[sunrico90]

News from the panhandle:

A private group hopes to create a marine sanctuary for nurse sharks, angelfish, starfish and other sea life that live below an abandoned Florida Panhandle pier.

Chris Verlinde of the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences is among the volunteers working to raise support for the nearshore sanctuary

While taking tourists on a snorkeling expedition, she and fellow sanctuary enthusiast Brenda Stokes described the area beneath the pier.

`We saw three nurse sharks together on the bottom. What a thrilling sight,'' she told the Navarre Press. In the 1990s, the Florida Parks and Recreation Division promised to build a marine sanctuary on the Navarre Beach. But planners underestimated costs and the project was postponed.

In February, supporters were told the funding would be used instead to repair hurricane damage to the nearby state park.

So the Navarre Beach Nearshore Marine Sanctuary Committee has begun a publicity campaign and soon will begin fundraising.

The sanctuary would benefit businesses by luring eco-tourists and it would provide educational opportunities for area students, said Mike Sandler, a diver and committee supporter.