PUNTA GORDA, Fla.–Gov. Ron DeSantis announced on May 4 his commitment to nearly $14 million in the state’s budget to combat red tide and fuel research efforts.
The “record-level” funds in the Fiscal Year 2022-23 budget are to be distributed between the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and Mote Marine Laboratory, in addition to providing grants through the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) for red tide cleanup.
“If you look at the four years before I became governor, those four years, there was a total of 2.5 million dollars that was allocated to address the research and mitigation of red tide,” the Republican governor said at a news conference in Clearwater. “Once I make this announcement today, for my four years, we went from $2.5 million to $40 million.”
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