This article originally appeared in Reel Time in 2018. It’s republished here, with revisions, because I think the message it imparts has never been more relevant. Respect and action to…
By Rusty Chinnis The decision by the Manatee County Commission to reduce local wetland buffers to Florida's state minimum standards has been challenged by former county commissioner Joe McClash. The…
By Rusty Chinnis Suncoast Waterkeeper teamed up with Sarasota Bay Watch last weekend when they conducted their 2023 Annual Sister Keys Cleanup. The event was a collaboration of the two…
By Rusty Chinnis I consider myself extremely lucky to have spent the last 40-plus years on an island in an area celebrated as the Suncoast. As an ardent angler, I’ve explored…
When the Manatee County Board of Commissioners voted 6-1 (Commissioner George Kruse voted no) to go forward with reducing wetland buffers in the county, the audience at the meeting reacted…
Readers of this column have seen me recommend checking politicians’ voting record before casting a vote for them.
By Rusty Chinnis At a time when the need to move water quality issues in a positive direction should be crystal clear, decision-makers (and, by default, the citizens who elected…
You don’t have to convince an angler of the importance of a healthy grass flat or a robust stand of mangroves or persuade them that we’re losing this precious resource…
Readers of this column are familiar with the rampant illegal mangrove trimming in Manatee County and the efforts of Suncoast Waterkeeper (SCWK) to address them. That frustration led to SCWK…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YDCQTV-rdY&t=2s Hurricane Ian left a wake of debris in a wide swath of waterways across the state. One particularly hard-hit area on the Suncoast was Lemon Bay at the…