The state Senate and the House of Representatives have included $2 million in the state Legislature’s budget to study the deaths of at least 16 sawfish and what is causing more than a dozen different species of fish to whirl, spin and behave strangely in the Lower Florida Keys in the past several months.
The Legislature is scheduled to formally approve the budget on Friday, March 8, according to Kellie Ralston, vice president for conservation and public policy for the conservation group Bone & Tarpon Trust (BTT). There are no scheduled changes to be made, and the budget next heads to the governor’s office for his signature.
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