By Frank Berte
Way back in 1948, the very first Fishing Rodeo was held in Destin! Seventy-five years ago, this bustling international hotbed of the world’s vacationing elite was an entirely different scene. Northwest Florida was still a wild place, full of pine forests, large land animals and a staggering...
By Nick Tomecek, Okaloosa County PIO
Divers participating in the 5th Annual Emerald Coast Open Lionfish Tournament set a new record with the successful removal of 24,699 lionfish! Last year’s total was 13,835. Divers from throughout the country competed for prize money totaling more than $100,000 in an effort to...
Photo courtesy Destin-FWB FL
On April 28, the Air Force Research Laboratory and Eglin Air Force Base’s Integrated Test Team demonstrated a new low-cost, air-delivered capability for defeating maritime threats, that successfully destroyed a full-scale surface vessel in the Gulf of Mexico. The vessel was the COURAGEOUS and our Coastal...
By Frank Berte
Destin Fishing Rodeo’s Weighmaster extraordinaire. A seemingly simple man with a complex, tangled past. A man who, to some, has become synonymous with the very Rodeo itself has lived a far more tangled past. His fascination with fish has been lifelong, as has his chronic sea sickness....
In celebration of World Coral Reef Awareness Day, Starborough Wine partnered with Reefmaker, the largest reef builder in the U.S., to deploy its first limestone reef two miles off the coast of Fort Walton Beach in June. It is designed to help maintain and rebuild ocean habitats off the...
Okaloosa County’s Coastal Resource Team with Destin-Fort Walton Beach Tourism recently initiated and assisted a team of researchers in identifying and tagging devil rays in the Gulf of Mexico.
While installing three miles of sand fencing on Okaloosa Island in 2021, members of the Coastal Resource team noticed a number...
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission announces the opening of a fall red snapper season for private recreational anglers and state for-hire operations in the Gulf of Mexico on the following weekends:
Nov. 11-13
Nov. 25-27
During this season, private recreational anglers may harvest red snapper in Gulf state and federal...
The Gulfarium’s C.A.R.E. Center successfully released four rehabilitated sea turtles on Thursday, May 12, 2022, at Inlet Beach.
It was a beautiful morning as crowds gathered to watch the endangered turtles head back into the Gulf of Mexico. All of the rehabilitated sea turtles had fallen victim to fishing hook...
By April Sarver, Okaloosa County PIO
Congratulations! Divers participating in the 4th Annual Emerald Coast Open Lionfish Tournament successfully removed 13,835 lionfish from local waters. The invasive species prey on native fish and have no known predators due to their venomous spines. Hosted by Destin-Fort Walton Beach, alongside Florida Fish...
