The St. Joe Community Foundation awarded a $13,034 grant to the St. Andrew and St. Joseph Bays Estuary Program (SASJBEP) to establish a greenhouse to grow seagrass seedlings for use in restoring seagrass beds in the bays.

After a yearlong study with instructors from FSU Panama City’s advanced science dive program, student researchers concluded increased marine tourism is threatening area reef structures. “Preserving our Underwater Pastures: Researching the human impact on local historic artificial reef structures” measured changes in reef sizes and fish populations between July 1, 2016, to July 1, 2017.