The Escambia County Marine Advisory Committee will hold a special meeting Tuesday, July 22 at 5:30 p.m. at the Central Office Complex located at 3363 W. Park Place in room 104.

The purpose of the meeting is to discuss an offer by the nonprofit Coastal Conservation Association to release 15,000 hatchery-raised fingerling red drum in the Pensacola Bay estuary at a cost of $25,000. Public comment will be taken during this meeting.

By Kate Turk

On the morning of July 1, I had the pleasure of riding along with Melanie Waite for a Turtle Patrol to check on and mark off sea turtle nests along Pensacola Beach. 

The turtle team patrols every morning, rain or shine, even amid thunderstorm and tornado warnings, from May 1 through September. 

We met at 5 a.m. at Public Works and quickly loaded into an ATV — we had to be rolling out onto the sand before first light to beat any beachgoers who might disturb tracks and nests made overnight. 

Waite, who has been patrolling Pensacola Beach since 1993, kicked the tires, flipped through a yellow notebook detailing any nest sightings since her last patrol, and loaded the back with stakes to block off nests in case we found any. 

She told me that Tuesday seemed to be the nesting day this summer, so we might be in luck! Then the ATV jarringly rumbled to life and we set off – the first and only vehicle on the beach road in the dark early morning. 

As we turned onto the sand and began our patrol, we seemed to be the only sign of life on the beach... read more for the entire story