TAMPA BAY — With spring in the air, Spring Training for major league baseball teams in full swing, and snowbirds in town, it's the time of year in the Bay area when people also flock to the beaches, sunscreen in hand.

But could the sunscreen tourists and residents use to protect themselves from the Sun's harmful rays be harmful to the environment?

Key West and Hawaii have recently instituted bans on particular types of sunscreen after studies showed chemicals in those sunscreen products affected coral reefs.

Our Gulf Coast has an extensive artificial reef system which could be susceptible to those same chemicals. 

But which chemical is the culprit? And if such a ban were to be put in place on Bay area beaches, what can people use to protect their skin?

For the answers to these questions and more, watch the video above.