I agree, Jerry, this is a tough issue to resolve in a way that does not leave a lot of human casualties. I started fishing the flats around Islamorada in the latter 1950s. It was my favorite thing to do, even though I lived in Alabama. I saw and heard stories of the decline in fish populations. We understood over-fishing was the cause. We saw the conchs and green turtles diminish in numbers. We were not aware of the chemical runoff effect coming out of the Everglades and rivers into the Bay of Florida. The phosphates and nitrogens. I attended a Marine Sanctuary Steering Committee meeting a few weeks ago at the county government center in Marathon, which focused on the pilot program for fixing, or trying to fix, the polluted canals in the Keys. Just a few of the canals, as they don’t have anywhere near the funding to tackle the entire problem, and they are still in the studying, trying to figure out stage. When I told them about the chemical runoff problem coming back around, with respect to that having killed most of the reef many years ago, they did not seem receptive. The lower Florida district head of Department of Environmental Protection chaired the meeting. Understatement. I came away from the meeting not feeling encouraged that the Marine Sanctuary was looking out for Mother Nature first. For a very long time I have not been encouraged that the fishing industry was looking out for Mother Nature first. Perhaps the fishing in the Keys is fated to go the way of the reef. Perhaps the fishing industry is fated to go the way of the salvaging industry, which was so dominant in the Key West economy many years ago. Perhaps the fishing industry is going the way of the dinosaurs. The fish catch photos in the Key West Citizen suggest as much. Years ago, not self-respecting fisherman would have posed photos of such paltry catches.
I agree, Jerry, this is a tough issue to resolve in a way that does not leave a lot of human casualties. I started fishing the flats around Islamorada in the latter 1950s. It was my favorite thing to do, even though I lived in Alabama. I saw and heard stories of the decline in fish populations. We understood over-fishing was the cause. We saw the conchs and green turtles diminish in numbers. We were not aware of the chemical runoff effect coming out of the Everglades and rivers into the Bay of Florida. The phosphates and nitrogens. I attended a Marine Sanctuary Steering Committee meeting a few weeks ago at the county government center in Marathon, which focused on the pilot program for fixing, or trying to fix, the polluted canals in the Keys. Just a few of the canals, as they don’t have anywhere near the funding to tackle the entire problem, and they are still in the studying, trying to figure out stage. When I told them about the chemical runoff problem coming back around, with respect to that having killed most of the reef many years ago, they did not seem receptive. The lower Florida district head of Department of Environmental Protection chaired the meeting. Understatement. I came away from the meeting not feeling encouraged that the Marine Sanctuary was looking out for Mother Nature first. For a very long time I have not been encouraged that the fishing industry was looking out for Mother Nature first. Perhaps the fishing in the Keys is fated to go the way of the reef. Perhaps the fishing industry is fated to go the way of the salvaging industry, which was so dominant in the Key West economy many years ago. Perhaps the fishing industry is going the way of the dinosaurs. The fish catch photos in the Key West Citizen suggest as much. Years ago, not self-respecting fisherman would have posed photos of such paltry catches.