Fort Pierce - Friday August 4, 2023: This week on In Focus, with IRSC Public Media, we take a closer look at coral bleaching.
The unusually warm sea temperatures off the southern Florida Coast this summer have already caused bleaching to set in around the Florida Keys. What is coral bleaching all about? And can the coral be saved?
We’ll talk with Shelly Krueger, a Marine Biologist with the University of Florida who serves as an Extension Agent in the Florida Keys. Shelly points out that there is still a month of hot weather ahead of us and the fear is many coral species will die off if this intense marine heat wave continues.
She'll also tell us about the massive effort underway now to save the coral by moving nursery samples out of the water and into safe land based facilities for replanting in cooler times.
Learn more about Shelly's work on coral bleaching on her UF/IFAS blog at: blogs.ifas.ufl.edu.
You may have noticed warning signs going up at your local convenience store recently, highlighting the deadly consequences of smoking. It's one of the last court ordered mandates in the federal government’s long-running civil racketeering lawsuit against the largest U.S. cigarette companies.
Dennis Henigan, Vice President of Legal and Regulatory Affairs for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids joins us to talk about the tobacco lawsuit, what the signs say, and whether or not they’ll make a difference in convincing young and old to stop smoking.
Learn more about the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids on their website at: https://www.tobaccofreekids.org/.