tom Ankersen and Colson Douglas.

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FDACS Adopts Restoration Aquaculture Rule, Opening the door for research and future market development

State Policy Update by Thomas T. Ankersen, University of Florida College of Law & Florida Sea Grant Restoration aquaculture is poised by play a significant role in support of nature-based resiliency and in mediating water quality hazards.  Recognizing this potential, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Aquaculture (FDACS) has amended Florida […]

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CCS welcomes new interns Colson Douglas and Savannah Peltrau to support FSG/WCIND project

CCS’s summer student interns, Savannah Peltrau (B.S., Environmental Sciences) and Colson Douglas (J.D. Candidate, Law) are teaming up to support a project with Florida Sea Grant under a contract with the West Coast Inland Navigation District (WCIND) to update the District’s five year strategic plan.

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2021 Florida Legislation and Budget Appropriations of Interest to Coastal Stakeholders

Summary of bills and budget allocations passed during the 2021 legislative session of relevance to coastal stakeholders.

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