Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis held a news conference in Marathon Wednesday to discuss funding for coral reef protection and restoration.
DeSantis appeared along with Roger Young, the executive director of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, at Dockside Boot Key Harbor.
The governor said this year's budget, which he signed last week, had an additional $5 million dedicated to artificial reefs. It brings the total to $26.5 million budgeted toward artificial reefs under his administration, DeSantis said.
More than 4,300 planned public artificial reefs that have been placed in state and federal waters off Florida's coast, DeSantis said.
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"These reefs are an important part of the ecosystem here, it's part of our state's ecology, it helps protect against storms and of course it does attract visitors and tourists year-round," he said.
DeSantis also announced that the state's 2-day lobster mini season will be expanding this year to include one day for only Florida residents.
That will take place on July 14. The annual lobster mini season will take place July 24-25 and is open to all.
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